{"id":469826,"date":"2026-02-15T08:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469826\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T08:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:53:11","slug":"every-john-carpenter-movie-starring-kurt-russell-ranked-including-the-1-that-never-made-us-theaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469826\/","title":{"rendered":"Every John Carpenter Movie Starring Kurt Russell, Ranked (Including The 1 That Never Made US Theaters)"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Carpenter<\/a> is the definitive director of horror<\/a>, even factoring in fellow legends Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper as well as newer masters Ari Aster and Robert Eggers. And just as any of them had or have, Carpenter was known for having his muses, his frequent collaborators. Jamie Lee Curtis was in Halloween and The Fog, Donald Pleasence was in Halloween, Escape from New York, and Prince of Darkness, Adrienne Barbeau was in The Fog, Escape from New York, and had a vocal cameo in The Thing, and the late Peter Jason was in Prince of Darkness, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned, Escape from L.A., and Ghosts of Mars.<\/p>\n

But even with all those collaborations, Peter Jason was not, in fact, Carpenter\u2019s best collaborator. That would be Kurt Russell. Even still, not all five of their movies were made equal.<\/p>\n

5) Escape from L.A.<\/p>\n

\"\"image courtesy of paramount pictures<\/p>\n

It says a lot that the worst of Carpenter and Russell\u2019s collaborations is still a good bit of fun<\/a>. It\u2019s definitely cheesier than its far superior predecessor, Escape from New York, but you\u2019ll find yourself having fun with the return of Snake Plissken. You even get a cameo from Bruce Campbell playing a body part-harvesting mad scientist.<\/p>\n

As for why Escape from L.A. is no New York, it comes down to a narrative that feels one part rehash and one part lacking the urgency of the original. Then there\u2019s the surfing scene, which has some of the most laughable CGI of any \u201990s movie. It\u2019s enjoyable, but outside the basketball scene (itself kind of a copy of the first film\u2019s wrestling scene), not much of it will really stick with you. In a good way, anyway.<\/p>\n

4) Elvis<\/p>\n

\"\"image courtesy of abc<\/p>\n

Austin Butler did a good job as the King, but it was really Russell and Carpenter who nailed it. And with the 1979 version we also don\u2019t get the hammy Tom Hanks performance as Colonel Tom Parker (here, Batman\u2018s Pat Hingle plays him as an actual human being, not a Foghorn Leghorn knockoff).<\/p>\n

Escape from New York and Used Cars are the movies that are typically seen as Russell\u2019s transition from Disney child star to adult actor, but it was really this TV movie that marked that shift. And deservedly so, because Russell\u2019s inhabitation of the music legend is uncanny.<\/p>\n

3) Big Trouble in Little China<\/p>\n

\"\"image courtesy of 20th century studios<\/p>\n

If we were only giving points for originality, Big Trouble in Little China<\/a> would find itself in position number one without a shred of competition. Now, its unique tone and story make it inherently not for everyone, but for those who can get on its wavelength, it will find itself rewatched each and every year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a movie that knows the genre conventions of the action film and stops just short of adhering to them. Russell\u2019s Jack Burton is another wonderful concoction. He\u2019s a tough guy, or at least thinks he is, but he\u2019s not even really the hero of his own story. He\u2019s more just a goofball who thinks he\u2019s on top of things yet never is. To be fair to him, he doesn\u2019t know kung fu and is as baffled as the viewer that there are people out there who know how to perform magic.<\/p>\n

Stream Big Trouble in Little China on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

2) Escape from New York<\/p>\n

\"\"image courtesy of avco embassy pictures<\/p>\n

Russell and Carpenter\u2019s greatest trick was taking a character utterly devoid of emotion and making him endearing. But Russell\u2019s perfect casting as Snake Plissken is just one thing that makes Escape from New York a classic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sublimely paced, never overstaying its welcome, which alone allows it to be one of the most rewatchable actioners of the \u201980s. Toss in Carpenter\u2019s score (all of them have been great, but this is one of his most hummable), a villain performance by Isaac Hayes, and a convincing decimated New York and this is an all-timer. <\/p>\n

Stream Escape from New York on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

1) The Thing<\/p>\n

\"JohnImage Courtesy of Universal<\/p>\n

With most directors it\u2019s not hard to say what their very best movie is. With Carpenter it comes down to a tie<\/a> between Halloween and The Thing<\/a>. It\u2019s impossible to choose because neither has a flaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As great as Escape from New York is, this is still easily the best Carpenter-Russell film. It\u2019s unbearably tense all the way through, the performances are perfectly modulated, and the practical effects are some of the very best of all time. It\u2019s also so well structured that, no matter how many times you watch, you don\u2019t really, truly know who all has become the Thing at any given moment.<\/p>\n

Stream The Thing on Shudder.<\/p>\n

What is your favorite John Carpenter movie overall? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Carpenter is the definitive director of horror, even factoring in fellow legends Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,142559,125058,206,218255],"class_list":{"0":"post-469826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-escape-from-new-york","10":"tag-list-feature","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-the-thing-1982"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}