On April 3, 2025, John Carpenter was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and FANGORIA was there.
A filmmaker since his early teens, Carpenter's filmography contains some of the most important cultural touchstones, not just of horror, but cinema as an art form. From Assault on Precinct 13 to Halloween, Escape from New York to The Thing, Prince of Darkness to They Live, and In the Mouth of Madness, these films are signposts of the evolution of American horror. A sign of a true genius, Carpenter isn't bound by genre — Big Trouble in Little China is a perfectly calibrated action-comedy, and his television biopic, Elvis, remains the definitive distillation of one of music's greatest legends.
Carpenter's star was to be unveiled at the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Orange St., which happens to be directly in front of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, home of the first Academy Awards ceremony, and across the street from historic Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Walk of Fame ceremonies are typically well-covered by the normies, but word got to FANGORIA that the horror press' attendance was important to Carpenter. With Fango EIC Phil Nobile Jr. and web editor Angel Melanson in New Orleans at the Overlook Film Festival, your boy got the call to represent Fango at the event. I've lived in Los Angeles for almost 30 years, twenty of them on Hollywood Blvd., and I've never been to a Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony as a fan, let alone as a member of the press. The most important question – what would I wear?
Our call time is 10:45 A.M. for an 11:30 A.M ceremony, but when I arrive at 10 A.M. a crowd of fans has already lined up in a holding area outside of what is called “The Box,” aka the velvet rope area. The Box boundaries are very important to maintain for obvious reasons, and over the course of the morning we'll hear “come into The Box,” “stay inside The Box,“ and “once you leave The Box, you can't get back into The Box“ multiple times before, during, and after the ceremony. The perimeter is well guarded, and an established pecking order dictates where each press outlet is positioned in The Box.
I arrive first, closely followed by my colleagues from Dread Central and iHorror, Matt Konopka and Jacon Davison. We share our collective disbelief in snagging this awesome gig. The normie press, which appears to be mostly photo and video journalists, is already setting up shop in The Box. Clocking their giant, fancy cameras, I'm struck by a case of lens envy. My iPhone has a better camera than anything that existed even 10 years ago, but still…
At 11 A.M on the dot, we're ushered into The Box. The setup for the ceremony is a short, red carpet with a star-shaped placard in the center. This is where Carpenter will sit as the fake star is removed to reveal the real thing. Behind that is a podium on a platform where speakers will extol the virtues of the guest of honor before the reveal. In the street, the parking lane of this section of Hollywood Blvd. has been cordoned off to create the special, VIP, inside-The-Box seating area, with about 100 chairs for invited guests.
Behind that is the area for the general audience, separated from The Box by a sturdy, chest-high barrier. Guards keep a very close eye on the packed crowd filled with people in Michael Myers masks, plus one excellent Annie Brackett cosplayer.
The photographers and videographers are positioned directly in front of the red carpet on tiered platforms about ten yards away. To the right of the photogs is an open space, and that's where the horror press is positioned. I had envisioned being behind the photographers, or in a crowd with other non-traditional guests, but to my absolute shock, we are placed literally 20 feet away from the red carpet with an unobstructed view of the podium. I hear someone say, “Get them some chairs,“ and suddenly, we literally have front-row seats.
Directly behind my chair, in an accessibility area outside The Box, is a young fan on a motorized mobility device and his caretaker (who I believe was his father). When I first sat down after the chairs arrived, the caretaker got my attention and asked if I would move to the side so the young man could see the ceremony.
I've worked in Hollywood for a long time, and I still have stars in my eyes when I'm around famous people I admire, so I could only imagine how excited this young man was to be *this close* to Carpenter. I wanted to do what I could to make sure the young man had a day to remember; there was no way he'd have a clear view with someone in front of him, so I ask the photographer next to me to avoid blocking his view. #geekshelpinggeeks
At 11:15 A.M. the VIPs enter The Box. I clock my first celebrity, “Holy shit, that's Slash…“ and suddenly, Carpenter is standing directly in front of us. As he takes his seat, the normie press jumps out of their area and descends on the VIP section. At this point, I can't see who else has entered the seating area, blocked by the wall of photographers. The other horror journos and I watch this for a moment, not sure what we're allowed to do. I think, “Well, the worst thing that could happen is they could tell me to stop…“ I pull out my phone and move closer.
The photographers are literally five feet away from Carpenter, shooting photos of him and the crowd at close range while the VIPs largely ignore the cameras and chat with each other. Occasionally, one will look up briefly, give us a smile or pose, and then return to their conversation. I look nothing like the normie press with my FANGORIA T-shirt and Pussyfoot baseball cap, and while they aren't preventing me from getting good shots, they aren't exactly making room, either.
