Movies - Prince of Darkness

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	Movies - Prince of Darkness

Prince of Darkness (also known as John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness) is a 1987 American horror film directed, written and scored by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong and Jameson Parker.

Synopsis

The story is set in a Los Angeles church, Father Loomis (Pleasence) invites Professor Howard Birack (Wong) and his students to investigate a mysterious cylinder in the basement of an abandoned church. The cylinder contains a consistently swirling liquid that is later discovered to be the essence of pure evil. When it is unleashed, it takes over the students one-by-one. The liquid shoots itself into the mouths of the unsuspecting students, and after a moment, they turn into slaves to this form of absolute evil. After researching the text found next to the cylinder, it is discovered that the Catholic Church discovered this absolute evil is actually Satan, and the son to an even more powerful evil, which was banished to another dimension. The real intent of the evil from cylinder is to bring its "father" from the other dimension by inhabiting one of the students bodies and metaphysically grab the father through a mirror. Catherine Danforth (Lisa Blount), one of the students, stops this from happening by pushing one of the possesed students into the mirror and then leaping in herself just before Father Loomis destroys the portal with an axe. However, there is still a lingering horror as the dream videos suggest that the evil will come back in the form of Catherine, and it will be the result of someone attempting to reach her, without realizing that he will release the same evil he fought to destroy.

Response

Critically, the film was poorly received at the time of its initial release, accused of being dull with an over-complicated plot, wordy script, wooden acting and uneven pacing, while offering insufficient 'horror' for Carpenter fans. It is generally thought to have done poorly at the box office, but as the movie's budget was under $3 million and the eventual gross was $14 million, it managed a modest profit for the studio. Over the years, the film's critical reputation has improved considerably and it has obtained a cult following. It was the first of a three film deal Carpenter had with Universal, it was followed by They Live
(1988) and Memoirs of an Invisible Man
(1992).

Carpenter's inventive skills in editing and mood-setting music are in evidence throughout the film, however some critics and fans believe the standard horror trajectory of the story keeps it from becoming a classic. The film was shot through a slightly anamorphic lens, giving a subtle distortion to every scene. An eerie and fragmented foreshadowing dream sequence occurs repeatedly during the film, presumably a transmission from the future year of 1999, each time showing a little more and also providing a final twist.

Although Carpenter wrote the screenplay, in the film's credits the writer is listed as Martin Quatermass, a homage repeated in the film with Kneale University. These were in reference to the British film and television writer Nigel Kneale and the famous fictional scientist he created, Professor Bernard Quatermass. Kneale, however, was irritated with this use of the character's name in the film's credits, as he feared that the impression may be given that he had something to do with the film. Previously, he had written the original screenplay for the 1982 film Halloween III: Season of the Witch
for Carpenter, but had been so incensed with all of the changes Carpenter had made to it that he had had his name removed from the credits.

Trivia

The film features a cameo by Alice Cooper
, playing a murderous vagrant who kills one of the hapless students with a bicycle frame.

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