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Prince of Darkness (1987)

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144 comments in total

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36 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
Carpenter's best work . . ., 30 October 2004
Author: Derek M. Koch from Beaverton, OR

John Carpenter's made some great horror films, and Prince of Darkness is my hands-down favorite Carpenter flick. First and foremost, the music does it for me every time. Sometimes Carpenter's score do miss their mark, but this time, the music is dead on perfect. Beyond this, the movie overall is wonderful. The opening title sequence (which does extend quite a bit into the film itself) does a great job of setting up the characters and the beginning of the drama at hand. Once the film picks up, it really doesn't let you go until the end, and even then, to the very last shot, the film reminds you that, for the briefest of moments, it had you. Oh, it had you. Alice Cooper makes his first theatrical film appearance with this film, but he appears briefly. Instead, the film centers mostly around Brian Marsh, a grad student brought in as part of a group of collegiate-types to investigate something dark and sinister in the basement of an old church. A lot of people I know pan his performance, but I felt Jameson (TV's "Simon & Simon") Parker's performance was solid and that look of confusion he wears throughout a bulk of the picture seems appropriate to the events unfolding around his character. Donald Pleasance's presence as a Catholic priest who begrudgingly recruits the team of college students and professors, scientists and theorists, adds a sense of credibility to the threat involved, as well as the film itself. And Victor Wong - he's just fun to watch. I love this movie.

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35 out of 42 people found the following comment useful :-
Greatly underrated. One of Carpenter's best!, 15 October 2004

Author: mpainter from Greenville, SC

I remember working as an usher when this movie came out. The look on the faces in the audience after the movie ended was priceless. Most were either truly disturbed or confused as hell.

I thought the premise was unique. It's always been said that the existence of God can't be proven. Here we have several scientists and students trying, not only to prove that the Devil exists, but that they have him trapped in a jar in a church basement.

The movie is so full of sub-atomic theory that you would swear it was written by Michio Kaku, not John Carpenter. (Yeah, don't let the credits fool you. Carpenter wrote this film under a pseudonym)

Took my girlfriend to see this when it came out. She's now my wife and to this day, she's still a little afraid of mirrors because of this film.

Loved it.

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23 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
The green goo, 14 July 2003

Author: macabro357 from U.S.

I missed this one the first time around back in the 80s, and despite what all the critics say, I didn't think it that bad at all.

Ok some of it's pretty silly and Jameson Parker and Lisa Blount were about as wooden as two totem poles, but the story did keep my attention without me having to reach up and change the channel. Plus, I really dug the tension filled pulsating synth soundtrack by Alan Howarth.

A group of graduate students & scientists are called upon by Father Loomis (Donald Plesance) to investigate a mysterious canister filled with green goo that is stored in the basement of an abandoned church. Right after they get there, all kinds of strange things begin to occur such as the homeless (led by a pale-faced Alice Cooper) going around, zombie-like, killing people outside the church, earthworms and ants clustering on window panes in strange patterns, and machines and equipment moving on their own.

When the team begin to translate an ancient document that was also stored in the basement, they find out that the canister contains the energy of the son of Satan who was banished to the darkside, eons ago. This supposedly occurred in ancient Middle Eastern times but how it got to L.A. is never explained.

One by one, each of the students are either killed off or possessed by the entity that is slowly growing around them. The scene where thousands of beetles eat away at the guy in the church parking lot is cool. It looks pretty funny when his hands and then his head falls off, rolling around on the ground. Hilarious.

Then one of the females has all the green fluid from the canister flow into her mouth and eyes from the ceiling in a reverse matte shot. That looks pretty cool, too. While she's lying on the cot, her stomach starts to expand and she starts to decompose as this thing is growing inside her. It seems the Prince of Darkness is going to use her as an incubator to grow his fetus.

The scene at the end with the mirror leading into an alternative universe and Satan's arm being outstretched towards the woman was fairly impressive. It sort of looked like it existed in some kind of clear, oily fluid that had the consistency of cooking oil.

All in all, I think this is a pretty entertaining John Carpenter flick to watch on a Saturday night and I consider it light years above his recent mess, GHOSTS OF MARS.

7 out of 10.

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17 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Lovecraftian horror... very good, 2 April 2006

Author: BroadswordCallinDannyBoy from Boston, MA

An old priest who belonged to a cryptic sect passes away. A new priest is assigned to the church and he discovers a bizarre basement with an even more bizarre object in its center - a big vat of green moving liquid. He summons the help of some investigators and the ensuing field study reveals some very frightening revelations about the liquid - it is the essence of Satan. Then the liquid leaks out of the canister...

After a few films in the studio system, most notably "Big Trouble in Little China," which undeservedly flopped, Carpenter returned to his roots in small budgeted horror/thriller films. The result was this and it could have hardly been better. The infamous eerie music makes an especially profound effect in this film, which admittedly starts slow, but when it takes of it takes all of your nerves with it.

