John Carpenter’s films have been terrifying audiences for over 50 years, and here are the most terrifying moments from his filmography. Despite getting into the business to make Westerns, John Carpenter’s movies primarily belong to the horror and sci-fi genres.

Westerns were all but ᴅᴇᴀᴅ when Carpenter launched his career, and his talent for suspense and horror naturally led him to genre work. Carpenter’s big breakthrough came thanks to the Halloween movie franchise, with Escape from New York, The Thing and They Live being among his most popular movies.

Both Carpenter’s movies and music struck a chord with a generation of moviegoers, and his influence is still felt in movies and shows like Stranger Things and It Follows. Carpenter is behind some of the scariest horror scenes of the 1970s and 1980s, be it creating a sense of creeping dread or staging almighty jumpscares.

Judith’s Murder – Halloween (1978)

Halloween was only Carpenter’s third movie, but it forever typecast him as a horror filmmaker. He also composed the iconic score and created the character of Michael Myers, who became one of cinema’s greatest boogeymen. Carpenter and creative partner Debra Hill also accidentally laid out the template for the entire slasher genre.

A core tenet of slashers is that Sєx equals death, which Carpenter establishes with Halloween’s eerie prologue. This opening follows the POV of an unseen character, who walks up to a house and peeks on a teen couple, before entering, grabbing a kitchen knife and stabbing the girl to death.

Not only is the steadicam work deeply impressive it also adds to the floating menace of the sequence. Halloween’s opener ends with the stunning reveal that the killer was a small boy named Michael Myers, who murdered his sister Judith for seemingly no reason.

The Ice Cream Killing – ᴀssault on Precinct 13 (1976)

ᴀssault on Precinct 13 was Carpenter’s second film, and although not technically horror, it treats its street gang villains as a supernatural threat. They never speak, they’re devoid of any emotion and attack like a zombie horde. The scene that highlights their inhumanity is the infamous ice cream van scene.

This sees a young girl (played by Kim Richards) getting an ice cream from a van being stalked by the gang. After finding she has the wrong kind of ice cream, she returns to complain but gets sH๏τ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ during a gang attack on the driver.

Kim Richards is the sister of Kyle Richards, who went on to play Lindsey Wallace in Halloween, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

Carpenter has since expressed regret for how disturbing this ᴀssault on Precinct 13 killing is, and said he’d never film such a scene again. It’s still a horrifying moment, and while the film never gets that dark again, it does effectively establish that anybody can die.

“Pray for Death” – Prince of Darkness (1987)

This 1987 chiller was made as a low-budget refresher for Carpenter, who had burned out working with major studios. Carpenter returned to his B-movie roots with Prince of Darkness, where a group of scientists investigates a swirling vat of green liquid underneath an L.A. church. Inside this vat is the essence of Satan himself, who is starting to awaken.

The film is all about slow burn dread until things get hellish in the third act. One of the most ominous beats comes toward the end of the second act, when the team spots one of their number – who went missing earlier – standing outside and speaking in a raspy voice.

They also notice he’s covered in bugs, and he issues the message “Pray for death.” Then he falls to pieces as his body is consumed by ants, as the horrified onlookers realize the “Prince of Darkness” himself truly has returned. It’s an intensely creepy moment in a movie littered with them.

The Lighthouse Attack – The Fog (1980)

The Fog was Carpenter’s follow-up to Halloween, and by his own account, his most troubled movie. The filmmaker was stunned to watch his first cut and realize nothing worked; it was too slow, lacking in scares, and his own music score lacked punch. A month before release, Carpenter resH๏τ a third of it, adding in scares and a new score.

This includes The Fog’s finale, where the тιтular haunted aerosol snakes its way to the isolated lighthouse that’s home to DJ Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau). What follows is a tense siege, where the ghosts slowly force their way inside and Stevie must escape to the slippery roof.

Adrienne Barbeau and John Carpenter were married during production on The Fog, and also worked together on Someone’s Watching Me! and Escape from New York.

Carpenter milks this scene for every inch of suspense, with a brief sH๏τ of a worm-addled ghost putting a moldy face on the largely unseen ghosts. It’s The Fog’s best chase and it’s all the more impressive for Carpenter sтιтching it into the film just before release.

The Corridor of Monsters – In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

While not directly adapting a H.P. Lovecraft tale, In the Mouth of Madness is heavily inspired by the author. Carpenter is a big Lovecraft admirer and identified a core issue with adapting his work; the monsters in Lovecraft’s stories are largely unseen or too horrific to describe.

