John Carpenters Prince of Darkness.

[Battlestar]

Well, Its been a long time since a movie has creeped me out, but this one did just that. At home on friday night, in the house by myself, I decided to give this movie a go which was showing on channel 4. This is a seriously weird and creepey movie which has some great ideas in it and ( for all those that have seen it) made me conserned about looking into the mirror we have in the bathroom


PRINCE OF DARKNESS picks up a group of high-level education students who are on a quest in a church that is hiding a dark secret: it has a past linked to the dark master himself. Donald Pleasance plays his role with dignity as a priest helping out in the investigation into a container of mysterious green acid-y liquid, which happens to be Satan himself, according to some of the sypnosis' I have read. Without warning, one of the students walks in on a leakage where a pool of green "mystery liquid" is on the ceiling, and suddenly it sprays into her mouth, turning her into a possessed servant of evil. Many of the towns homeless population have turned (watch for a nice turn from Alice Cooper as a silent servant of evil), the students are trying to fight off the evil...it spreads if someone infected spits directly into the mouth of their next victim. The plague spreads around in somewhat pedestrian fashion, but it's no less effective than the last. The last person affected, the blonde, turns into a hideous thing (she's supposed to be Satan himself) and things turn real ugly. Many of the unaffected are having dreams that are really creepy. The dream is a sequence where some film footage, while grainy, captures the church's frontside with a dark figure in the doorway which is Satan himself. It makes for a very creepy and menacing development within the group's dream pattern. Is this some kind of sign the group needs to heed warning to? Now it's up to the priest and the remaining survivors to stop the ultimate anti-god from crossing from a mirror into the real world. The special effects are what they should be for a movie of this caliber, and while Carpenter's direction for the most part is quite good, I wished for more in the way of gore and monster effects - that girl could have been so much scarier than she was made up to be, but we'll settle for what we get. The ending left the movie wide open for a sequel, as our main man has the same dream sequence, but sees his lost girlfriend standing in the doorway instead of the devil, ultimately making her the next evil. He walks toward the mirror in his room and proceeds to put his hand to the mirror, where the movie cuts to the end credits.
To this day, no sequel has been made and there are no current plans for any sequel to this film. It does give the movie a potent ending, though. It ultimately will leave you hungry for the next move, which of course we may never find out.

For what it is, PRINCE OF DARKNESS is a pure gem from the mastermind behind HALLOWEEN and THE THING. Carpenter's unknown and overlooked film has good suspense and decent scares, with the rigid cast keeping things real. PRINCE OF DARKNESS will always be underrated, but for those fortunate enough to witness it, it will be a much appreciated discovery.



I LIVE I LIVE I LIVE I LIVE I LIVE I LIVE I LIVE I LIVE I

[BIGRED]

yeah dave i sat and watched it on sat and i have to say its been a very long time since i first saw it ........ mmmmmm not as good as i remembered & by no means one of carpenters best however it was good fun and certainly better than nightbreed that was on the week before ( i remember watching that years ago and thinking it was great , when in actual fact it was a real mess of a movie....... if only they would release the supposed extended version , there was ment to be a lot of it left on the cutting room floor although i don't even know if this extra fottage would improve things !!!) anyway ....... yeah i enjoyed prince of darkness but not as good as i remembered it but anything with dennis dun in it is ok by me (so loved him in big trouble in little china ) any ways that turned into a bit of a rant

[Battlestar]

and certainly better than nightbreed that was on the week before ( i remember watching that years ago and thinking it was great , when in actual fact it was a real mess of a movie....... if only they would release the supposed extended version , there was ment to be a lot of it left on the cutting room floor although i don't even know if this extra fottage would improve things !!!)

The extra footage you talk about, are you refering to NIghtbreed or Prince of darkness?

[anephric]

I assume, he means Nightbreed, because Barker had to trim a fair bit of character/Breed background stuff out at the studio's behest, and stick some reshoot slasher-type stuff in because of negative preview feedback.

[BIGRED]

yeah talking about nightbreed

[Mr.D]

Lots of great ideas in Prince of Darkness , the tachyon transmission , antimatter universe.

Its very much like a late 20th century HP Lovecraft story in tone. Its just a shame that it never really goes anywhere : end up being a small scale zombie seige movie ( like 90% of Carpenter's films although not always in a bad way).

Still think this was Carpenter's last decent film , its all been downhill since then.

[Battlestar]

This film really did creep me out,

Thats how I know it was pretty good. Its been a long time since amovie has done this for me

[Steve T]

I agree that it was Carpenter's last good film. Personally, I really like it and it is often overlooked. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but does have some proper scares and a good underlying sense of dread.

Just a shame the lead actor has got such a dodgy moustache!

Donald Pleasance is always good value for money though.

[slinkywonka]

I really like this film,have done for years.The transmission is so creepy and well executed.And the scenes with the mirror near the end are very good too.Carpenters last good film?
Yes,unfortunately it was imo.Ghosts Of Mars anyone?

[lovemunkey187]

Originally Posted by slinkywonka

I really like this film,have done for years.The transmission is so creepy and well executed.And the scenes with the mirror near the end are very good too.Carpenters last good film?
Yes,unfortunately it was imo.Ghosts Of Mars anyone?

C'mon, any film with Ice Cube in is gonna rooooooooooocccccckk.

Although no Carpenter film can ever compete with Big Trouble In Little China.



///EDIT\\\\
I can't spell

[BIGRED]

my sentiments exactly lovemunkey , big trouble is one of his best

[unheardof]

Don't forget the thing! Also try 'Memoirs of an invisible man'. I quite like it .

[BIGRED]

for some reason , don't really know why (may have been getting the fog and escape from new york in the xmas sales) but i have been on a bit of a john carpenter -a-thon over the last few weeks , i've watched both of the above , they live, the thing,escape from la, star man,prince of darkness, assault on precient13 , big trouble in little china and tonight is vampires........... some classics some good and some not so good but it has defo been fun revisiting afew films i hadn't watched in years

[playthefilm]

Originally Posted by slinkywonka

Yes,unfortunately it was imo.Ghosts Of Mars anyone?

hmm is Ghosts Of Mars not worth a watch then?

[stretcher]

Originally Posted by playthefilm

hmm is Ghosts Of Mars not worth a watch then?

In a word, no

I think I'd rather watch QVC