At 77 years old, John Carpenter remains one of the few living “traditional horror” directors. Although he’s been retired from filmmaking since directing The Ward in 2010, Carpenter’s ‘70s and ‘80s masterpieces speak for themselves, with films like Halloween, The Fog, and The Thing placing him on the Mount Rushmore of horror filmmakers for many moviegoers. Carpenter may have walked away from directing, but he is still extremely active on the producer end, and still scores films, including David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy and the most recent remake of Stephen King’s Firestarter. Carpenter, who recently received his Hollywood Star, stays current on modern horror films and has never been one to mince words when it comes to the movies and directors he loves and loathes. Surprisingly, the latter includes one of the biggest horror hits of the last decade, 2024’s The Substance.
Garnering an 89% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance was one of the most publicly celebrated horror films in years. While it isn’t a shocker that Demi Moore was nominated for her incredible performance as Elizabeth Sparkle, Best Picture nominations don’t come often in the genre, and while the film only took home the Oscar for Best Makeup, the horror genre made some serious noise during awards season. For Carpenter, though, awards and recognition mean exactly squat when it comes to being a good horror movie.
John Carpenter Was Very Vocal About His Disdain for The Substance
John Carpenter in The Search of DarknessImage via Shudder
Unfortunately for Fargeat, who had previously listed Carpenter’s 1982 remake of The Thing as one of her biggest influences on The Substance, Carpenter was loud and definitive about his dislike for Fargeat’s sophomore film. In an interview with Inverse, Fargeat said, “There is David Cronenberg, there is John Carpenter… When I write, I welcome the homage I want to make to those filmmakers that I love and admire.”
Carpenter wasn’t equally kind when discussing The Substance. At a recent fan expo, Carpenter asked the interview if they liked the film. When they responded positively and asked Carpenter what he liked about The Substance, Carpenter responded with, “Zero.” When the interviewer asked what Carpenter didn’t like about it, Carpenter responded with “Everything!”
While Fargeat is probably disappointed with the reaction from one of her filmmaking heroes, she has nothing to be disappointed about. The Substance absolutely crushed it at the box office, making $80 million against its $18 million budget, and the film was praised by other, fantastic horror filmmakers, including Nosferatu’s Robert Eggers and David Cronenberg, one of The Substance’s biggest influencers.
About The Substance, Eggers said, “I really like The Substance. It had a consistent, clear, specific vision and was very well-executed. As a filmmaker, you can’t help but admire that and champion it.” About Fargeat’s inspiration from Cronenberg, the Canadian filmmaker said to Indiewire, “I must say there’s a lot of, and of course, some of them are filmmakers who have said that they’ve been influenced by me. So that’s kind of interesting, and it makes me feel good. That pleases me.” Not a bad couple of filmmakers to have as support in her corner.
Carpenter Has Been Openly Critical of Body Horror and Elevated Horror Before
Monstro Elizasue in The SubstanceImage via Mubi
This isn’t the first time that John Carpenter has been vocal about his disdain for award-winning films. Even away from the horror genre, Carpenter spoke out against Oppenheimer, saying it was “alright,” and Barbie, which he said he couldn’t believe he even watched. Being that Carpenter is such a name in the horror genre, that’s where he’s the most critical.
In an interview with AVClub, Carpenter shut down any knowledge of “elevated horror,” telling the host he “had no idea what you’re talking about” when asked about Ari Aster’s Midsommar and Hereditary. He seemed to divert from the idea of it and claimed, “There’s metaphorical horror. But all movies have… they don’t have messages. They have themes. Thematic material, and some horror films have thematic material. The good ones do.”
Of course, both Midsommar and Hereditary are known for being incredibly serious and devastating, and Carpenter has been very vocal about not loving that kind of horror, especially when it comes to David Cronenberg’s body horror films. In an interview with All the Right Moves, Carpenter told a story about being shunned by Cronenberg, who was a friend of his, at a directors’ dinner.
Carpenter lamented Cronenberg’s treatment of him, “I think the night that got me was when David Cronenberg showed up. He is an old friend of mine. Unfortunately, he takes himself so seriously these days. He is an artist now, and literally, he was holding court in the middle of the room, and I came over to talk to him, and he didn’t even look at me. I thought this is enough of this. Forget it. Goodbye.”
Carpenter believes many modern horror directors don’t actually enjoy the genre, and their films are little more than intense dramas. He believes the modern horror genre is oversaturated, but he has been optimistic about what’s going to come. Unfortunately for him, his opinions on The Substance aren’t with the majority.
The Substance (2024) Official Poster
Release Date
September 20, 2024
Runtime
140 Minutes
Director
Coralie Fargeat
Demi Moore
Elisabeth Sparkle
