Master of horror John Carpenter doesn't 'need to see' the Borderlands film, may have quit Diablo 4 for the same reason he dropped Red Dead 2: 'I can't even get on that horse'

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 13: Special Guest John Carpenter attends the screening of 'Escape from New York' at the 2019 TCM 10th Annual Classic Film Festival on April 13, 2019 in Hollywood, California.
(Image credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for TCM)

John Carpenter is a filmmaking genius, a horror legend, and a terrible equestrian. At least, that's my takeaway from a recent interview the director gave to Larry Fitzmaurice's newsletter Last Donut of the Night. Among questions about noir, ageing, and politics, Carpenter was asked about what he's been playing lately. The answer? Not Diablo 4.

"I can't even get on that horse," said Carpenter, whose only other substantial comment on Blizzard's latest was "Oh, no no no. I can't… no, no, no." Hey, John, I get it.

I have to admit I'm not sure whether to interpret the horse comment literally or metaphorically. It could be that Diablo 4's infinite live serviceness makes it just too much for Carpenter, and he's using the phrase as a saying equivalent to "That's just too much for me." On the other hand, Carpenter does have a history of problems with actually, literally getting on videogame horses. He's previously told interviewers that he had to quit Red Dead Redemption 2—our #7 videogame of all time—because he "couldn't get on the damn horse."

I kind of hope it's the latter. When he's not creating absolute filmic bangers like Prince of Darkness and The Thing, Carpenter is an avid gamer whose most recent appearance in our pages came when he lavished the Dead Space remake with fulsome praise: "Great game!" Possibly because it didn't have a horse in it.

To be fair, Carpenter is a 76-year-old man with far better things to be doing than dressage, and Diablo's mount system is a weird, opaque thing (unlike RDR2's; I can't really explain that one). To get a mount in Diablo 4, you have to get all the way through Act 3 before doing the Mount: Donan's Favour quest. It's very understandable if Carpenter chucked the whole thing in long before he ever reached that point. Hell, I did, and I'm one of the fools who set aside time to get that time-limited Ashava mount trophy during the beta.

Carpenter didn't just discuss Diablo in the interview, mind you. He also offered his thoughts on Horizon Forbidden West ("loved it"), God of War ("it's fun") and the Steam Deck ("I don't know what that is"). Asked if he's seen the trailer for the Borderlands movie, Carpenter diplomatically says "Yes, I did. It looks… I know Anthony Burch, he's a friend. He says he's seen it! So I don't need to see it."

Plus, he says he's played Super Mario Bros and, when confronted with the concept of Zelda, said "Zelda I can't take. I wouldn't get near that." What is it about Zelda that has the master of horror quaking in his boots? Probably Epona.

Joshua Wolens
News Writer

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Read more
A trio of Guardians adorned with Baron gear in Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 players have found the true endgame: Composing spooky remixes on a giant gothic space organ
A maddened sicko raises a knife
Blizzard co-founder and Diablo designer thinks new ARPGs have 'cheapened' the genre with fast leveling, throwaway loot and enemies
A TV with immersive lighting showing a ghost from Phasmophobia on screen.
Terrifying horror nopefest Phasmophobia combined with immersive room lighting looks like an easy way to give yourself a chronic case of the brown trousers
Close up of Fallout Power Armor helmet on orange background
Disco Elysium game director Robert Kurvitz praises the first Fallout: 'It makes other post-apocalyptic worldbuilding seem like an amusement park'
zoomed in concept art of the Agadon Hunter, a new enemy appearing in Doom: The Dark Ages.
Doom: The Dark Ages already sneakily revealed its 'new Marauder,' and the devs hope he'll be just as challenging, but a little less frustrating
An axe-wielding Enraged Headless Husk attacks a barbarian
Diablo 4 players pleasantly surprised to find the first boss of the new season is a challenge for once: 'it's nice to actually have to think and prepare for fights'
Latest in RPG
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
Latest in News
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'