|
|
Rating:  - Scary with Possibilities
There are many great reviews on the content of this film, so I won't repeat them here. However, the one aspect of this film that made it one of the most frightening and one of the most memorable films for me was the science - in respect to people from the future trying to communicate with those in the present to warn them about the imminent arrival of Satan so they could change the future outcome. The technology in this future was limited, and could only come through as fractured messages and images during the dream state. I can imagine the frustration and desperation on the other end, as these technicians in the future try with the limited resources they have to make those in the present take action.
The image of Satan's silhouette in the church archway is one I will never get out of my head and it sends a chill down my spine everytime I see it.
Satan is ultimately stopped from coming into the world, at least in the first possible future, but the future technicians will have to start again at square one, as their past has been changed, but not in the way they were hoping for.
Which leads to all kinds of philosophical and scientific questions and possiblities. I can think of no other horror film, let alone a "B" film such as this, that ever inspired that kind of deep discussion.
This is a great, scary, eat-popcorn-watch-it-with-the-lights-off gruesome horror movie...but it also makes you think.
Rating:  - One of my faves!
This movie puts me in mind of Pet Sematary... One of those movies that's creepy and hoakie at the same time.... Good Movie!
Rating: - This 'water' is deadly....
In the 1980's, John Carpenter was a horror icon with such productions as the Halloween series and the remake of Howard Hawks' "The Thing". A little-acknowledged masterpiece called 'Prince of Darkness' was made in 1987 and has been one of his finest creations.
The storyline revolves around a sinister secret that has been kept in the basment of an abandoned Los Angeles church. On the death of the last memeber of a mysterious sect, another priest opens the door to the basement & discovers a vat containing a green liquid in a perpetual state of flux. While reading the dead man's diary, the priest discovers some disturbing details & contacts Professor Howard Birack of a local university, who brings with him a group of graduate students to investigate it. Initially disturbing are the mobs of homeless people surrounding the church, but things get much worse as the students investigate. One student discovers the vat is locked from the inside; another finds that the liqid is producing differential mathematic equations (which did not exist when the contents of the vat were dated from); another reveals some strange facts from a translated book about Satan, Jesus Christ and something more chilling - the Father of Satan, an all-powerful anti-God. Soon after, the liquid begins escaping from the container & turns the students into zombies, who then murder their colleagues. Anyone who tries to escape meets a frightening fate; one meets a bloody end at the hands of a homeless man and a second dissolves into a mass of beetles after being attacked. The remaining students, the priest, and professor must find a way to stop the devil from releasing his father or face an unthinkable result.
Jameson Parker - best known as A.J. on the TV series 'Simon & Simon' - turns in a respectable performance as one of the graduate students; also giving stellar performances are Lisa Blount, Donald Pleasance & Victor Wong. One can almost see a touch of Dr. Sam Loomis from 'Halloween' in the priest played by Donald Pleasance.
The lack of extras on the DVD is a little disappointing; it's the only reason this DVD gets 4 stars instead of 5.
Rating: - Old Scratch knocking at the door
For all its numerous flaws and failings: sloppy, lazy and too loose with all its promising potential in frights, suspense, characterizations, quasi-scientific and religious themes, this movie somehow still manages to succeed as a minor classic. If nothing else, a wonderful Halloween entertainment - for those not expecting too much in the way of gory FX and twisted action.
If only the visuals and feeling between the characters were as effective as POD's truly superior soundtrack -- what a keeper it could have been!
About that score: It is a refinement of the Halloween synth motif, simple yet layered, with an evocatively implacable rhythmn. Doom and gloom with plenty of synth sighs and choral color that perfectly matches the ruined church of the action's setting. If you give it a fair listen the damn thing will stick in your head for hours. Followed me home all the way from Times Square the first night I saw this sucker in the fall of '87!
