Without John Carpenter, many of the most popular horror movies – and certainly the finest sci-fi films – from the last forty years or so wouldn’t have been quite the same.

It Follows, You’re Next, Friday The 13th, Green Room and even the 1980s inspired Netflix sci-fi TV series, Stranger Things have all included nods to the 68-year old filmmaker and musician’s work.

Carpenter’s memorable body of work has not only been a massive inspiration to many moviemakers, but also composers and instrumentalists who want to recreate a soundtrack with a similarly atmospheric quality.

By his own admission, Carpenter is a capitalist. In the late 1970s, he requested that his low-budget horror feature, Halloween displayed his name above the title. It was a smart move because the picture went on to become one of the most financially succcesful independent films of that decade. In more recent years, musician and director Rob Zombie made his own adaptation of the movie (and there have been countless sequels, many of them decidedly vacuous), but the original is always favoured as far superior.

To this day, Halloween remains my favourite movie of all time. I first saw it at the tender age of eleven and it genuinely scared the hell out of me. Up until that point I’d never seen anything like it, and you’d be right to point out that at such a young age, I probably shouldn’t have. I was unable to sleep for weeks. I’d look out into the garden and would swear I saw a masked Michael Myers standing in my mum’s washing line. I’d walk to school and picture him hiding behind the shrubbery. In my head, I heard the haunting and melancholic piano keys of Carpenter’s infectious score, playing over and over. I was traumatised but exhilarated by such an intense and powerful movie. 

Halloween began life as The Babysitter Murders, an idea devised by independent producer Irwin Yablans. The story centred on a homicidal maniac who murders babysitters. Yablans offered his concept to Carpenter, and a holiday setting was used not only to add gravitas to the narrative, but to resonate with audiences watching it during the All Hallows’ Evening celebrations.

Frequently lauded as a lynchpin, paving the way for other successful movies in the genre, Halloween provided top notch scares and thrills without the need for too much gore. Much like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, the film avoids showing too much grisly detail. It’s what you don’t see that is actually more terrifying: the pictures in your head of what could be.

Halloween‘s Panavision wide-screen format was essential to the style of the movie (despite being avoided by other low-budget movie makers at the time). Seeing it in its digitally restored print at the BFI this week was a joy to behold. Ray Stella’s stalking, Panaglide handling makes for unsettling viewing on the big screen, and despite having seen the film countless times, there were details I picked out that I hadn’t noticed before.

There are some nice character touches: P.J. Soles as the ditzy, fun-loving Lynda is both cloying and endearing (totally!), Nancy Loomis puts in a hilariously deadpan performance as Annie, and Donald Pleasance’s creepy, Action-Man-toy eyes have rarely looked so troubled. Oh, and could Jamie Lee Curtis be the ultimate scream queen? You don’t need me to tell you that! 

Although he is justifiably titled as “The Horror Master” on his Twitter profile, John Carpenter has also produced many films that don’t sit in the strict horror genre: pictures that have a strong sense of comedy and satire. They Live (1988), for example, followed an unnamed drifter (referred to as “John Nada” in the credits) who discovers the ruling class are in fact shady aliens controlling people to convince them to spend money. On the surface, the plot is laughably ridiculous, but modern day living and obsessions with social media and consumerism has reminded us that Carpenter’s fictional prediction was in some ways pretty accurate if you dig beneath the comedic exterior.

In a modern climate of aggressive and graphic torture porn amidst the horror movie industry, John Carpenter’s cinematic sense of humour and mystique should be applauded, as should his intellect to allow viewers to imagine the worst horrors and laugh at the most ridiculous and sublime. His recent shows as part of his tour with his son, Cody Carpenter, proved that this is a man not only worthy of our praise as a distinct filmmaker, but a man who – at 68 – is clearly having the time of his life. 

• The Cult Of John Carpenter season runs at BFI, London until Nov 28. 

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