Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

Big Trouble in Little China continues our House of Carpenter series with John Carpenter's 1986 kung fu, ghost, and monster mashup set in the underworld beneath San Francisco's Chinatown. Kurt Russell's Jack Burton is a fast-talking trucker who wants his rig back, until a kidnapped green-eyed bride drags him into a war against James Hong's 2,000-year-old sorcerer Lo Pan. A box office flop turned Gen X touchstone, it runs entirely on the rule of cool. Join Darren, Tristan, and John as they ride the Pork Chop Express.

John Carpenter's Christine continues our House of Carpenter series with a 1958 Plymouth Fury that loves her owner a little too much. Adapted from Stephen King's novel and released the same year, the 1983 film follows Keith Gordon as Arnie Cunningham, a bullied teenager whose rusted beauty starts rebuilding herself and running down anyone who gets in her way. Expect a chilling synth score, a jaw-dropping practical regeneration effect, and Harry Dean Stanton on the case. Join Darren, Tristan, and John as they pull into the drive-in.

Our House of Carpenter series continues in the frozen isolation of an Antarctic research station, where a team of American scientists takes in a sled dog fleeing a destroyed Norwegian camp and soon learns that something terrible came with it. John Carpenter's 1982 remake of The Thing from Another World (adapted from the novella Who Goes There?) arrived just one year after Escape from New York with three times the budget. Kurt Russell's helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady leads a crew that no longer knows who among them is still human. Rob Bottin's grotesque practical creature effects remain landmarks of the genre, Ennio Morricone's score hums with dread, and Wilford Brimley delivers a turn as Blair that's unlike anything else in his career. Overshadowed by E.T. at the box office, it took years to become one of the most celebrated cult horror films ever made. Join Darren, Tristan, and John as they grab a blood sample and a hot wire to find out who goes there.

Kicking off our House of Carpenter series, we head to the far-flung future of 1997, where Manhattan is a walled-off maximum security prison and Air Force One has just gone down inside it. John Carpenter's 1981 cult classic follows his Halloween breakout by moving from horror into dystopian action, with Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken bringing a Western gunslinger's swagger, a synth score you'll be humming for days, and Isaac Hayes as the Duke of New York. It's also a showcase of low-budget ingenuity, from a real night shoot on Liberty Island to a "computer" glider sequence built with neon tape, black light, and physical models. Join Darren, Tristan, and John as they get their gliders ready and ask whether Snake still has the goods 45 years later.

Arsenic and Old Lace, Frank Capra’s dark comedy, is both a beloved classic and a surprisingly divisive film. We explore Cary Grant’s frantic performance, the movie’s theatrical roots, Peter Lorre’s standout comic timing, and the delicate challenge of making murder feel charming rather than disturbing, without giving away all the twists. The result is an affectionate but honest look at a film whose macabre premise, eccentric characters, and escalating chaos still invite debate.