I swear, twice a year we get this topic. John Carpenter's slide in quality is two fold, and it seems pretty easy to trace where the jump off point is -- Escape from L.A.
That is also the last movie Debra Hill and Carpenter did together, and I think that shows how important Hill was to Carpenter in terms of creativity and production. Debra Hill moved on and her lack of involvement in Carpenter's most recent works is probably a definite reason why they're - gasp! - not that great.
Most importantly was that Escape from L.A. was that last movie Carpenter himself wrote (until Ghosts of Mars). All of Carpenter's memorable projects were either from his screenplay or an original screenplay that he would go in and make his own (even if uncredited, like Big Trouble for instance). Now he did write Ghosts of Mars, but it's a general concensus that it is nothing but a shoddy remake of Assault on Precinct 13... on Mars. Escape from L.A., which always gets a lukewarm fan reception was a sequel no less. Carpenter has not written a completely original idea since They Live, which seems to be the fan pick for the last good film he made.
What does this show?
Well, you can't replace a Debra Hill, but more importantly, Carpenter thrives when directing original material written by himself or original material from another screenwriter that he still works on to make it his own. And he hasn't directed original material he wrote or worked on in almost 17 years. 17 years!
So either Carpenter has just run out of ideas, stop caring or both. I think we'll see if this formula holds true when Carpenter directs his first original idea written by him (and Todd Farmer of Jason X fame!) due out sometime next year -- Psychopath.
