John Carpenter's top-rated movies, according to IMDb

The Thing (1982)

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Rating: 8.2/10

Stars: Kurt Russell (MacReady), Wilford Brimley (Dr. Blair), Keith David (Childs), Richard Masur (Clark)

Halloween (1978)

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

Rating: 7.7/10

Stars: Donald Pleasence (Loomis), Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie), Tony Moran (Michael Myers (Age 23)), Nancy Kyes (Annie)

Assault On Precinct 13 (1976)

A Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.

Rating: 7.3/10

Stars: Austin Stoker (Ethan Bishop), Darwin Joston (Napoleon Wilson), Laurie Zimmer (Leigh), Martin West (Lawson)

They Live (1988)

They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.

Rating: 7.2/10

Stars: Roddy Piper (Nada), Keith David (Frank), Meg Foster (Holly), George ‘Buck’ Flower (Drifter)

Big Trouble In Little China (1986)

A rough-and-tumble trucker and his side kick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.

Rating: 7.2/10

Stars: Kurt Russell (Jack Burton), Kim Cattrall (Gracie Law), Dennis Dun (Wang Chi), James Hong (David Lo Pan)

In The Mouth Of Madness (1995)

An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer’s books have on his fans is more than inspirational.

Rating: 7.1/10

Stars: Sam Neill (John Trent), Jürgen Prochnow (Sutter Cane), Julie Carmen (Linda Styles), David Warner (Dr. Wrenn)

Escape From New York (1981)

In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.

Rating: 7.1/10

Stars: Kurt Russell (Snake Plissken), Lee Van Cleef (Hauk), Ernest Borgnine (Cabbie), Donald Pleasence (President)

Starman (1984)

An alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow’s husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.

Rating: 7/10

Stars: Jeff Bridges (Starman), Karen Allen (Jenny Hayden), Charles Martin Smith (Mark Shermin), Richard Jaeckel (George Fox)

Elvis (1979)

Biographical movie about the famous rock singer Elvis Presley.

Rating: 6.9/10

Stars: Kurt Russell (Elvis Presley), Shelley Winters (Gladys Presley), Bing Russell (Vernon Presley), Robert Gray (Red West)

The Fog (1980)

An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.

Rating: 6.8/10

Stars: Adrienne Barbeau (Stevie Wayne), Jamie Lee Curtis (Elizabeth Solley), Janet Leigh (Kathy Williams), John Houseman (Mr. Machen)

Prince Of Darkness (1987)

A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open the container, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all humanity.

Rating: 6.7/10

Stars: Donald Pleasence (Priest), Lisa Blount (Catherine Danforth), Jameson Parker (Brian Marsh), Victor Wong (Prof. Howard Birack)

Christine (1983)

A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.

Rating: 6.7/10

Stars: Keith Gordon (Arnie), John Stockwell (Dennis), Alexandra Paul (Leigh), Robert Prosky (Darnell)

Someone’s Watching Me! (1978)

A woman is being watched in her apartment by a stranger, who also calls and torments her. A cat-and-mouse game begins.

Rating: 6.6/10

Stars: Lauren Hutton (Leigh Michaels), David Birney (Paul Winkless), Adrienne Barbeau (Sophie), Charles Cyphers (Gary Hunt)

Body Bags (1993)

Rating: 6.2/10

Stars: John Carpenter (The Coroner (segment “The Morgue”)), Tom Arnold (Morgue Worker #1 (segment “The Morgue”)), Tobe Hooper (Morgue Worker #2 (segment “The Morgue”)), Robert Carradine (Bill (segment “The Gas Station”))

Dark Star (1975)

In the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.

Rating: 6.2/10

Stars: Dan O’Bannon (Pinback), Dre Pahich (Talby), Brian Narelle (Lt. Doolittle), Cal Kuniholm (Boiler)

Vampires (1998)

Recovering from an ambush that killed his entire team, a vengeful vampire slayer must retrieve an ancient Catholic relic that, should it be acquired by vampires, will allow them to walk in sunlight.

Rating: 6.1/10

Stars: James Woods (Jack Crow), Daniel Baldwin (Anthony Montoya), Sheryl Lee (Katrina), Thomas Ian Griffith (Jan Valek)

Memoirs Of An Invisible Man (1992)

After a freak accident, a company executive turns completely invisible, goes on the run and becomes hunted by a treacherous CIA official, whilst trying to cope with his new reality.

Rating: 6/10

Stars: Chevy Chase (Nick Halloway), Daryl Hannah (Alice Monroe), Sam Neill (David Jenkins), Michael McKean (George Talbot)

Escape from L.A. (1996)

Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

Rating: 5.7/10

Stars: Kurt Russell (Snake Plissken), Steve Buscemi (Map to the Stars Eddie), Stacy Keach (Cmdr. Malloy), A.J. Langer (Utopia)

Village Of The Damned (1995)

A small town’s women give birth to unfriendly alien children posing as humans.

Rating: 5.6/10

Stars: Christopher Reeve (Dr. Alan Chaffee), Kirstie Alley (Dr. Susan Verner), Linda Kozlowski (Jill McGowan), Michael Paré (Frank McGowan)

The Ward (2011)

An institutionalized young woman becomes terrorized by a ghost.

Rating: 5.5/10

Stars: Amber Heard (Kristen), Mamie Gummer (Emily), Danielle Panabaker (Sarah), Laura-Leigh (Zoey)

Ghosts Of Mars (2001)

In 2176, a Martian police unit is sent to pick up a highly dangerous criminal at a remote mining post. Upon arrival, the cops find that the post has become a charnel house.

Rating: 4.9/10

Stars: Natasha Henstridge (Lieutenant Melanie Ballard), Ice Cube (Desolation Williams), Pam Grier (Commander Helena Braddock), Jason Statham (Sgt Jericho Butler)