Ranking All Of Director John Carpenter’s Movies
“What are John Carpenter’s Best Movies?” We looked at all of Carpenter’s directed filmography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!
We took all of the movies directed by John Carpenter and looked at their Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, Metacritic, Metacritic User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. The movies are ranked in our list below based on which movies have the highest overall score between all 6 review sites in comparison with all of the other movies by the same director. The process is all very scientific with no flaws at all.
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The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.
Happy Viewing!
The Top Film’s Of John Carpenter
23 ) Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 19
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 20
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 16
- IMDB User Review Score: 23
- Letterboxd User Score: 23
Melanie Ballard is a hard nosed police chief in the year 2025. She and a police snatch squad are sent to Mars to apprehend dangerous criminal James Williams. Mars has been occupied by humans for some time and they have set up mining facilities. The mining activities on Mars have unleashed the spirits of alien beings who gradually possess the bodies of the workers. It soon turns out that catching the dangerous fugitive takes a back seat as the alien spirits begin to rid their planet of the ‘invaders’.
22 ) Pro-Life (2006)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 20
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 21
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 18
- IMDB User Review Score: 20
- Letterboxd User Score: 21
Angelique (Caitlin Wachs) is taken to an abortion clinic to end her pregnancy (probably the product of a rape). However, her deeply religious father, Dwayne (Ron Perlman), and three brothers are out to make sure the baby lives.
21 ) Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 18
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 17
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 15
- IMDB User Review Score: 18
- Letterboxd User Score: 19
After a freak accident, an invisible yuppie runs for his life from a treacherous CIA official while trying to cope with his new life.
20 ) Village of the Damned (1995)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 17
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 18
- Metacritc Critic Score: 14
- Metacritic User Score: 14
- IMDB User Review Score: 20
- Letterboxd User Score: 19
An American village is visited by some unknown life form which leaves the women of the village pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are born, and they all look normal, but it doesn’t take the “parents” long to realize that the kids are not human or humane.
19 ) Elvis (1979)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 20
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 21
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 18
- IMDB User Review Score: 9
- Letterboxd User Score: 13
Biographical movie about the famous rock singer Elvis Presley.
17 ) Someone’s Watching Me! (1978)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 20
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 14
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 18
- IMDB User Review Score: 14
- Letterboxd User Score: 14
A woman is being watched in her apartment by a stranger, who also calls and torments her. A cat-and-mouse game begins.
17 ) The Ward (2010)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 16
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 19
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 10
- IMDB User Review Score: 20
- Letterboxd User Score: 22
A thriller centered on an institutionalized young woman who becomes terrorized by a ghost.
16 ) Vampires (1998)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 15
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 13
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 17
- IMDB User Review Score: 16
- Letterboxd User Score: 17
The church enlists a team of vampire-hunters to hunt down and destroy a group of vampires searching for an ancient relic that will allow them to exist in sunlight.
15 ) Escape from L.A. (1996)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 14
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 15
- Metacritc Critic Score: 15
- Metacritic User Score: 11
- IMDB User Review Score: 19
- Letterboxd User Score: 18
This time, a cataclysmic temblor hits Los Angeles, turning it into an island. The president views the quake as a sign from above, expels Los Angeles from the country and makes it a penal colony for those found guilty of moral crimes. When his daughter, part of a resistance movement, steals the control unit for a doomsday weapon, Snake again gets tapped to save the day.
14 ) Body Bags (1993)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 10
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 16
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 18
- IMDB User Review Score: 16
- Letterboxd User Score: 15
Three tales, each more terrifying than the last. . . . A woman who is stalked by an axe-weilding maniac . . . a man who pays the ultimate price for a beautiful head of hair . . . and a vision of life—seen through the eyes of a killer.
13 ) Cigarette Burns (2005)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 20
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 21
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 18
- IMDB User Review Score: 3
- Letterboxd User Score: 11
With a torrid past that haunts him, a movie theatre owner is hired to search for the only existing print of a film so notorious that its single screening caused the viewers to become homicidally insane.
12 ) Dark Star (1974)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 7
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 9
- Metacritc Critic Score: 12
- Metacritic User Score: 18
- IMDB User Review Score: 15
- Letterboxd User Score: 15
A low-budget, sci-fi satire that focuses on a group of scientists whose mission is to destroy unstable planets. 20 years into their mission, they have battle their alien mascot, that resembles a beach ball, as well as a “sensitive” and intelligent bombing device that starts to question the meaning of its existence.
