Got to say no DVD collection is complete without most of the ones you mentioned:
Escape from New York (not LA)
Halloween
The Thing
The Fog

Most will be A-OK without a copy of In the Mouth of Madness and Starman though!

Carpenters views and the music he mixed in made these movies something special...you could feel the dread in the Thing just from the constant "bom... bom... bom" music...and Halloweens themes is probably the most recognized movie "tune" in the world. Amazing how easy it is to recognize what movie of his(J Carpenter) it is, just from hearing the score...no one has done anything good like that lately, especially in horror...the first Crow movie itself had a rocking soundtrack...but the score blew.

Dude...I cant agree there. Ive never really been interested enough to see Starman...but In the Mouth of Madness?

Easily among Carpenter's best. Amospheric, great story, Sam Neill at his best... To be completly honest, I actually prefer it to Halloween (Ok, not a popular opinion, I know).

Halloween is without a doubt a work of genius, but it's been copied and overdone so much through the years it loses much of the effect. ItMoM on the other hand is just brutally original from beginning to end....you wont find many other films like it.

Dont get me wrong, Halloween is by all means a fantastic film. My own personal preferences lead me closer to In the Mouth of Madness.

Maybe I need to go get In the Mouth of...oin DVD and check it out...seems like the last time I saw it was on AMC or TCM or something, edited...and been awhile..but seems like it left alot of questions unanswered...like what was up with the old lady at the motel abusing her husband?:)