There aren’t many filmmakers more influential than John Carpenter. Though he’s mostly known for his horror movies, his fingerprints are all over pop culture.
From creating Michael Myers and the “Halloween” franchise to inspiring the entire Obey clothing brand with the imagery from “They Live,” many might not even know how deep his influence runs. Carpenter is best known for his work as a director, but he hasn’t directed a new film since 2010’s “The Ward.”
While Carpenter hasn’t been behind the camera much for many years, he’s still been keeping plenty busy. His band, which features his son Cody Carpenter and his godson Daniel Davies, has produced several albums and has also done the music for the latest “Halloween” trilogy and “Firestarter (2022).”
He has been entrenched in making music for a long time now, but as any good storyteller knows, it’s hard to turn off that part of your brain. This is what led Carpenter to create a new graphic novel titled “Cathedral.” Co-written by his wife Sandy King and Sean Sobczak, the story of the graphic novel follows a trio of law enforcement officers who are sent to investigate a crime at an abandoned cathedral. What they quickly find is that the cathedral is actually a portal to hell.
The terrifying premise sounds like a classic Carpenter movie, but this isn’t a story he came up with on his own. It actually came to him in a dream.
“Never, until now,” Carpenter told EntertainmentNow when asked if dreams have played a role in his writing previously.
“I have a recurring dream, and I’ve had it over and over again,” Carpenter added. “Well, there’s two variations. One is I’m in a strange city. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know how to find my friends. I’m lost. Second dream is I’m in a big city like Los Angeles, and I’m looking for the movie theater district, and I can’t find it. Those are the two dreams I have over and over again. This time I had a full dream, a story and the story that you read basically, I added a couple of details. The guy who rose the boat across to the, I mean, that’s right out of Greek mythology, and I stole it, but the rest of it is pretty much exact. So, I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know why.
I don’t know what I had to eat that night, but whatever it was, the result is this graphic novel and an album.”
Carpenter Discusses Companion Album
Carpenter’s work as a director and writer is legendary, but what can’t be overlooked is his musical ability. He has composed the score for most of the films throughout his career, and is the creator of the iconic “Halloween Theme.“
When he decided to embark on writing this graphic novel, it wasn’t originally at the top of his mind to create a companion album. With the assist from one of his bandmates, he realized that it would actually be a cool idea to write an album that goes with the graphic novel the same way he’d compose a score for a film.
“I forget when, how soon I told the dream to Daniel Davies, my godson. And he’s a member of the three-member band I have,” Carpenter said. “And he eventually came up with the idea of doing an album. It was his idea. I hadn’t thought of it. And it just lends itself; the story lends itself to heavy metal and the sounds of that and the textures. And we just went at it. And, you know, I just tried to guide it to fit the story the best I could.”
The “Cathedral” album is heavier than anything Carpenter has made in the past, but it fits perfectly with the tone of the story. The idea is to listen to the album while reading the graphic novel.
Carpenter Compares Making a Film & a Graphic Novel
Carpenter has worked on some huge movies before. He’s seen it all when it comes to that world. However, writing a graphic novel is a completely different thing.
The visual aspect of a graphic novel helps make reading it a more cinematic experience, but there’s no cameraman or actors for Carpenter to direct. He had to rely on artists Federico De Luca, Luis Guaragna, Sian Mandrake and Marshall Dillon to bring his story to life.
According to Carpenter, this was a much easier experience than directing a film.
“Making a graphic novel for me is a lot less intense and a lot; you don’t have a crew on your back every day when you’re making a graphic novel, like you do in a movie,” Carpenter said. “You’re not spending huge amounts of money. And so it’s a whole different experience. It’s just a writing experience. And that part, that part is, it comes easily for me.”
Could ‘Cathedral’ Be a Movie Some Day?
In the past, Carpenter admitted that he would’ve made “Cathedral” into a movie. At this point in his career, Hollywood hasn’t been writing him blank checks to make a film.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like the idea of seeing “Cathedral” in live action. However, it’s going to cost a studio quite a bit of money to produce the sprawling horror epic.
“I never say never, but they’d have to come up with a big ton of cash. This isn’t a cheap movie. Hard movie to make,” Carpenter said when asked if he’d consider adapting “Cathedral” into a live-action film.
The “Cathedral” graphic novel is currently available to purchase, and the companion album of the same name will be released on August 7, 2026.
