Director: John Carpenter
Writer: John Carpenter (Screenplay)
Starring: Donald Pleasence, James Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Ann Marie Howard
Plot: A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Religious Horror
Story: Prince of Darkness starts as an elderly priest dies, leaving a message to the next in line priest Loomis (Pleasence) who inherited an abandoned church that has a mysterious cylinder inside of it. The cylinder is unknown to the world leading to the Priest going to the university to bring a team to investigate, Professor Birack (Wong) and Brian Marsh (Parker) are the leading scientist but each of the students has a different field of expertise.
As the group learn more about the cylinder they seem to get surrounded by homeless who will not let them leave the church but the real evil is in fact in the church with them once they do discover the origin of the cylinder.
Prince of Darkness is a religious horror that seems to be over one night as we see the prince of darkness try to come back to rule the Earth. We have the generic characters which doesn’t leave too much to the imagination which doesn’t help because we know who will die to easily. The idea of the devil coming back to rule works for because it enters us into the world of religious horror. The negatives for this would be that the suspense never really feels real and the horror doesn’t happen until way to late in the film.
Actor Review
Donald Pleasence: Priest Loomis is the man who gets left the church to deal with, he recruits the team to investigate but isn’t going to believe any of the science behind the research. Donald did a good job but never gets a chance to really shine through.
Jameson Parker: Brian Marsh is one of the researchers bought in to understand the cylinder, he is a man of science and doesn’t believe any of the religious side to the story. Jameson gives us a good supporting performance that is one we expect to see in a Carpenter film.
Victor Wong: Professor Howard Birack is from the university, he has studied different forms of religion and science making him one of the most objective people involved in the investigation, he selects the students to help research this phenomenon. Victor gives us a solid job in this role.
Lisa Blount: Catherine Danforth is one of the student who is involved in a romantic angle with Brian, she is one of the hard workers who doesn’t get possessed by the haunting going on around the church. Lisa gives us a basic supporting performance.
Support Cast: Prince of Darkness has supporting cast that includes different levels of scientist that try to figure out what is going on but will just be disposable set of characters.
Director Review: John Carpenter – John gives us a good horror but it isn’t one of his best.
Horror: Prince of Darkness does have good horror moments but doesn’t go too over the top by the end of it.
Settings: Prince of Darkness keeps most of the action inside and around the church which helps so our characters trapped.
Special Effects: Prince of Darkness has great effects with the kills with the bug man death being the stand out.
Suggestion: Prince of Darkness is one to watch if you are a fan of Carpenter’s work. (Carpenter Fans Watch)
Best Part: Bug man.
Worst Part: Not overly scary.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Box Office: $14 Million
Budget: $3 Million
Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
Tagline: Where are you…? Christ?
Overall: Not the strongest Carpenter film but still enjoyable
Rating
