In his long and celebrated career, John Carpenter earned a reputation as one of horror’s most subversive voices. Whether he was unmasking the evils of consumer culture in They Live, exploring psychological breakdowns in The Thing, or giving us iconic villains like Michael Myers, Carpenter was rarely content with surface-level scares. That’s what makes Pro-Life, his 2006 episode for the Masters of Horror anthology, such a disappointment. It’s not just that the episode is bad—it’s that it’s clumsy, didactic, and devoid of the sharp, stylistic control that once made Carpenter a legend.
Premise and Setup
The story follows a young girl named Angelique (Caitlin Wachs) who escapes from her controlling, ultra-religious father Dwayne (Ron Perlman) and flees to an abortion clinic. Once there, she reveals she’s pregnant with something unholy, the result of a demonic assault. Before the staff can fully grasp what’s happening, her father and three armed brothers lay siege to the clinic, demanding the baby be born.
In theory, Pro-Life should be a provocative horror-thriller about bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and religious extremism. In practice, it plays like a 1980s afterschool special that got hijacked by an over-the-top gorefest halfway through production. And not in a good way.
The Tone Problem
Carpenter often walked a fine line between horror and satire. In his best works, his social commentary was incisive, even when surrounded by genre tropes. But Pro-Life doesn’t walk the line—it stomps across it with steel-toed boots. Its messaging is so blunt it borders on parody, but the film insists on treating everything with deadly seriousness.
The title alone is your first red flag. It’s not subtle. It practically screams, “We’re doing a metaphor!” But unlike They Liveor In the Mouth of Madness, where metaphors are baked into the world-building, Pro-Life wears its politics on its sleeve, then clobbers you with them. Carpenter seems uncertain whether he’s critiquing religious zealotry or indulging in it. The result is an uneasy hybrid: part siege thriller, part demonic pregnancy horror, part low-budget polemic.
Ron Perlman, Wasted
Ron Perlman is typically a reliable presence in genre fare—gruff, charismatic, menacing when needed. Here, he’s asked to embody a character that’s less human than caricature. Dwayne is a walking stereotype of evangelical menace: armed, dangerous, delusional, and utterly unhinged. There’s no room for nuance in the script, so Perlman is left to chew scenery in a way that feels forced, not fearsome.
His dialogue is riddled with clunky pronouncements (“The devil is in that building!”) that feel like they were written in all caps. The character is so over-the-top that his eventual fate (spoiler: it’s gory) lands not with horror, but with a shrug. You don’t fear him—you’re just waiting for the script to kill him off.
The Visuals: Low-Budget Without Style
Carpenter has worked with limited budgets before—Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog—and made those restrictions work in his favor. Here, though, the cinematography is flat, the set design sterile, and the lighting uninspired. There’s none of the moody atmosphere Carpenter once conjured so effortlessly. The clinic looks like a half-built set on a bad TV show. The demon fetus? A rubbery, low-grade effects job that belongs in a SyFy original.
The practical gore, while abundant, lacks creativity. Carpenter once made a man’s head sprout spider legs (The Thing); here, he settles for gunshot wounds and latex monstrosities. It’s uninspired and, worse, forgettable.
The Pacing and Structure
Clocking in at around 58 minutes, Pro-Life feels much longer. The siege structure—so effective in Assault on Precinct 13—is mishandled here. There’s no rising tension, no escalation of dread. The story limps along, with awkward pauses, clunky exposition, and flashbacks that tell more than they show. Even when the action picks up, it lacks urgency.
Worse, the stakes feel muddled. We’re never sure who we’re rooting for. The clinic staff are underdeveloped. Angelique, despite being the central figure, is often passive. The demon pregnancy is a plot device, not a character beat. The only clear message seems to be: fanatics are dangerous and demons are bad.
Missed Opportunities
The most frustrating part of Pro-Life is imagining what it could have been. A bold take on the politics of abortion through the lens of horror? That’s ripe ground for a master like Carpenter. But this episode never trusts the audience to think for themselves. It shouts its message instead of showing it. It offers blood and blasphemy, but no insight.
