Escape from New York (1981) - John Carpenter | Houselights #295

Kicking off our House of Carpenter series, we head to the far-flung future of 1997, where Manhattan is a walled-off maximum security prison and Air Force One has just gone down inside it. John Carpenter's 1981 cult classic follows his Halloween breakout by moving from horror into dystopian action, with Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken bringing a Western gunslinger's swagger, a synth score you'll be humming for days, and Isaac Hayes as the Duke of New York. It's also a showcase of low-budget ingenuity, from a real night shoot on Liberty Island to a "computer" glider sequence built with neon tape, black light, and physical models. Join Darren, Tristan, and John as they get their gliders ready and ask whether Snake still has the goods 45 years later.