The night gaming came home! In an extra spooky special, Sam, David and guest Shane Cannon hand out tricks and treats alike as they discuss the rich legacy of illustrious horror director John Carpenter. It’s an eclectic tale spun across cult movies, the games inspired by them, and the famously outspoken gaming tastes of the big man himself. And, uh. Hang on. Didn’t David have something this week too…?

Special thanks to Stephen Follows for reaching out to provide research from his new book - The Horror Movie Report! https://stephenfollows.com/reports/the-horror-report/

Follow us on Twitter, Bluesky and Backloggd: @GamerEraPodcast

Topics discussed: Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo; Halloween (1978 film, 1983 game), The Fog; Escape from New York, Snake Plissken’s First Escape (cancelled game), John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982 film, 2002 game), Big Trouble in Little China (1986 film and game), They Live; Russell Grant’s Astrology / Astrology DS

Also mentioned: Judero, Kingdom Hearts, David’s PS3 comes out of storage, Myst/Riven, Atari Food Fight (2024); Sonic Unleashed, John Carpenter’s Games of the Year 2013 - 2014 (Borderlands 2, Remember Me, The Last of Us, Assassin’s Creed IV), Dead Space, Until Dawn; Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Bart vs. the Space Mutants

Music used:

Menu Music 3 (“Okay Fellas”) [from “International Superstar Soccer 2000”] - Kazuhiko Uehara
Parasail Minigame [from “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”] - Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, Hajime Wakai
“Halloween” Theme (1978) - John Carpenter
Alone in the Town [from “Silent Hill 2” (2001)] - Akira Yamaoka
Theme of Solid Snake [from “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”] - Masami Ueda
Track 04 [from “Sentinel Returns”] - John Carpenter, Gary McKill
You Idiot [from “Undertale”] - Toby Fox

Further reading:

John Carpenter profile - Giant Bomb (Patrick Klepek, 2014): https://www.giantbomb.com/john-carpenter/3040-27465/
John Carpenter interview - The Flashback Files (Roel Haanen, 2014): https://www.flashbackfiles.com/john-carpenter-interview
Eurogamer - The Making of “The Thing” (Graeme Mason, 2014): https://www.eurogamer.net/the-making-of-the-thing
Horror master John Carpenter on his 20-year Sonic The Hedgehog addiction - Fact Magazine (Miles Bowe, 2017): https://www.factmag.com/2017/11/09/john-carpenter-sonic-the-hedgehog/
Cancelled “Escape from New York” game footage (NeoGamer, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-vp_8s7--Q