January 16th is the birthday of legendary filmmaker John Carpenter, who turns 77 this year – and to mark the occasion, Shout Factory / Scream Factory is having a sale of John Carpenter Blu-rays! While the company has to apologize to later-era Carpenter fans because their 4K releases of his films Ghosts of Mars and Vampires are not included in this sale, the Blu-rays of Assault on Precinct 13, Someone’s Watching Me, Elvis, Starman, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, and Body Bags are.

The Assault on Precinct 13 Blu-ray usually sells for $15.99. For this sale, the price has been dropped to $9.99. Written and directed by Carpenter, this film was originally released in 1976 and has the following synopsis: Isolated and cut off from the city inside a soon-to-be-closed L.A. police station, a group of police officers and convicts must join forces to defend themselves against the gang called Street Thunder, who have taken a blood oath to kill someone trapped inside the precinct.

Carpenter wrote and directed the 1978 TV movie Someone’s Watching Me! right before he made Halloween and it aired on NBC the month after Halloween reached theatres. Here’s the synopsis: Los Angeles newcomer Leigh Michaels moves into a chic high-rise apartment building. She loves the view. So does the Peeping Tom who lives somewhere in the adjacent tower. The Blu-ray usually goes for $23.99 but is currently $14.99.

The Elvis Blu-ray has been knocked down from $22.99 to $14.99. Carpenter directed this two-and-a-half-hour TV movie from a script by Anthony Lawrence. Just two years after Elvis Presley died, Kurt Russell brought him back to life in the original biopic about the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Broadcast on ABC in 1979, Elvis marked the first time that director John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell would work together in what would become a legendary pairing in film history (Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, and Escape from L.A.). It traces Presley’s life from his impoverished childhood to his meteoric rise to stardom, to his triumphant conquering of Las Vegas.

Carpenter directed the 1984 sci-fi romance Starman from a script by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon. When his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, an alien (Jeff Bridges) arrives at the remote cabin of a distraught young widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), and clones itself into the form of her recently deceased husband. The alien coerces the shell-shocked Jenny to drive him to a pickup point hundreds of miles away, explaining that if he doesn’t meet his mothership in three days, he’ll die. Hot on their trail are government agents, intent on seizing him, dead or alive. En route, Jenny turns from captive to captivated as the alien re-awakens her humanity. The price of the Blu-ray has been lowered from $19.99 to $12.99.

Widely seen as a misstep for both Carpenter and star Chevy Chase, the 1992 dramedy Memoirs of an Invisible Man was based on a novel by H.F. Saint. Through a script by Robert Collector, Dana Olsen, and William Goldman, it tells the following story: Just a quick nap and weary stock analyst Nick Halloway is sure he’ll emerge as good as new. Instead, he wakes up as good as gone. Vanished. A nuclear accident has made Nick … invisible! If you want the Blu-ray, it’s currently $14.99 rather than its usual $23.99.

Body Bags is a 1993 horror anthology that’s hosted by Carpenter, playing a creepy coroner. Carpenter and Tobe Hooper directed the segments. The synopsis: Alex Datcher stars as a woman working the late shift at “The Gas Station” while a killer is on the loose. Then, Stacy Keach can’t stand the thought of losing his “Hair” and he’ll do anything to keep it. And finally, Mark Hamill portrays a baseball player that submits to an “Eye” transplant after he loses an eye in a car accident. The Blu-ray usually costs $15.99, but right now it’s available for $10.99.

Will you be taking advantage of Shout Factory / Scream Factory’s John Carpenter birthday sale? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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