VIDEO John Carpenter rocks out in Dublin!

Legendary filmmaker John Carpenter (The Thing, Escape from New York) landed in Dublin for one night only to play some of his most iconic scores live in front of a crowd at Vicar Street.

Here's the entrance the man himself made before kicking off some Escape from New York goodness.

The 68 year old, who is probably best known for his contributions to the horror genre, including the massively successful Halloween in 1978 has retreated from movie making in recent years, working in areas like comic books and his own original music. Lost Themes arrived in 2015 and Lost Themes II in 2016.

These albums are like songs for movies he never made, with familiar tunes from his big screen work over the years. Carpenter played a selection of tracks from those albums alongside his band, which included his son Cody on keyboard.

But it was the movie scores which really got the crowd going, complete with scenes from the films projected behind the band. The Thing, Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness, Assault on Precinct 13, The Fog and Christine all featured. Carpenter also played his take on The Thing score, which was composed by Ennio Morricone.

With a few brief exchanges with the crowd, the experience flew by in a relatively short set. But that's completely in keeping with Carpenter's style- spare and efficient and entertaining, then get out before the audience gets bored.

He's playing dates in the UK and Europe before finishing up the tour in Texas in December. And maybe we'll get to see him helm another film or a TV episode in the coming years.

-Daniel Anderson