Unlike many horror popular films this film focuses very heavily on conversation. Atmosphere is of course put first, but the dialog is very interesting and makes for a film that is frightening on a thinking level. There are a well timed moments of violence, but it is on a intellectual level where this film scares the crap out of you. Carpenter must have done a good amount of research as the characters try to use various scientific concepts and terms to describe what they are slowly falling victim to. The dialog very heavily resembles H.P. Lovecraft's writing, who was unrelenting in providing the rational and thought-out narration of his protagonist. One can bet that it is this element that made it necessary for this film to be made independently. The shock isn't visceral, but no less effective.

The only downside are a few really goofy moments ("I said a rich doctor!"), but they are ultimately forgivable and are not as sorely out of place as you might think. 8/10

Rated R: horror violence

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12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Carpenter's most underrated and best! **** out of *****, 9 October 2005
Author: Lance from United States

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.

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17 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
classic john carpenter, 26 July 2000
Author: dx4lifexpac from new york

John Carpenter has made some great movies, and some really bad ones. Prince of Darkness at times was a little slow and i was getting bored but it really picks up big time. there are some good scares and real good suspense. i'm not really into horror films that deal with the devil coming to earth. but this movie was classic i watched this since i am a fan of John Carpenter and Donald Pleasence, and i was happy with what i saw check out Prince of Darkness i give it 8/10

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Eerie, 11 November 2003
Author: Krug Stillo (nhargii@hotmail.com) from South Wales

I agree with regular J.C. actor Kurt Russell on a point he made about the director: If you want to make a cheap movie but make it look slick and expensive, Mr. Carpenter is your man. Like HALLOWEEN this was made for very little money but appears to have been made on a modest budget.

After the box office failure of the underrated Big Trouble in Little China, Carpenter left the studio system and returned to independent and horror filmmaking. The soundtrack is constant synth, the acting average, the tension constantly increasing and widescreen lens used to perfection, all combined scream Carpenter's name from the lengthy opening credits scene. PRINCE OF DARKNESS sits among the most eerie and interesting of Carpenter's work. Defects are it isn't very exciting and divulges a lot of unnecessary quantum physics jargon that seem pompous on the writer's behalf (sorry J.C. but 'Martin Quatermass'? your devotees know you love Nigel Kneale's work!). Despite a few scenes of action, which seem thrown in to gather momentum, the film just moves along.

Basically PRINCE OF DARKNESS combines ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 with THE THING. A character driven story concerning isolated individuals and one by one falling victim/possessed to/by an alien foe. Priest, Donald Pleasence (HALLOWEEN) hires University Professor, Victor Wong (Big Trouble in Little China) to investigate an ominous cylinder. The green ooze inside this cannister, hidden for centuries by the 'Brotherhood of Sleep', is the 'anti God' who will end the world if the secrets of its origin remain unsolved.

This is the second part in Carpenter's 'apocalypse trilogy' that began with THE THING and concluded with IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS. PRINCE OF DARKNESS is a must for all J.C. fans, but is the slowest of the trilogy.

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11 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
I happened to enjoy this film greatly., 31 January 2004

Author: Carnivorax-Pejoratus from Tennessee

This is certainly more of an intellectual movie than the usual horror fare. Much like "The Thing" (sort of the same plot development even.) the implications of the concepts in the film are what make it deeply disturbing. I haven't completely trusted a mirror since I saw this film, I doubt I ever will again.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Creepy, 23 October 2007

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

When the guardian priest of an abandoned church in Los Angeles dies, Father Loomis (Donald Pleasance) finds a diary and a key, opens the door of the basement and finds a cylinder with a gruesome green fluid. The priest contacts Professor Howard Birack (Victor Wong) in the local university and he invites a team of students to research the findings and translate manuscripts. The group discovers that the liquid is the essence of evil, actually Satan's remains, and has been kept locked in the church for centuries. Their research awakes the son of the Devil and when the student Susan Cabot (Anne Marie Howard) gets close to the container, she drinks a jet of the green liquid, transforming in a living dead. Susan spreads the liquid among her friends, increasing the army of evil zombies. While the group is attacked inside the church by the zombies, derelicts surround the church trapping them inside, and Satan tries to bring his father to the world.

"Prince of Darkness" is one of the creepiest movies of John Carpenter. The claustrophobic tale is original, with a dark atmosphere and even twenty years later is still very impressive. The special effects and make-up are scary and the music score of his authorship is also excellent. Alice Cooper is amazing in the role of an insane homeless killer. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Príncipe das Sombras" ("Prince of Darkness")

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Highly Underrated Imaginative Horror Piece., 12 October 2003

Author: Christopher (genrommel@aol.com) from Erie, Pennsylvania

Among the many great John Carpenter classics such as Halloween, Escape From New York and The Thing, his 1987 sleeper Prince of Darkness is often forgotten. The film centers around the return of Satan and a wonderfully eclectic group of scientists and religious figures who attempt to battle for the survival of humanity. Wonderfully cast with such John Carpenter screen regulars as Donald Pleaseance and Victor Wong we also get to see Alice Cooper as one of Satan's evil minions. The film fails in the respect that this movie can't possibly be scary or believable to anyone who isn't of Christian faith. Never the less it has great scary moments, witty dialogue and fabulous cinematography for the non-Christian horror film lover as well. Fans of religious based horror films will love finding this "diamond in the rough."

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