John Carpenter applauds 'Let the Right One In' for reinventing the vampire genre

John Carpenter's legacy in the horror genre continues to build, even nearly five decades after "Halloween".

The director is currently producing and composing the score for the next "cathartic" conclusion to the "Halloween Ends" franchise, directed by David Gordon Green. As main star Jamie Lee Curtis confirmed this was her last time as the final iconic girl after more than four decades as Laurie Strode, Carpenter said there was always room for another sequel. … or a re-quel or a remake.

"I'll have to see how much money it makes!" Carpenter joked about "Halloween Ends," which will be released in October.

Carpenter added that he "to some degree" follows new films, applauding the 2008 film "Let the Right One In." Directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on the coming-of-age vampire novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the film centers on a bullied teenager who befriends his mysterious neighbor.

"I thought there was a great one that happened called 'Let the Right One In,'" Carpenter said of his favorite recent horror movie. "I thought it was a film that reinvented the vampire genre - it really is - and I admire it for that."

The film has spawned a remake directed by Matt Reeves and a Showtime series currently in development. IndieWire's Eric Kohn praised the film in IndieWire's 2017 roundup of the best foreign language films of the 21st century, citing Alfredson's ability to merge a "Spielbergian sense of childhood dread with the fear of a darker world just outside the frame".

Speaking of Spielberg, or rather withoutspeaking of him, Carpenter drew a line between himself and Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola as titans of film history.< /p>

"No, no, I don't know those bums - uh, guys," Carpenter said of his peers. "I knew the horror directors. I was friends with all of them: Tobe Hooper and George Romero, those guys."

He added: "The best cinematographer I ever worked with was Dean Cundey, a lighting genius. Everyone is different, so it's hard to say Some cinematographers are focused on the whole visual image. Some use their profession to boost their ego. Some are there to serve the director, which is what you're supposed to do. I see it as composing [de la music]. My son, my godson and I compose the music for the new "Halloween" films. We are there to serve the director, not to tell him what to do. We are here to make his vision, not ours."

And what does a "classic" movie maker still mean anyway? Carpenter weighed in.

"I find it's probably best not to pay too much attention to it. Right? Film criticism changes with the times," the 'In the Mouth of Madness' director said. a genius, and then another minute, you're a bum. Well, both things are not true."

Carpenter concluded, "Look, I'm just a broken-down horror director trying to get along in this world, okay? That's all I'm trying to do, navigate shoals. I think it's always fun. It's a lot of fun. Interacting with the fans is fun because they're always so nice. It's great. Talking about my own movies? God no. I hate that. I don't want to do that. They speak for themselves."

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