Horror is a reaction; it's not a genre. Somebody's life would have to be in danger for it [story] to be a horror story. John Carpenter More Quotes by John Carpenter More Quotes From John Carpenter The strongest human emotion is fear. It's the essence of any good thriller that, for a little while, you believe in the boogeyman. John Carpenter essence fear believe It [horror genre] never dies. It just keeps getting reinvented and it always will. Horror is a universal language; we're all afraid. We're born afraid, we're all afraid of things: death, disfigurement, loss of a loved one. Everything that I'm afraid of, you're afraid of and vice versa. So everybody feels fear and suspense. John Carpenter horror-genre vices loss We all question our sanity. Everyone has had an experience of loss of control of something. John Carpenter sanity loss What scares me is what scares you. We’re all afraid of the same things. That’s why horror is such a powerful genre. All you have to do is ask yourself what frightens you and you’ll know what frightens me. John Carpenter horror-genre scare powerful Directing is all about storytelling. It's not about equipment, or anything else. John Carpenter equipment storytelling Evil hiding among us is an ancient theme. John Carpenter halloween horror evil There are two different stories in horror: internal and external. In external horror films, the evil comes from the outside, the other tribe, this thing in the darkness that we don't understand. Internal is the human heart. John Carpenter evil heart two To make Michael Myers frightening, I had him walk like a man, not a monster. John Carpenter scary monsters men I don't want to be a part of the demographics. I want to be an individual. I wear each of my films as a badge of pride. That's why I cherish all my bad reviews. If the critics start liking my movies, then I'm in deep trouble. John Carpenter film pride want To make movies you just have to want it enough. You have to have the passion for telling stories. You have to get by the love-of-movies aspect. You can't just be a movie fan. John Carpenter passion fans stories Horror has been a genre since the beginning of cinema, all the way back to the days of silent films. I don't think it will ever go away because it's so universal. Humor doesn't always travel to other countries, but horror does. John Carpenter silent-films country thinking When somebody who makes movies for a living - either as an actor, writer, producer or director - lives to be a certain age, you have to admire them. It is an act of courage to make a film - a courage for which you are not prepared in the rest of life. It is very hard and very destructive. But we do it because we love it. John Carpenter rest-of-life actors age Movies are pieces of film stuck together in a certain rhythm, an absolute beat, like a musical composition. The rhythm you create affects the audience. John Carpenter pieces musical together I'm pretty happy with who I am. I like myself and what I'm doing. I don't need to be the world's greatest director or the most famous -- or the richest. I don't need to make a whole lot of great films. I can do my job and I can do it pretty well. This is the realization I've come to, later in life. It's called growing up. John Carpenter growing-up later-in-life jobs A lot of it [success] is luck. That's a huge part of it that no one wants to talk about. You just got to be in the right place at the right time. John Carpenter right-time luck want When you have no money, you need invention. John Carpenter no-money invention needs It's a very good time for horror. This business certainly has changed, but there's still room for serious horror films. Look at 28 Days Later, that's not a tongue-in-cheek picture. John Carpenter tongue looks rooms Fears are all psychological. Being afraid of death, loss of a loved one and disfigurement are all powered by your mind, and that's very powerful stuff. John Carpenter powerful mind loss From early on, when synthesizers were first introduced into music, I liked the idea that you could get a big sound with them - electronic, but like an orchestra. And I could play it all myself. That was exciting. John Carpenter sound play ideas Horror is always the same. It changes with the culture and changes with technology. The stories are always the same. There are just two basic stories in horror, two simple ones -- evil is outside and evil is in here [points to his heart]. John Carpenter technology simple heart
