Horror legend John Carpenter, best known for directing classics like Halloween, Christine, They Live and The Thing, is coming out of his self-imposed retirement to direct the debut episode of a new TV series.
Carpenter, who has not directed a movie in seven years, will be helming the pilot episode of new horror anthology series Tales for a Halloween Night. The show will be based on his comic book series of the same name.
His wife and producer of the show Sandy King confirmed his involvement.
He would direct the pilot, at least. And then we’ll hopefully bring on some great horror directors—and just great directors—so that it’ll be a high-end show. We want anything that has our brand associated with it to be a satisfying experience for readers, watchers, whatever we’re doing.
Carpenter’s last film, The Ward – which starred Amber Heard – was not particularly great. But he has been one of the most prominent influences on horror music, and the synth-heavy soundtracks he composed to his films have been ultra-influential on electronic music generally. Shows like Stranger Things also owe him a great aesthetic and soundtrack debt.
He did surface just recently to direct the music video for the re-release of the theme for Christine., which was proof that no one can make car headlights look as sinister as he can.
He told The Guardian at the time that he didn’t miss working, and the music video reminded him of that. “I don’t miss working,” he said. “Working is hard because you have to get up in the morning.”
Amen.
