All The John Carpenter Influence Found In Jordan Peele's Nope

Of all of Jordan Peele's films, "Nope" harkens back the most to John Carpenter's sci-fi horror classic, "The Thing." The most obvious comparison between the 1982 film and "Nope" is that both films star genre legend Keith David in a commanding role while alien[s] run amok. On a deeper level, "Nope" depicts its aliens much like "The Thing" does. 

Both sci-fi horror films initially show aliens as familiar images — a flying saucer or a husky dog — but their true natures are far more disturbing. We never see the original form of the Thing in Carpenter's film. All we know is it consumes and morphs its DNA to match every being it has eaten. Likewise, the alien in "Nope" is hidden from the viewer. We know it has a membrane-filled eye-mouth that swallows up bodies for sustenance while spitting out their blood, but we never see the form of the alien. The closest look we get at it is from the perspective of someone eaten by it. We see sacks of flesh — both alien and human — and a praying mantis-like head inside its body. Both films show gnarly and territorial aliens while concealing just enough about them to creep us out.

Whatever horror subgenre John Carpenter is playing with, he loves to center his plots on a group against an oppressive force. What makes his work scary is how his panicked characters cause just as much chaos as whatever force they're fighting. In "Halloween," it's Michael Myers the unsuspecting teens of Haddonfield. In "The Thing," it's the base camp against the alien force trying to tear them apart. Us vs. them is a clear theme in his work, and it's shown best in his 1980s film "The Fog." More of a ghost story than anything, "The Fog" tells the story of a town with a dirty secret. The terrible past of Antonio Bay is exposed once dead mariners return to wreak vengeance.

Jordan Peele's "Nope" follows a similar setup. It's a tale of a town versus a monster. Allies are found and picked off one-by-one by the unknowable force that seemingly arrives out of nowhere. "Nope" isn't an alien origin story, so we never know why the alien appears when it does. It preys on the Haywood family, and Jupiter's Claim, pitting the town against the UFO in a way that is similar to "The Fog." While the Haywood family didn't cause the alien to appear, they're not guiltless. Everyone's greedy desire to capture the alien's image inadvertently kills several tourists and residents, a fact that's just as shameful as the murders that the Antonio Bay founders committed to secure their wealth.

I have no idea if Jordan Peele ever watched "The Resurrection of Broncho Billy," but as a total film nerd that loves John Carpenter and was crafting a modern-day Western, I bet he did. The 1970 short is one of the first films that Carpenter composed music for, wrote, and edited. Unlike his horror work, this short is more of an imaginative slice-of-life story that dips its toes into genre. The short film follows a young man who dreams of living in the sepia-toned world of the Old West. He has visions of saloons and showdowns as he lives his run-of-the-mill life and goes to work. To achieve this effect, the film alternates between a present-day setting and the Wild West.

In some ways, Ricky (Steven Yeun), the cowboy wannabe in "Nope," seems a lot like the young man in "The Resurrection of Broncho Billy." His tourist ranch, Jupiter's Claim, has all the stereotypical trappings of a Western. Just as Carpenter's character took all he knows about the West from old movies, Ricky grew up in Hollywood, not around livestock, so his commercial cowboy take seems fitting. Peele's imagery in "Nope" takes a similar approach. At times, we're in a Circuit City-like tech store. Other times, we're surrounded by dust-blown sand and an old house that makes the period a bit hazy. Both films carefully — and sometimes sillily — evoke Western sensibilities, showcasing both creators' artistic range.

No matter how wild John Carpenter and Jordan Peele's concepts get in their horror films, their characters always seem grounded. Carpenter succeeds best with crafting realistic characters in 1978's "Halloween." Before Michael Myers somehow gained combat skills and superhero strength in David Gordon Green's disjointed entries, the Shape was just a man. The most chilling visuals in 1978's "Halloween" are when Michael is staring through a window at the unsuspecting Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Nothing is supernatural about him. What's scary about Carpenter and Debra Hill's story is the ordinary way in which Michael is filmed. He's quietly stalking and killing teens. No one seems to notice this but the viewer. There's a day-in-the-life-like feeling in how the camera follows Michael, suggesting the terrifying potential that this could actually happen.

"Nope" succeeds as an alien-chase film because we care about the Haywood family's survival. If Daniel Kaluuya's OJ and Keke Palmer's Emerald didn't feel like real people with complicated desires and a tentative bond, we wouldn't care if an alien ate them. Peele keeps the spectacle of the set-pieces in "Nope" full-blown while never making anything about OJ or Emerald supernatural. They're people who just so happen to find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. They have no quippy catchphrases or fancy weapon training. They have an army of inflatable men and a roll-of-the-dice shot to survive terrible odds.