Cronenberg -- though am a huge fan of early Carpenter.

Cronenberg

To me his films are on a whole other level.

I think the biggest difference is that Cronenberg is more conceptual, Carpenter is more visceral. Carpenter couldn't have made Videodrome or Naked Lunch, but Cronenberg couldn't have made Halloween or The Thing. In the end, it comes down to which you prefer, the immediacy of Carpenter's films or the lingering concepts of Cronenberg's.

And both were great directors, but of the two only Cronenberg is still great.

Damn, that's hard, because both are favorites. I'm going to go with Carpenter. I really really viscerally love Carpenter's films, particularly those lean, early ones.

While "The film pays tribute to the work of seminal horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, with many references to his stories and themes", John Carpenter's In The Mouth Of Madness was written by Michael De Luca, directed by John Carpenter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mouth_of_Madness -kd5-

Cronenberg

In The Mouth of Madness was clearly an homage to both Lovecraft and King, and New England-based horror in general. To say it was a wholly original idea is disingenuous, as it's basically several different Lovecraft and King ideas thrown in a blender. Awesome film, though.

Agreed. It really got a bum deal being released around the same time as The Matrix and dealing with similar concepts. Way, way, overlooked and underrated.

I voted Cronenberg, for many reasons, not the least of which is that he seems to be getting better, while Carpenter only gets worse. If Cronenberg had only made one film, Dead Ringers, I still would have voted for him.

eXistenZ is one of Cronenberg's best films in my opinion.

Cronenberg for me.

I'll go with Carpenter. Overall, I've enjoyed his work more. But that wasn't an easy decision, as I love Cronenberg's work as well (except for the overatted Eastern Promises).

Carpenter.

I really love Videodrome and several other Cronenberg flicks that I've seen but I don't think his flicks have the re-watch ability as most of Carpenter's movies. I don't mean that in a bad way but Cronenberg's flicks are kind of draining for me, in a good way. Where as for Carpenter, I could watch Escape from New York on a loop.

Halloween, Escape from New York and The Thing are among my very favorite films so I had to go with John.

Carpenter for escape from ny which was one of the coolest movies ever.