11 ) The Fog (1980)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 9
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 10
- Metacritc Critic Score: 11
- Metacritic User Score: 12
- IMDB User Review Score: 11
- Letterboxd User Score: 8
Strange things begin to occurs as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone stumbles upon a dark secret about the town’s founding; radio announcer Stevie witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.
10 ) In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 12
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 7
- Metacritc Critic Score: 12
- Metacritic User Score: 13
- IMDB User Review Score: 7
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose…literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to investigate Cane’s mysterious vanishing act and ends up in the sleepy little East Coast town of Hobb’s End.
8 ) Christine (1983)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 11
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 11
- Metacritc Critic Score: 3
- Metacritic User Score: 3
- IMDB User Review Score: 12
- Letterboxd User Score: 11
Geeky student Arnie Cunningham falls for Christine, a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury, and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile to her former glory. As the car changes, so does Arnie, whose newfound confidence turns to arrogance behind the wheel of his exotic beauty. Arnie’s girlfriend Leigh and best friend Dennis reach out to him, only to be met by a Fury like no other.
8 ) Prince of Darkness (1987)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 13
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 12
- Metacritc Critic Score: 3
- Metacritic User Score: 3
- IMDB User Review Score: 12
- Letterboxd User Score: 8
A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.
7 ) Starman (1984)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 5
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 8
- Metacritc Critic Score: 10
- Metacritic User Score: 6
- IMDB User Review Score: 10
- Letterboxd User Score: 8
An alien takes the form of a young widow’s husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them.
6 ) Escape from New York (1981)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 6
- Metacritc Critic Score: 8
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 7
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
In 1997, the island of Manhattan has been walled off and turned into a giant maximum security prison within which the country’s worst criminals are left to form their own anarchic society. However, when the President of the United States crash lands on the island, the authorities turn to a former soldier and current convict, Snake Plissken, to rescue him.
5 ) They Live (1988)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 4
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 5
- Metacritc Critic Score: 7
- Metacritic User Score: 7
- IMDB User Review Score: 5
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
Nada, a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens.
4 ) Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 8
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 3
- Metacritc Critic Score: 5
- Metacritic User Score: 5
- IMDB User Review Score: 5
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
When trucker Jack Burton agreed to take his friend, Wang Chi, to pick up his fiancee at the airport, he never expected to get involved in a supernatural battle between good and evil. Wang’s fiancee has emerald green eyes, which make her a perfect target for immortal sorcerer Lo Pan and his three invincible cronies. Lo Pan must marry a girl with green eyes so he can regain his physical form.
3 ) Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 1
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 4
- Metacritc Critic Score: 1
- Metacritic User Score: 7
- IMDB User Review Score: 4
- Letterboxd User Score: 3
The lone inhabitants of an abandoned police station are under attack by the overwhelming numbers of a seemingly unstoppable street gang.
2 ) Halloween (1978)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 2
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 2
- Metacritc Critic Score: 6
- Metacritic User Score: 1
- IMDB User Review Score: 2
- Letterboxd User Score: 2
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
1 ) The Thing (1982)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 5
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 1
- Metacritc Critic Score: 2
- Metacritic User Score: 1
- IMDB User Review Score: 1
- Letterboxd User Score: 1
Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people it kills.
John Carpenter’s Best Movies
John Carpenter Review Website Filmography Rankings
| Film | RT Critic | RT User | MC Critic | MC User | IMDB | Letterboxd | Overal Rank |
| The Thing (1982) | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Halloween (1978) | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Big Trouble in Little China (1986) | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| They Live (1988) | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Escape from New York (1981) | 3 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
| Starman (1984) | 5 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
| Christine (1983) | 11 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 8 |
| Prince of Darkness (1987) | 13 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 8 |
| In the Mouth of Madness (1994) | 12 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 10 |
| The Fog (1980) | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 11 |
| Dark Star (1974) | 7 | 9 | 12 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 12 |
| Cigarette Burns (2005) | 20 | 21 | 16 | 18 | 3 | 11 | 13 |
| Body Bags (1993) | 10 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| Escape from L.A. (1996) | 14 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 19 | 18 | 15 |
| Vampires (1998) | 15 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 16 |
| Someone’s Watching Me! (1978) | 20 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 17 |
| The Ward (2010) | 16 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 20 | 22 | 17 |
| Elvis (1979) | 20 | 21 | 16 | 18 | 9 | 13 | 19 |
| Village of the Damned (1995) | 17 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 20 | 19 | 20 |
| Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 21 |
| Pro-Life (2006) | 20 | 21 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Ghosts of Mars (2001) | 19 | 20 | 16 | 16 | 23 | 23 | 23 |
