The Prince Of Darkness. (15.)
Directed By John Carpenter. 1987.
Starring Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Alice Cooper. 101 mins. A 4K restoration out on EST, Blu-Ray, DVD, BD and 4K UHD on November 23rd.
Of all the big name Hollywood film directors - the ones that real people know, not just film bores - none are as ramshackle as John Carpenter. Outside of The Thing, which is a phenomenal technical achievement, most of his films, even the relatively big budget ones, have a DIY, make-do-and-mend feel; and Prince of Darkness is prime example. I can imagine the uninitiated sitting down to watch this and thinking, "This, this crappy little horror film is what the 'experts' think is great filmmaking." For them this is probably more PoS than PoD.
Well, yeah, I can see that but there's something rather great, rather special, even inspiring about Prince Of Darkness. It looks thrown together, but what it has is ideas; not necessarily intelligence but definitely ideas. Carpenter's script marries The Exorcist with theoretical physics and a dash of The Da Vinci Code. His choice of pseudonym, Martin Quatermass, tells us that it is another of his tributes to British sci-fi/ horror master Nigel Kneale. Its subject is a Kneale favourite, finding a scientific explanation for spiritual and supernatural beliefs. In Quatermass and the Pit, Kneale had a race of long-buried alien invaders turn out to be the inspiration for the Devil. Here the devil is a tube of swirling green liquid that the Catholic Church has kept hidden in a derelict church in a rundown part of LA.
Plotwise, this is another of Carpenter's siege movies. Called in by priest Donald Pleasance, professor Victor Wong brings in all the brightest students from the faculty to spend the weekend at the church to study the tube and try to deal with its malevolent presence. Soon they find themselves trapped inside by a group of zombified homeless people, led by Alice Cooper, that have surrounded the place. And then members of the group start to fall under the influence of the swirling liquid.
PoD may be just a hokey horror film set in a rundown church, nut it's dabbling with notions its audience don't understand: the uncertainty of reality on a subatomic level, our notions of good and evil may be an interpretation of the binary universe made up of matter and anti-matter universe. Schrodinger's cat even gets tossed into the mix briefly.
When The Thing flopped in 1982 it ended a run of early success for Carpenter and he never regained his early preeminence. Starman won him back the support of the studios but he blew that on Big Trouble in Little China. PoD was the low budget comeback made in the wake of its box office disappointment. It looks cheap, but not horribly so. The effects are fine, they do their job. With Carpenter, the cheapness usually expresses itself more forcefully in the cast. Pleasance and Wong are marvellous performers, but everybody else looks like they are skipping acting class to be there.
When Kurt Russell isn't available, he has terrible taste in leading men. He always needs to have a hunk take the lead, but the performers he chooses always seem dazed by the spotlight. There was Darwin Joston in Assault on Precinct 13, Tom Atkins in The Fog and here it's Jameson Parker. None of them are horrible actors but they're not stars, and though the films are more ensemble pieces than star vehicles, you feel the lose of leadership. For a man who has often worked with a low budget, Carpenter is not particularly adept at getting performances from inexperienced actors. With stars and quality character actors he always gets great work, (The Thing is beautifully acted) but everybody else seems vaguely hypnotised. Horror films are generally about people being in the wrong place at the wrong time and most of the cast seem to feel they shouldn't be here.
It's not a masterpiece but what works in it stays with you: a videotaped warning from the future beamed into their dreams is particularly effective, as is the ending. It's handling of the science is skittish but I think you appreciate the effort being made. Mixing science with Satan is a clever ruse: it leaves you no get out. Both rational and irrational thinkers can buy into the scares.
Extras
Disappointingly jokey and uninformative commentary with Carpenter and actor and Meatloaf lookalike Peter Jason.
Directed By John Carpenter. 1987.
Starring Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Alice Cooper. 101 mins. A 4K restoration out on EST, Blu-Ray, DVD, BD and 4K UHD on November 23rd.
Of all the big name Hollywood film directors - the ones that real people know, not just film bores - none are as ramshackle as John Carpenter. Outside of The Thing, which is a phenomenal technical achievement, most of his films, even the relatively big budget ones, have a DIY, make-do-and-mend feel; and Prince of Darkness is prime example. I can imagine the uninitiated sitting down to watch this and thinking, "This, this crappy little horror film is what the 'experts' think is great filmmaking." For them this is probably more PoS than PoD.
Well, yeah, I can see that but there's something rather great, rather special, even inspiring about Prince Of Darkness. It looks thrown together, but what it has is ideas; not necessarily intelligence but definitely ideas. Carpenter's script marries The Exorcist with theoretical physics and a dash of The Da Vinci Code. His choice of pseudonym, Martin Quatermass, tells us that it is another of his tributes to British sci-fi/ horror master Nigel Kneale. Its subject is a Kneale favourite, finding a scientific explanation for spiritual and supernatural beliefs. In Quatermass and the Pit, Kneale had a race of long-buried alien invaders turn out to be the inspiration for the Devil. Here the devil is a tube of swirling green liquid that the Catholic Church has kept hidden in a derelict church in a rundown part of LA.
Plotwise, this is another of Carpenter's siege movies. Called in by priest Donald Pleasance, professor Victor Wong brings in all the brightest students from the faculty to spend the weekend at the church to study the tube and try to deal with its malevolent presence. Soon they find themselves trapped inside by a group of zombified homeless people, led by Alice Cooper, that have surrounded the place. And then members of the group start to fall under the influence of the swirling liquid.
PoD may be just a hokey horror film set in a rundown church, nut it's dabbling with notions its audience don't understand: the uncertainty of reality on a subatomic level, our notions of good and evil may be an interpretation of the binary universe made up of matter and anti-matter universe. Schrodinger's cat even gets tossed into the mix briefly.
When The Thing flopped in 1982 it ended a run of early success for Carpenter and he never regained his early preeminence. Starman won him back the support of the studios but he blew that on Big Trouble in Little China. PoD was the low budget comeback made in the wake of its box office disappointment. It looks cheap, but not horribly so. The effects are fine, they do their job. With Carpenter, the cheapness usually expresses itself more forcefully in the cast. Pleasance and Wong are marvellous performers, but everybody else looks like they are skipping acting class to be there.
When Kurt Russell isn't available, he has terrible taste in leading men. He always needs to have a hunk take the lead, but the performers he chooses always seem dazed by the spotlight. There was Darwin Joston in Assault on Precinct 13, Tom Atkins in The Fog and here it's Jameson Parker. None of them are horrible actors but they're not stars, and though the films are more ensemble pieces than star vehicles, you feel the lose of leadership. For a man who has often worked with a low budget, Carpenter is not particularly adept at getting performances from inexperienced actors. With stars and quality character actors he always gets great work, (The Thing is beautifully acted) but everybody else seems vaguely hypnotised. Horror films are generally about people being in the wrong place at the wrong time and most of the cast seem to feel they shouldn't be here.
It's not a masterpiece but what works in it stays with you: a videotaped warning from the future beamed into their dreams is particularly effective, as is the ending. It's handling of the science is skittish but I think you appreciate the effort being made. Mixing science with Satan is a clever ruse: it leaves you no get out. Both rational and irrational thinkers can buy into the scares.
Extras
Disappointingly jokey and uninformative commentary with Carpenter and actor and Meatloaf lookalike Peter Jason.
