The Unmade Christmas Horror Movie That Would Have Reunited Kurt Russell And John Carpenter

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Whether it's stories about truck drivers going up against powerful sorcerers or eyepatch-clad soldiers escaping from a futuristic New York City, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell movies are among the finest in cult cinema history. Carpenter has, to date, directed Russell in five films, the majority of which are action movies with horror elements — a trend would also have continued if "Shadow Company," a zombie yarn set during the Christmas season, went ahead in 1988.

Carpenter famously turned down directing one of the worst Christmas movies ever made, but "Shadow Company" could have added a festive classic to his impressive oeuvre. It tells the story of Jake Pollard, a shunned Vietnam veteran tasked with stopping a group of undead super-soldiers from laying waste to a Californian town on Christmas night. Pollard has a history with these comrades from his time in Vietnam, and he knows that it will take a lot of firepower to put a stop to them.

While the premise is undeniably awesome, you might be wondering why "Shadow Company" would have been a classic, as opposed to a schlocky '80s movie. For a start, it was penned by the Christmas action movie maverick Shane Black and his "Monster Squad" cohort Fred Dekker. What's more, Walter Hill — the genre legend behind bona fide genre classics like "The Warriors" and "Southern Comfort" — had come aboard as a producer and punched up the script with his trademark hard-boiled dialogue. Finally, Carpenter wanted Russell involved (presumably to play Pollard), and their track record speaks for itself, especially when it comes to making movies about soldiers.

With so many great talents attached to the project, "Shadow Company" should have been a sure thing. So, what stopped it from happening?

Before we delve into why "Shadow Company" got stuck in development hell, let's take a moment to remember just how undeniable John Carpenter was in the late 1980s. This was supposed to be his next project after "They Live" — the movie that capped off his run of classics beginning 11 years earlier with "Assault on Precinct 13." "Shadow Company" hangs out in the same wheelhouse as some of those flicks, and the script by Shane Black, Fred Dekker, and Walter Hill is full of the atmospheric horror, socially conscious themes, and action-packed carnage that Carpenter knows how to direct the poop out of. The fact it's currently sitting on a shelf, collecting dust, is a travesty.

At the same time, Hollywood has a history of rejecting projects that would have been awesome, and "Shadow Company" fell victim to this mindset. In an interview with Gilles Boulenger for his book "John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness," the eponymous subject recalled why the action-horror flick failed to see the light of day. Spoiler alert: it came down to money (or lack thereof):

"It was a great action-horror movie. I never figured out the third act, though. Walter Hill wrote some great 'tough-guy soldier' dialogue. Universal wanted to make it on the cheap, unfortunately. Like many projects, it drifted away."

Carpenter has directed lots of great movies, so he probably isn't letting a what if story like "Shadow Company" distract him from his current life of playing video games and watching basketball. After all, rejection is part of the game of being a filmmaker. Hopefully, the dormant project will be resurrected someday — but it would have been better in the '80s, when Kurt Russell was in his action star prime and Carpenter wasn't semi-retired.