Born in Carthage, New York, in 1948, John Carpenter studied film at the University of Southern California, where he made the short The Resurrection of Broncho Billy, which won an Oscar. He typically writes, directs and composes the music for his own films, which are made in a lean widescreen style influenced by Howard Hawks. Halloween (1978), made on a tiny budget, was one of the most profitable independent films of its day and set the template for the slasher. He followed with The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing (1982) and They Live (1988).