John Carpenter has revealed that virtually his entire legendary filmmaking career was shaped by 1950s cinema, having been exposed to formative films during that decisive decade. The director has named several low-budget creature features and science fiction B-movies from that era as his ultimate guilty pleasures, which he claims to rewatch repeatedly despite their poor critical reputations.

Carpenter cites Howard Hawks' 1951 western Rio Bravo as the direct inspiration for Assault on Precinct 13, whilst Hawks' The Thing from Another World inspired his own celebrated film. Among his beloved bad movies, he lists Attack of the Crab Monsters, Not of This Earth, Earth vs the Flying Saucers, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Bride of the Monster, and The Beast of Yucca Flats. Carpenter describes these films as consistently pleasurable to rewatch, with Plan 9 representing what he considers the pinnacle of bad cinema.