In one bravura scene, Sam Neill’s protagonist Trent learns that author Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) is trying to break the barrier between reality and fantasy so the “old ones” can return. Cane then rips himself apart so the monsters from the void can come through into the real world.

Carpenter then smashes Lovecraft’s biggest rule by having Trent chased by a horde of slimy, tentacled monsters. They’re only glimpsed briefly, but their nightmarish designs and the chase’s relentless pace make it In the Mouth of Madness‘ most memorable sequence.

Christine’s Revenge – Christine (1983)

Carpenter took Christine after the failure of The Thing, as he was desperate for a gig. He admitted to not being a fan of the concept and struggled to make the тιтle car look scary onscreen. Christine is one of Carpenter’s most underrated films, but it’s rarely frightening.

A key exception is Christine’s revenge spree against the bullies of her driver, Arnie (Keith Gordon). This includes chasing head bully “Buddy” Repperton (William Ostrander), who believes himself safe after Christine destroys a gas station and gets blown up along with some of his friends.

Sadly for him, Christine doesn’t give up that easily and emerges covered in flames. She then slowly chases Buddy down an open road, with one of Carpenter’s best scores giving this moment a suitably nightmarish feel. Needless to say, Buddy loses the chase.

Laurie Finds The Bodies – Halloween (1978)

Halloween is a perfect engine of suspense, with the simple setup leading to the inevitable meeting between Michael and Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis). This comes in the final act, where after killing her friends one by one, Laurie arrives at a neighbor’s house to investigate where everyone has gone.

Michael has laid out a carnival of terrors, with her murdered friends put on display for Laurie to find. Carpenter cranks the tension dial as high as it will go, when Michael himself finally appears to emerge out of the darkness to attack Laurie.

Carpenter’s masterful staging and use of music was rarely better than Halloween’s last act. Bonus points also go to the moment the “ᴅᴇᴀᴅ” Michael rises in the background behind Laurie in the final scene.

The Defibrillator Scene – The Thing (1982)

The Thing is the ultimate monster movie, since the тιтle alien can look like anything. This sci-fi horror is Carpenter’s masterwork, where he got to use all the tools of his trade, from practical effects work to good old-fashioned tension building.

That all comes together in The Thing’s defibrillator scene, where team member Norris (Charles Hallahan) collapses after an apparent heart attack. When a doctor tries to revive the poor man with a defibrillator, Norris’ chest rips open to reveal a mouth of razor-sharp, misshapen teeth, which shear the poor medic’s arms clean off.

What follows is a harrowing battle where the Norris-Thing’s body contorts and twists into horrid shapes, with his head becoming the iconic Spider-Thing. It’s a jaw-dropping VFX showcase, but with this sequence, Carpenter underlines just how dangerous and unstoppable The Thing can be.

The Future Dream – Prince of Darkness (1987)

Prince of Darkness is one of Carpenter’s purest horror outings, but its odd plot and patient tone test some viewers. One thing everyone remembers is the nightmare the main character share, which follows a grainy camera sH๏τ of the front of the church as a figure emerges from it.

It’s a simple sH๏τ, but it’s deeply unsettling and uncanny, with the dream continuing to evolve throughout the story. Within the reality of Prince of Darkness, this dream is the Anti-God emerging from the church to end the world, with future scientists sending this “dream” back as a warning to stop his awakening.

Prince of Darkness was Donald Pleasence’s third and final collaboration with John Carpenter, following Halloween and Escape from New York.

Prince of Darkness’ dream was inspired by a nightmare Carpenter’s former creative partner, Debra Hill, had. It might be the most successful translation of the sense of dread a nightmare can induce, because while nothing scary is technically happening, it somehow feels terrifying.

The Blood Test Scene – The Thing (1982)

The Thing is a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World, one of Carpenter’s personal favorites. He was reluctant to remake it, but the chance to do the blood test scene was what convinced him. This involves Kurt Russell’s MacReady tying up the remaining survivors and testing their blood with a H๏τ needle to see who’s human.

What follows is an extended exercise in coil-тιԍнт tension, as MacReady plunges the needle into various dishes filled with blood. Audiences just know that one of these dishes will pop at any moment, but Carpenter’s sense of timing makes the inevitable reveal a true jolt.

It’s John Carpenter’s most terrifying scene, and the best-directed setpiece of his career. This entire list could have been made up of scenes from The Thing (like the kennel reveal or the investigation of the Norwegian camp), but it would still end with the blood test in the top position.