John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness
By Gilles Boulenger
Published by Silman-James Press, 2003.  296 pages.

Author Boulenger has spent four years interviewing Carpenter about himself and his movies. This title reads like one long and intricate interview, covering all of Carpenter’s work up to Ghost of Mars. This is a very interesting read here folks, giving us a ton of insight to this man, as well as his filmography. From a director that has given us some incredible films in his career, many that still hold up today, you get to hear how some of them came about, and also about some of the problems that came with it.

I think my only complaint about this book is that there are several occasions when a project that Carpenter had worked on, either as scriptwriter or doctor, but it’s mentioned in passing and we don’t get to hear any detail about it. I was amazed to hear how many projects that Carpenter was connected to at one time or another. But this is a minor complaint.

But in any case, this book is well worth the price, and really can give young filmmakers some depressing stories of what they might have to deal with. There is a great story Carpenter tells about a director and producer stranded in the desert that is hilarious. Obviously if you are a Carpenter fan, then this title is a must for your collection. If not, it is still one great read.