After watching films from both directors recently, I wanted to know what the horror community thinks about these guys. Who has a better body of work? Which one would you consider to be the strongest horror auteur?

Okay, I voted for Wes Craven. He has two classic, gritty movies (Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes), A Nightmare on Elm Street and New Nightmare, The Serpent and the Rainbow (underrated sometimes, I think), The People Under the Stairs, Swamp Thing, and a glorious comeback with the Scream series. Most of his movies still feel fresh today, even Last House with it's goofy music and hippie styles.

John Carpenter's movies, with the exception of Halloween and The Thing, feel extremely out-of-date to me. Maybe it's because he is more of an action director than a pure horror one. And all of his latest attempts haven't been that great, IMO. I still enjoy The Fog, They Live, Christine, and some of his non-horror like Escape From NY and Big Trouble in Little China... but my vote has to go to Craven when comparing their body of horror works.

Hats off to you, Astral, for making me really think about this one. I sat staring at my monitor for about 5 minutes weighing both options and I finally chose Carpenter. I love Elm Street and Scream, but for me I love the look of Carpenter's movies. Dean Cundey is a master cinematographer and watching his movies in widescreen is heaven. The way the shot is composed and there's so much to look at just does it for me. I can watch Halloween, The Thing and The Fog over and over and still enjoy them. I agree that some of his films are dated and his more recent ones have sucked, but I own more Carpenter movies than Craven. Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness are just creepy and fun to watch.

Great topic!

I 100% agree