Hazel Motes

Pretty simple premise. Both have directed almost exactly the same amount of feature films. Both are staples of 70's/80's genre. Chronologically film by film. Which film do you prefer.

Stereo or Dark Star
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

Feel free to copy and paste and then just put the film you prefer in bold.

Toddarino

Carpenter is gonna win this but this is cool.

Stereo or Dark Star
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble In Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince Of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Body Bags
Spider or In The Mouth Of Madness
A History Of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

Those last two were basically toss ups.

TomOpus

Stereo or Dark Star
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

The Antipodean

Tough choice!
I love em both so much so it’s like choosing favourite children. Have not seen EVERY one of their flicks so leaving those unbold. I think Cronenberg has been more consistent to me and the films I love of his I REALLY love. Hardest choice here - Videodrome or The Thing. Tough!

Stereo or Dark Star
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

DaveyJoe

I deleted a couple lines where I haven't seen either film. Pretty close but I lean towards Cronenberg a bit, even though Halloween is my favorite horror film(and franchise).

Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me

The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

OldBoy

Stereo or Dark Star...haven't seen either one.
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis...haven't seen either one.
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward...didn't like The Ward and haven't seen MttS.

Crocker Jarmen

My pre-pick prediction is I'll wind up picking Carpenter over Cronenberg.


Stereo or Dark Star
Shivers or Halloween
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
[B]The Dead Zone[B] or Christine
The Fly or Starman (Kind of a draw. I find neither one compelling and doubt I'll see either one again.)
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness (Toughest choice. Love POD, it's one of my childhood staples, but NL is incredible, probably Cronenberg's finest.)
M. Butterfly or They Live (Another apathy draw)
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man

After that, they're all movies I either haven't seen, have forgotten all about, or thought were terrible. I don't know if they lost their touch as they got older, or if their films were only capable of making an impression on me while I was a kid.

Paff

Not gonna do the itemized list, because for most of the earlier and later films, I either haven't seen one of the choices, or both. So that wouldn't be a proper vote.

Interesting coincidence that for their 9th film chonologically, both directed a Stephen King adaptation.

That all said, I'm gonna do one side-by-side vote that will surprise a lot of people:
Shivers or Halloween - SHIVERS. Yeah, I said it.

DaveyJoe

bruh

GoldenJCJ

Kind of cool to see side-by-side comparisons of their filmographies. Looking at the list, I realize that I’ve seen a lot more Carpenter films than Cronenberg films. Just doing a quick once over the list, my first reaction is Carpenter made better films in the first half of their careers and Cronenberg has made better films during the second half of their careers.

Crocker Jarmen

Not only that, but they were both the same year, 1983 (and there was still another Stephen King adaptation done that year, Cujo).

Crocker Jarmen

Agree that Cronenberg is making classier films in the final half of his career. Honestly, I've always found Cronenberg to be more about ideas than cinema. Across his career, the filmmaking of the majority of his movies looks amateurish. He may be more of an intellectual than Carpenter, but possesses none of the craftsmanship.

Paff

I'm as serious as a heart attack, man. I mean, I like Halloween, but I don't think it's the masterpiece that so many people make it out to be. It's a competently made slasher, not the first, and not the best. Yes, it may have given rise to the slasher craze of the early 80s, and believe me, that's a hit-or-miss cache of films to say the least.

Shivers is such an excellent film, works great on repeated viewings. The travelogue at the beginning, the sales pitch of the Starlighter apartment complex, is such a great intro of what will essentially be the prison later in the film. And of course the way that people losing their sexual inhibitions will reveal the true dark side of their desires. It's really an amazing piece of work that unfolds so slowly over the course of the film until it turns into a literal orgy. I also think it's easily one of Cronenberg's top 5 films, maybe even in the top 2 or 3, it's that good.

Crocker Jarmen

While Halloween is one of my favourite movies of all time, I can't deny Shivers has a lot of power, and in my opinion is significantly more frightening and disturbing than Halloween. This is a perfect example of a low-budget making the film better. Halloween is slick and stylish so you're always aware you're watching a movie, while Shivers has a grossness pervading even the benign scenes. It feels like you're watching something pornographic.

They're such effective yet different movies, I'm not at all surprised someone would champion one over the other.

It's also possibly the best movie likely inspired by Night of the Living Dead, and contains a lot of imagery and situations I genuinely wonder if George Romero took inspiration from when crafting Dawn of the Dead a few years later.

GoldenJCJ

I’ll agree with this. Maybe that’s why a lot of Cronenberg’s movies never really gelled with me. They seemed be be big on concept but lacking on execution. I also think that’s why I prefer Carpenter as a director. Carpenter might not have the best, most original stories but the filmmaking is a notch above. I can feel Carpenter’s love of movie making oozing through the screen.

Many of Carpenter’s movies are also big on atmosphere, particularly his early work. Halloween and The Fog may not be extremely original but what they’re lacking in originality they more than make up for in atmosphere.

brainee

Stereo or Dark Star (Those super early Cronenberg movies are pretty unwatchable for me)
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13 (see above)
Shivers or Halloween (Shivers was good, but Halloween is in its own class)
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me (Maybe not fair to match up theatrical vs a made-for-tv movie)
Fast Company or Elvis (Haven't seen Elvis)
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing (I love these last Cronenberg movies ... just not as much as I do the Carpenter movies matched against them)
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

End count: Cronenberg 10, Carpenter 10! I guess I have to watch Elvis now to break the tie It wouldn't have to be that good to win (Fast Company was ok, but a very minor and uncharacteristic entry in Cronenberg's filmography)

Toddarino

What stands out to me is how even how great Scanners, the Brood and Videodrome are and when matched up against those corresponding Carpenter films I didn’t even have to think about it. Both of these directors made some truly outstanding films.

inri222

Stereo or Dark Star
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble In Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince Of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Body Bags
Spider or In The Mouth Of Madness
A History Of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

rbrown498

Stereo or Dark Star (haven't seen either)
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13 (haven't seen Crimes, but I can't fathom liking it better than Assault)
Shivers or Halloween (this choice was so, so hard, as Shivers is in my top 3 Cronenberg films)
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis (haven't seen either)
The Brood or The Fog (another difficult decision)
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing (unlike most people, I'm not a fan of Videodrome)
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China (but, to be fair, it's been a VERY long time since I've seen Dead Ringers)
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness (full confession--I haven't even seen Naked Lunch, but I hate PoD so badly that it wins by default)
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags (can't make a call here; I'm not terribly fond of either of them)
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness (ditto)
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires (I haven't seen Method, but Vampires isn't bad--no call)
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward (I haven't seen Maps, and The Ward was only okay, so again, no call)

I agree that Cronenberg, for the most part, kept getting better and better, while Carpenter peaked early and coasted for the second-half of his career.

flansered

Stereo or Dark Star
Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13
Shivers or Halloween
Rabid or Someone's Watching Me
Fast Company or Elvis
The Brood or The Fog
Scanners or Escape From New York
Videodrome or The Thing
The Dead Zone or Christine
The Fly or Starman
Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China
Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness
M. Butterfly or They Live
Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man
eXistenZ or Bodybags
Spider or In the Mouth of Madness
A History of Violence or Village of the Damned
Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A
A Dangerous Method or Vampires
Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars
Maps to the Stars or The Ward

The hardest one for me to choose was either "Videodrome or The Thing", and that could flip based on my mood. But it's apparent that John Carpenter doesn't seem to care about film making anymore, but Cronenberg keeps making different and interesting films.