Review of Prince of Darkness (1987) by Zach B — 20 Jan 2012

To say that this is John Carpenter's worse film is, in reality, something of a mouthful. The reason is because John Carpenter is one of the finest directors we have in cinema right now and for him to make a film as bad as Prince Of Darkness is just ridiculous. But to this films credit, it does have some merits.

The thing about this film is that it has the factors to have been a great film. It has the atmosphere, wonderful dialogue, and the set up with religion making sense via science and math is absolutely great. Plus the idea that someone in the future is contacting these people, warning of them of what is to come, is just awesome. This film has a lot of what would have been a great horror film. But, for some reason, Carpenter messes up.

What happened? The first thing I despised about this film is the direction. I understand the story that Carpenter was trying to tell: a priest, a scientist, and numerous collage kids investigate a giant glass chamber filled with a liquefied Satan. I like the premise, except I despised the characters saved for Donald Pleasance as The Priest and Victor Wong as Professor Birack. The others were just either poorly directed or annoying to the point that I just wished someone either fired the actors or just edited out their scenes. They are that bad. Plus with the odd choices in music selection and filmography, it leaves me to ask: Carpenter, what were you thinking? I know I am complaining a lot about this film, but it is hard for me to say anything positive when there is so much about this film I just did not care for.

But, For the things I did like, they were beyond well done. Mainly it is the acting of Pleasance and Wong. Personally, I would of liked this film a whole lot better should this film have only them as the only characters and no one else. They are the only people I cared about, that I understood, and actually seemed like they had a brain. They are both brilliant in this film, with me liking Wong better than Pleasance. Pleasance has come a long way sense his days on Halloween, and this film shows it. But, he is able to put aside those few problems and give a rather decent performance. Same with Wong. He shows his age in this film and still gives a rather decent performance.

Then you have the score composed by John Carpenter. This is the film in which I wish he could have just sent the screenplay to someone else and he just focused on the score. This film's score, with the exception of one piece which I will get to, is great in terms of how it sets the atmosphere, the creativity, and the overall feel for the film.

One thing that became something of a distraction to me in this film is the rather extended cameo by Shock rock singer Alice Cooper. Yes. THAT Alice Cooper. He portrays a homeless man who, with an army of possessed hobos, act like rejected cast members from Night Of The Living Dead to such a point that near the end of this film, Night Of The Living Dead seems to have be paid a tribute to. Then you have his song Prince Of Darkness that is played at probably the worst time in the film: the first death. Okay, the silence is in place, we see a bird nailed onto a cross, then heavy metal music plays. Typically I would forgive a film that does this, but that just seems out of place and ruined the entire scene.

Honestly, what went wrong Carpenter? What happened to your direction, your masterful way of crafting horror films? You had great elements for a film. This film was almost a perfect religious horror film, but then something went wrong. Well, I love your films, but this is sadly one of your worst and one I would only recommend to very few people.