Prince of Darkness (1987)

Director:

John Carpenter

Writer:

John Carpenter (writer)

Release Date:

23 October 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Fantasy | Thriller | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Where are you...? Christ?

Plot:

A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.

Plot Keywords:

Church | Priest | Liquid | Devil | Professor

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Donald Pleasence	...	Priest
Jameson Parker	...	Brian Marsh
Victor Wong	...	Prof. Howard Birack
Lisa Blount	...	Catherine Danforth
Dennis Dun	...	Walter
Susan Blanchard	...	Kelly
Anne Marie Howard	...	Susan Cabot (as Anne Howard)
Ann Yen	...	Lisa
Ken Wright	...	Lomax
Dirk Blocker	...	Mullins
Jessie Lawrence Ferguson	...	Calder
Peter Jason	...	Dr. Paul Leahy
Robert Grasmere	...	Frank Wyndham
Thom Bray	...	Etchinson
Joanna Merlin	...	Bag Lady

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | West Germany:16 (video release) | Australia:M | Canada:18+ | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2000) | UK:18 (original rating) | UK:18 (video rating) (1988) | USA:R (certificate #28768) | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The scene where Wyndham (Robert Grasmere) is stabbed by the bag-lady at the back of the church is inspired by a smiliar stabbing scene in the Terence Fisher movie Curse of the Werewolf.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The student radiologist Susan Cabot says she has been "carbon dating the corrosion on the lid" of the cylinder, and "we're talking about 7 million years". Carbon dating is used to determine the age of materials, usually organic, containing carbon, not metal corrosion substances, and is only useful for about 60,000 years.

Quotes:

Father Loomis: Why weren't we told the truth?
Professor Edward Birack: Without the technology to confirm? It would have been another legend.
Father Loomis: But he was OUR prisoner, not yours!

Movie Connections:

Featured in John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning... The Man and His Movies (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Heavenly Puss

One of Carpenter's most underrated and best! **** out of *****

The great thing about John Carpenter's films is that almost all of them feature a great sense of doom throughout the picture. Think about it... HalloweeN, The Fog, Escape From New York, In The Mouth of Madness... pure doom and gloom. And they are all accompanied by equally brooding soundtracks.

Prince of Darkness has all of the elements of a classic Carpenter flick. I think it's finally getting the recognition it deserves and is gaining a small cult following.

The acting for the most part is really good. There are some very memorable lines of dialog and I think the script is very well written. Again music is key here. The music helps with the feel of the movie which is very unsettling.

Also, Alice Cooper has a very small but memorable roll. His song 'Prince of Darkness' from the album 'Raise Your Fist and Yell' can be heard during an incredible suspense scene.

A must see for the Carpenter fan. In my opinion it's in his top five.