Carpenter fans hoped his return to horror television would rekindle the old spark. Instead, Pro-Life feels like a filmmaker going through the motions—relying on tropes instead of subverting them, playing loud instead of playing smart.
A Legacy Tarnished?
To be fair, every director has missteps. Even Carpenter’s own canon includes a few duds (Ghosts of Mars, Memoirs of an Invisible Man). But Pro-Life stands out because it’s not just bad—it’s lazy. It lacks the craftsmanship, the subversion, the confidence that once defined his work.
Some defenders argue that Pro-Life is intentionally provocative, meant to discomfort. But provocation without purpose is just noise. Carpenter once made films that questioned reality, challenged authority, and haunted you with what they didn’tshow. Here, everything is on the nose—and none of it lingers.
Conclusion: A Stumble, Not a Statement
Pro-Life is not the worst thing Carpenter has directed, but it’s close. It feels like a short film stretched to feature length, a one-note concept padded with half-baked characterizations and a sledgehammer moral. The irony is, for a film so focused on life and choice, it offers viewers little of either.
It’s a reminder that even masters can falter—and that horror, as a genre, demands more than just shock. It demands soul, subtext, and sometimes, a little restraint. In Pro-Life, Carpenter seems to have left all of that at the clinic door.
🔗 Further Viewing: John Carpenter Essentials
💀 Halloween (1978)
The classic that started it all.
👉 Explore the horror of Halloween
🧊 The Thing (1982)
A masterclass in tension, paranoia, and practical effects. Carpenter’s sci-fi horror masterpiece remains unmatched in atmosphere and execution.
👉 Read our breakdown of The Thing
👓 They Live (1988)
Before The Matrix, there was this sunglasses-wielding, capitalist-smashing cult classic. Roddy Piper sees the truth — and it isn’t pretty.
👉 Check out our full feature on They Live
🚛 Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Jack Burton drives straight into supernatural chaos in this kung-fu western fantasy. It’s wild, weird, and all in the reflexes.
👉 Revisit Big Trouble in Little China
🚀 Escape from New York (1981)
Snake Plissken sneers, fights, and grumbles his way through dystopian Manhattan in one of the coolest genre mashups of the ’80s.
👉 Our full review of Escape from New York
💔 Starman (1984)
Proof that Carpenter could do more than horror. A heartfelt road movie with a cosmic twist and an unforgettable synth score.
👉 Dive into Starman with us
🚬 Christine (1983)
High school. First love. Murderous muscle cars. Carpenter’s adaptation of King’s novel mixes chrome and carnage.
👉 Read our full take on Christine
💀 Prince of Darkness (1987)
A sinister blend of science, religion, and apocalypse — and one of Carpenter’s most underrated creepers.
👉 Explore the depths of Prince of Darkness
🧛 John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)
Western grit meets bloodsucking evil. It’s dusty, gory, and one of his last real flashes of style.
👉 Ride into Vampires with us
🌫️ The Fog (1980)
Ghosts, guilt, and a killer radio DJ. Carpenter’s seaside nightmare is all about mood and mist.
👉 Step into The Fog
🎥 Elvis (1979)
Kurt Russell channels the King in this surprisingly emotional biopic. Carpenter’s first team-up with his future muse.
👉 Read our look at Elvis
📡 Someone’s Watching Me! (1978)
A proto-feminist thriller from the master of suspense. Not quite Hitchcock, but there’s charm and early promise.
👉 Our full thoughts on Someone’s Watching Me!
🚀 Dark Side Picks & Misfires
📺 Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) – Cheesy and disjointed
🔥 Ghosts of Mars (2001) – Needed Kurt Russell to save the day
🩸 Cigarette Burns (2005) – Meta-horror gone murky
🚨 Pro-Life (2006) – Heavy-handed and unbalanced
🧠 In the Mouth of Madness (1994) – Brilliant in theory, muddled in practice
👻 The Ward (2010) – Stylish but hollow
☎️ Phone Stalker (2023) – When even Carpenter can’t scare us
