“I like to think that if all the filmmakers of that American New Wave were a giant school class, and Coppola was the captain of the football team, and Spielberg was the good lookin' rebel in the leather jacket hanging out with the bikers, and the drama majors are Altman and Cassavetes… and then you had Carpenter who is like the Ally Sheedy of this Breakfast Club, he's the outsider who's tucked away, probably getting a blow job behind the shed, but ends up coming up with some of the craziest, weirdest things.”

The other day, we were visited by a man who wanted to tell us the good news about a dude named JC. This JC had long hair, a legion of devoted followers, and he managed to change the world. And he was just a humble Carpenter, too!

Dark Horizons editor Garth Franklin was our guest this month, and he quickly decided on the great John Carpenter as his filmmaker of the month, a choice that definitely delighted us here at Hi4H Central.

Watching all of a filmmaker's works in one hit can be revelatory. You can look at Halloween or Big Trouble In Little China or Starman and know they're all John Carpenter films, but until you see them all in one go, it's difficult to fathom just how adept he was at every genre he turned his hand to. It's also fascinating to see exactly what interests Carpenter, and how these themes echo across all of his works.

That's what we dig into in this month's episode. First, as always, we also look at some key new release films, including Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, Lenny Abrahamson's Room, and Ryan Coogler's Creed.

We also take a look at something that's been on our minds in the month where we lost both David Bowie and Alan Rickman: how we define the legacies of beloved actors when we primarily know them through their imitation, rather than themselves?

Outro music: score from Halloween (1978), composed by John Carpenter

It's a jam-packed episode, and a hell of a way to kick of 2016. Stream or download from our website, listen via Stitcher Smart Radio, or subscribe on iTunes!