13 John Carpenter movies ranked from worst to best

“Master of Horror” John Carpenter has directed 21 films in his career. Here we rank 13 of his most iconic films from worst to best.

American filmmaker John Carpenter is a well-known and beloved director who conquered the genres of action, sci-fi, and the one he is most known for horror. Carpenter has written and directed many films in his years that would go on to become cult classics, box office hits, and critically acclaimed feats.

A living legend, Carpenter started his film career by creating short films and would later take on feature-length projects where his career really took off with his first major film being 1974’s Dark Star, as a director.

From the 1970’s up through the early 2000’s with his last directed feature film being in 2010 John has kept busy writing, composing, and producing numerous projects throughout the years.

In this list, we will be taking thirteen of John Carpenter’s films that he has directed and rank them from worst to best. If you’re a fan of Carpenter, check our ranking and see if any of your favorites made the list!

13. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)

Partially based on the 1987 H.F. Saint novel Memoirs of an Invisible Man the film of the same name stars comedic actor Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, and Stephen Tobolowsky. This particular film had a rocky start with it initially being tied to another director named Ivan Reitman and having a completely different tone than what was ultimately presented.

Unfortunately, Chevy Chase and Ivan Reitman had creative differences which led to Reitman stepping down from the project and allowing John Carpenter to step in and direct his own vision for the film. Creative differences are more common in Hollywood which can lead to either a film’s big break or big mistake.

What Carpenter and Chase did with this movie was bring us a more comedic take on the Invisible Man trope. Memoirs of an Invisible Man was met with mixed reviews from both critics and audiences. The special effects in the movie for the era were impressive but not enough to save the film from its weak plot and poorly written script.

When one thinks of comedy films the name of John Carpenter is not the first second or last to come to mind. In the end, it was a commercial failure being one of Carpenter’s weakest entries.