Otherwise, there are many other qualities to admire about Prince of Darkness: The decrepit church's creepy corridors, the candlelit basement chapel, that cruddy ancient cannister, (yeah, even the fakish green swill is kinda cool!). I particularly dig that one low angle shot when a certain radiologist rises... Not to mention the video dream broadcasts - a great idea! (even though it was lifted from TIMESCAPE by Gregory Benford, Nebula Award winner of 1980).
But most memorable is the ending, heartrending for those who care to ponder it. There, in that last scene, is the essence of what honest, true horror has always been about. No way out? A choice that is no choice at all?
Thankfully, John Carpenter chose to leave off his imperfectly told story on so dreadful and perfect a note.
Rating: - Existentialist, Lovecraftian Horror by Carpenter
The current state of the horror genre is, how shall is say, pretty sad. It has come to the point where horror movies now seem exclusively targeted at teen audiences, with the choices being poor slasher flicks inspired by "Scream" (which was ironically supposed to parody that type of movie), potboilers of grue and gore such as Hostel, Saw and Turista, that rely solely on brutal cringe-wankery, and poorly executed existential horror movies such as Pulse and Stay Alive which try to be "edgy" by referencing computers and video games. Sadly, movies of the last type seem to be now made mostly by hacks whose idea of subtlety is making actors look around with a panicked expression and shout "what's that?" while "scare music/sound effects" are triggered.
It wasn't always like this, however. In the 1980s, John Carpenter made what was coined one of his "apocalypse trilogy" movies, Prince of Darkness (the others were The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness). At its core, Prince of Darkness is an existential horror movie, in that its goal is to question the very nature of what is real, and man's place in the universe. Considering that two of the main characters have the last names of Marsh and Danforth, it's no surprise that horror buffs will make the connection between this movie and H.P. Lovecraft's nihilistic style. The basic storyline is as follows (spoilers to follow): A dying priest passes on a cryptic diary to Father Loomis, played by Donald Pleasance. In an attempt to unravel the secret of the Brotherhood of Sleep, Loomis enlists help from the scientific community, in the form of quantum physicist Dr. Birack, his graduate students, and other academics, who all congregate in a run-down church. In that church's basement is an encrusted cylindrical device of incredible age, filled with a menacing, perpetually moving green liquid. The academics, including sort-of lovers and main characters Brian Marsh and Catherine Danforth, get to work analyzing both the cylinder and an accompanying book, which turns out to be the "true" story of Christianity.
While there are zombie-style horror elements, the most terrifying thing about Prince of Darkness is how it turns around what people assume due to religion. It turns out that not only was Jesus a mentally unbalanced extraterrestrial, but that the universe is not watched over and controlled by a benevolent God, but rather an evil intelligence existing in the mirror image of our universe- an "Anti-God" whose son is Satan, and who is resurrecting Satan in our universe to bring its father back here to do Very Bad Things (tm). The green liquid form of Satan ends up infecting people like a virus, while something (presumably the Anti-God)is affecting the nature of reality outside the church, as well as controlling a small army of mentally ill homeless people surrounding the church. To add to the fun, the people inside the church start to have a recurring dream that seems more like a video transmission than a normal dream.
The film does have its faults, notably a muted level of acting that sometimes borders on the wooden, as opposed to the across the board natural performances found in The Thing. In addition, while the movie has a pretty nice slow build, the climactic sequence is rather abrupt in its approach. I also found the "possessed homeless" threat to be little more than an excuse to keep the characters trapped in the church. Still, the sheer chutzpah of a storyline that dares to be so outright "sacrilegious" (the Catholic Church is essentially branded the world's most egregious group of con men in this storyline) must be given proper due. It also helps that both Dennis Dun and Victor Wong from "Big Trouble In Little China" give lively performances. While I've seen this movie called "boring", I'd challenge that assertion. After all, how boring is the concept that our entire existence remains at the whim of pure, cosmic evil, without any counterbalancing benevolent spirituality? In the end, the sheer atmosphere of this movie helps keep it entertaining.
|
|