Prince of Darkness (1987)

'Prince of Darkness' is not master of horror John Carpenter's best film and it is weakest in his so called "Apocalypse Trilogy", but Carpenter is such director whose more mediocre work surpasses other genre director's film by miles. In 'Prince of Darkness' Carpenter again manages to perfectly create creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere (although might not as good as in 'The Thing') and the horror doesn't need to rely on jump scares and fancy special effects. Only Carpenter can build up such a slow an intense waiting of the doom.After some flops at the box office John Carpenter had fallen into discountenance by the mayor studios 'Prince of Darkness' was again independent film with modest budget. The low budged doesn't take anything away from the movie, on the contrary it doesn't show like a low budget film (I guess it's Carpenter's experiences working on shoestring budgets). The build up is little slow, and the action parts are little corny some times (without right amount of cheese it wouldn't be Carpenter's film), but the dialogue is magnificently written and characters (except some expendables) are rather intelligent and avoiding too much horror movie clichés. Again, Carpenter manages to create an eerie synthesizer soundtrack, that is pleasure to listen, but is not recommended to listen on your ipod while walking on dark streets.'Prince of Darkness' is above average atmospheric and intelligent horror film that uses many interesting ideas and avoids to slump into horror film clichés. It should please hard core horror fans, and is must see for John Carpenter fans.

This review has potential spoilers. Suffice to say, it is still a very creepy film after nearly 30 years, and you need go no further than that.I read some of the negative reviews about this movie, and about the acting, and I just sort of shake my head. They are missing one of the key aspects upon which this movie stands: disbelief. And it's also the same reason why you can watch this film maybe 40 years later, and it would probably still creep the livin' h*ll out of you.Indeed, it starts a little slow. The music Carpenter adds for the non-dialog scenes builds a very thick sense of dread. But it's when they get the graduate students is where this film gets legs. The students and the professors, all of whom are very scientific and rational people, are asked to analyze something that only lives in what modern Man thinks is nothing more than Dark Age superstition. Yet, the green goo is there, in all of its horrible glory. Moreover, not only are they asked to PROVE that this is evil incarnate, but find a way to stop it. And their reactions reflect their basic struggle to come to grips of what they are seeing.And yet, Carpenter's sound track rolls on. It really does give you the creeps.And that's the genius of the film: the fact that the security of modern thinking has just been ripped away in one fell swoop, and you're staring straight into a chapter or two of Revelations of John, in the flesh. And you're trying to turn it all back with test tubes and computer print-outs. Even early in the film you get the impression that this isn't going to end well.And then there is the dream sequences that lengthen as the movie rolls. This is also key to the movie, for reasons that I won't explain because it is a potential spoiler.To that end, this is a film whose premise is to turn Christianity on its head. For those of faith, this is a bit of an issue. I personally put that aside - it's a horror film, and a flight of fancy. All in all, this film is best experienced in the dead of the night, in a darkened room, alone. That you'll get it.The last scenes in the movie are undoubtedly the best.

Maybe for some people this film is invokes some kind of deep nostalgia and that's why they love it so much, but it's honestly a terrible film. The idea is interesting, with the devil being an actual being intricately linked with the very fabric of the universe, Jesus being an alien sent here to warn us and the Catholic Church spreading a lie to cover up the horrible truth. It's a great premise, but it's handled so badly that the movie is barely watchable. The writing is atrocious, so much of the plot is half ass explained with some of the most awful dialogue I've ever seen. There are several plot points that go completely unresolved and one of them is a major one that is talked about through most of the film. The acting is terrible (unfortunate because many of these actors had given great performances in previous John Carpenter films) I don't think any of the actors had a clue what was going on and gave performances that ranged from limp and dull to completely absurd and over the top (not in the good way either). All of this makes the slow pace of the movie, which could have made for a great slow and terrifying movie, incredibly dull and frustrating to watch. I think any fan of John Carpenter should watch it, but it's honestly a terrible movie.

This Movie will end and you will have one of two opinions 1. It's one of the great movies ever or 2. It's just boring Seriously it's that simple it's not for everyone that's for sure It goes like this okay In a run down cellar in a church, a priest (Donald Pleasence) finds a weird vial That is filled with slime. Confused and frightened the priest Makes a call and brings his discovery to a circle of top scholars and scientists, who eventually learn the secret of the strange liquid and hell is unleashed But can they survive to tell the tale The cast is great carpenter really nails another movie with his directing It has a real classic feel to it I loved it try it