I realize confidence was the access point, and so I play the role of “Person who belongs here,“ and step up to the crowd. At this point, my little consumer-grade iPhone absolutely works to my advantage. I just jam my arm between the other photographers, point my comparatively small device at the guests, and click off what would eventually be hundreds of photos. Once I break the seal, the other horror journos follow suit. I won't lie, it feels strange to point a camera right at a famous person's face and to take a picture, but stranger still that no one cares.
At 11:30 A.M. on the dot, everyone is shooed back to their seats, and the ceremony begins. After brief intros by Jerry Neuman (Chair) and Steve Nissen (CEO/President) of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, KNB EFX founder Greg Nicotero is the first to speak.
“Everything I'm gonna say, John's gonna hate…“ he begins, and there is a burst of laughter when the crowd realizes Nicotero has fashioned his speech cards to read “OBEY“ and “CONSUME“ on the back in a tribute to They Live. “He's altered the way that we watch movies…,“ he continues. “If I started naming the filmmakers that have been influenced by him, we would be here for a month because it's pretty much everybody in Hollywood.“
After speaking warmly of the writer/director for several minutes, Nicotero wraps up with, “The one thing I wanna hope is by the time this ends, we're finally going to find out if Keith David or Kurt Russell was the Thing…“ to laughter and applause from the crowd.
Next up is actor Keith David, whose first film role was in The Thing. “First, let me clear this up – it wasn't me,“ he says as he takes the stage, in reference to Nicotero's closing remark. David, who also appeared in They Live, speaks at length about Carpenter's place in the pantheon of filmmakers, labeling him a “visionary“ among other compliments. “I once had a teacher who would ask, ‘Do you know when you're in the presence of something beautiful?‘ When working with (Carpenter) and the cast of The Thing, I knew I was in the presence of something beautiful. It just doesn't get better than that.”
And finally, Kurt Russell takes the stage. “The one thing I don't like to do is let John Carpenter down, so I should have figured a way to not follow Keith…“ After an off-the-cuff story about the origin of his character's sombrero in The Thing, Russell, a five-time collaborator with Carpenter, begins his prepared remarks.
“There are very, very few directors whose signature is so clearly and instantly stamped upon a film that within 30 seconds of viewing it, the informed watcher can boldly and confidently say out loud, ‘Oh, that's directed by so-and-so.‘ John Carpenter is one of those rare, very few so-and-sos.“ Russell, at times visibly emotional, moves the crowd with his sincere speech. “On a very personal note, I'd just like to say thank you for the many opportunities you provided for me that nobody else would have, and the opportunities to act and just be a part of a John Carpenter film.”
And now, the man himself, John Carpenter. Feisty as ever, Carpenter is ready to speak but there's one more accolade: Hugo Soto-Martinez, Los Angeles City Council member, presents a certificate of recognition on behalf of the city of Los Angeles. Nissen then declares today, “John Carpenter Day in Hollywood!“
Carpenter takes the mic, and keeps it short and very sweet. “In 1968, I was a skinny kid from Bowling Green, KY, walking these streets. I was looking for a career in Hollywood. Well, I found my career, and today I have found Hollywood.“ He continues, “Thank you so much to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for this place on this sacred boulevard where people and dogs can pee on me at any time.“ The crowd laughs and applauds, and with that, the time has come for the unveiling.
At the star, Carpenter is surrounded by the speakers and the producer of many of his films, who also happens to be his wife, Sandy King. Neuman and Nissen do the honors; they lift the placard, and just like that, John Carpenter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Carpenter poses for photos, shooting his signature devil horns salute, and then the official event is over. The crowd mingles, and the photographers (me included) circulate among the VIPs, taking candids of the conversations. After a few moments, we're gently encouraged to “clear the box,” and I exit through the hotel's huge lobby.
The only person in the cavernous space besides the front desk clerk is P.J. Soles. I take this moment to break my journalistic ethics and ask for a photo. She graciously agrees and then asks, “Will you take one of me and my boyfriend? This lobby is beautiful.“ Her boyfriend appears beside me (I swear he wasn't there moments ago), and hands me his phone. I take multiple photos – vertical and landscape – and hand the phone back for approval. “These are great. Thank you!“
We make our way to the valet, where I chat with Ryan Turek from Blumhouse (and former Fango scribe. He says, “Hi.”) My orange Honda Fit arrives among the black SUV megaboats, and instead of driving, I float home on a cloud.
Watch a replay of John Carpenter's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony:
