Fact Check: Did John Carpenter write reviews on his own movies online? Filmmaker denies connection with viral posts 

The rumor about John Carpenter writing reviews of his movies has been going viral on social media. The account, which has now been taken down, praised his own classics like Halloween, and The Thing. It is worth noting that all of these reviews were posted by an account on Letterboxd, a social media platform where people discuss films.

Many reviews about John Carpenter’s films left people wondering if it was really the filmmaker writing reviews, as one post about his film, Memoirs of an Invisible Man convinced many that John had himself written the post. The post, now deleted, read:

“They paid me more money than I had ever seen to write a sequel to a film that did not need one. I took the check and spent it on beers to get me drunk enough to plow through this crap. I looked at the final script, which took a whopping 2 days to write, and said “Wow, now that’s a piece of sh*t.””

The post continued:

“And it was. I had faith in Rick Rosenthal and he did not deliver. I suppose I expected him to be a miracle worker and nobody could’ve made this work. I don’t regret hiring him.”

As the word spread about John Carpenter writing his own reviews, the filmmaker took to his X account, and posted:

“What the hell is a Letterboxd!??”

Evidently, the filmmaker was not aware of the platform, hence, John Carpenter did not rate or review his own movies. A random user pretended to be him, thus misleading people.

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Fake news debunked: John Carpenter did not review his own movies

John Carpenter's post on X gained over 2 million views in a day. He clarified that he wasn't the one posting on Letterboxd, and someone had been spreading false claims.

Furthermore, as John's post on X clarified doubts, many social media users also commented by referencing his Variety interview which took place in 2023. In the interview, he had clearly stated that he does not "evaluate" himself. John Carpenter said:

“I don’t evaluate myself. I really think I did a great job with The Thing. I would love to have made more serious films like that, that aren’t teenage movies and not geared to young people. That was a movie I’m proud of. I don’t know what my strength is. I have no clue.”

Born in 1948, the 76-year-old movie maker and actor has made many popular films, like Halloween which was released in 1978, The Fog, which came in 1980, Escape From New York, which was released in 1981, followed by Starman in 1984. Several other films made by John are Dark Star, The Thing, Escape from L.A. and even They Live.

Out of all his movies, John is most popular for his Halloween franchise, as he released three more movies, Halloween in 2018, Halloween Kills in 2021, and Halloween Ends in 2022.

The movie and the franchises received many awards and nominations, including the ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, Indiana Film Journalists Association Award, Hollywood Music in Media Awards and the Online Film & TV Association Awards.