I have a huge soft spot for John Carpenter's movies and desperately want to work with him one day.
It's a shame he didn't go on to greater things (fortuitous pun, not intended
) because
The Thing is a masterpiece of tension. One of my favourite ever films. Relentless, claustrophobic paranoid nightmare. A bit like the
Evil Dead in that respect, although
The Thing had the added paranoia of no one being able to trust anybody. The petri-dish scene is stand-out unforgettable claustrophobia, where the guy is pleading to have his handcuffs removed before the hot needle is put in the other guy's blood, because he suspects, correctly, that he is the Thing. Carpenter was a genius who never really flourished as he should. I like other movies he made, but non of them touch
The Thing.
They Live was great, but lacked greatness. Even
Halloween, although a classic of the genre, cannot touch
The Thing.
In the Mouth of Madness was almost great, but ultimately a bit silly. And talking of silliness,
The Lord of Darkness, although creepy and actually freaky scary, was basically about a big jar of evil liquid. Silly.
But yeah I don't blame you for wanting to work with him.