John Carpenter says he would “love” to adapt a ‘Dead Space’ movie
For many filmmakers and movie lovers growing up in the twilight of the late 20th century, the innovative films of American director John Carpenter provided a basis for cinematic education. Creating some of the most iconic movies of the 1970s and 1980s, Carpenter is responsible for such classics as Halloween, The Thing and Escape from New York, with each one informing and inspiring contemporary culture.
In modern times, he is best known for the ongoing Halloween franchise, with Halloween Ends due to bring David Gordon Green’s trilogy of films to a close in 2022. Featuring a town as defiantly postcard-American as David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Carpenter’s original film brought a sense of unease to every small town US suburb—suggesting something fantastically abnormal could be lurking in the shadows.
An all-round auteur, not only does Carpenter direct his feature films, but he also writes, produces and even composes many of his own scores. This has given way to some of the finest horror soundtracks of all time, with his work on Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13 and Big Trouble in Little China each being praised for their effortless creativity, creating some of the most distinctive sounds of the ’80s.
In more recent years, he has stepped away from the director’s chair, with his last film being the 2010 film The Ward, starring Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer and Jared Harris. These days though, Carpenter is more of a gamer and recently sat down with AV Club to share his thoughts about some of his most recent favourites.
Carpenter says he has discovered his love of open-world games, commenting: “Well, it’s fun. Your freedom to roam around and do it your way. And that’s what I love about Fallout. There is a template to follow, there are missions, but you can do it differently. And they keep coming up with new missions every once in a while, and new ideas. It’s good. It’s really interesting”.
Going on to talk about the likes of Ratchet and Clank, Assassin’s Creed and the brand new HBO adaptation of Playstation’s The Last of Us, eventually, the conversation drifted onto whether Carpenter had ever considered making a video game adaptation of his own. After some thought, the filmmaker replied, “The only one I can think of, and I’ve mentioned it before, is Dead Space. That would make a real great movie. I could do that”.
Continuing, when asked for his favourite game of the three mainline releases, Carpenter recalled, “Well, any of them were really good. I even like the last one, the action one that nobody else liked”.
Released in 2008, the Dead Space series is a science fiction tale set in the 26th century which follows an engineer named Isaac Clarke, a sinister cult religion and a terrifying hoard of cosmic monsters. Utilising survival gameplay elements, the game feels much like a mix of the paranoid terror of Ridley Scott’s Alien mixed in with the gun-wielding action of Jame Cameron’s sequel, Aliens.
This isn’t the first time that Carpenter has voiced his interest in adapting the series either, telling Bloody Disgusting in 2013, “I would love to make Dead Space [into a movie], I’ll tell you that right now. That one is ready-made”.
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