Horror icon John Carpenter will be teaming up with TCM for a special programming block called The Carpenter Zone this July. This will be a 2-night special event in which the director will screen 6 films that inspired his work.
The lineup includes The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Them! (1954), It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Mummy (1959), and Curse of the Demon (1957).
Warner Bros. Pictures
Night 1
On July 16th, Carpenter and host Alicia Malone will show will focus on sci-fi films and giant creatures wreaking havoc. The duo will show Hammer Films’ The Quatermass Xperiment starring Brian Donlevy. The film centers around Quatermass (Donlevy), a scientist trying to figure out why a manned spaceship crashed, leaving one survivor. And why that lone survivor is turning into an alien monster.
Then it’s on to It! The Terror from Beyond Space starring Marshall Thompson, Dabbs Greer, and Ann Doran. The movie tells the story of a rescue mission returning from Mars on its way back to Earth. The problem is the crew keeps getting eaten by a bloodthirsty alien who has snuck onboard. (Yes, Dan O’Bannon did borrow from this movie while co-writing Alien with Ridley Scott.)
The evening ends with one of the most beloved giant bug movies in the genre, Them! Because what’s not to love about giant irradiated ants causing death and destruction?
Night 2
On July 23rd, Carpenter and Malone pay tribute to the classic Hammer horror universe with another 3-film block. This time, kicking off with The Curse of Frankenstein, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. This Frankenstein tale has Cushing in the role of the less-than-sympathetic doctor and Lee as the monster.
Followed by The Mummy, also starring Cushing and Lee, about an archaeology team that discovers the tomb of an Egyptian princess. The hangup is that it’s guarded by an undead mummy who will avenge all who desecrate the site.
The Carpenter Zone concludes with Curse of the Demon, about an American professor, John Holden, after he arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology. He soon discovers his colleague was killed in a freak accident the day before. Turns out his deceased colleague was in the middle of investigating Dr. Julian Karswell, a cult leader. This leads Holden on an investigation that leads him to question his faith in science.
You can see more about TCM’s lineup here.
