Prince of Darkness (film)
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| Prince of Darkness | |
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 Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | John Carpenter |
| Produced by | Larry J. Franco |
| Written by | John Carpenter (as "Martin Quatermass") |
| Starring | Donald Pleasence Jameson Parker Victor Wong |
| Music by | John Carpenter Alan Howarth |
| Cinematography | Gary B. Kibbe |
| Distributed by | Universal (United States and Canada) Carolco (all other territories) |
| Release date(s) | 1987 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,000,000 (approximate) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Prince of Darkness (also known as John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness) is a 1987 American horror film directed, written and scored by John Carpenter. The film is the second installment in what Carpenter refers to as his "Apocalypse Trilogy", which began with The Thing and concludes with In the Mouth of Madness.
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[edit] Plot
A priest (Donald Pleasence) invites Professor Howard Birack (Victor Wong) and his students to investigate a mysterious cylinder in the basement of an abandoned Los Angeles church. The cylinder contains a constantly swirling, green liquid. Throughout the night, it begins to possess the students one by one and uses them against the remaining survivors. After researching the text found next to the cylinder, it is discovered that the liquid is actually Satan himself.
The text also reveals that Satan is the son of an even more powerful force of evil, an Anti-God, who is trapped in another dimension. Satan possesses one of the students and attempts to bring his father through a dimensional portal, using a mirror.
At the climax of the film, Catherine Danforth (Lisa Blount), one of the students, stops this from happening by tackling the possessed student, and both of them fall through the portal--sacrificing herself in the fashion of Jesus Christ. Before she or the Anti-God can escape, the priest shatters the portal, trapping Satan, the Anti-God, and Danforth in the other realm. (Danforth is later seen "alive and well" in this other realm with her arms extended, crucifixion-style, as if resurrected.)
Following the climax, the students return home. An eerie and fragmented foreshadowing dream sequence occurs repeatedly during the film, apparently a transmission from the future year of 1999, each time showing a little more and also providing a final twist.
Marsh appears to awaken, and rolls over to find Satan, in the form of the possessed student, lying in bed with him. Marsh then awakens screaming, recovers, and approaches his bedroom mirror, hand outstretched. The film cuts to black just before his fingers touch the mirror.
[edit] Production
The idea for the film came about as Carpenter had been researching theoretical physics and atomic theory. He recalled, simply, that "I thought it would be interesting to create some sort of ultimate evil and combine it with the notion of matter and anti-matter".[1] This idea, which would eventually develop into the screenplay for Prince of Darkness, was to be the first of a multi-picture deal with Alive Pictures, where Carpenter was allocated $3 million per picture and complete creative control.[2]
Executive producer Shep Gordon was also manager to singer Alice Cooper and suggested Cooper record a song for the picture. Carpenter also cast Cooper in the picture as one of the homeless zombies. Cooper also allowed the use of his 'impaling device' from his stage show to be used in the film in a scene where Cooper's character kills Etchinson.[3] The song Cooper wrote for the film, also titled "Prince of Darkness", can be heard briefly in the same scene, playing through Etchinson's headphones. But the song itself would not be released till a year later.
This film was shot in 48 days.[citation needed] Carpenter brought back to the film people that he had worked with previously, including Victor Wong and Donald Pleasance. Peter Jason, soon to become a Carpenter regular, was also in the film.
[edit] Reception
Critically, the film was poorly received at the time of its initial release, accused of being dull with an over-complicated plot, wordy script, wooden acting and uneven pacing, while offering insufficient 'horror' for Carpenter fans. It is generally thought to have done poorly at the box office, but as the movie's budget was under $3 million and the eventual gross was $14 million, it managed a profit for the studio. Over the years, the film's critical reputation has improved considerably and it has obtained a cult following.
The film is very popular in Japan and Spain. In Japan, the film was re-named John Carpenter's Paradigm and Spain released the film under the title El Principe de las tinieblas. Both countries created their own artwork for the film. The Spanish DVD has an extra not on the UK disc, a two minute feature with John Carpenter talking about the film.
Carpenter's inventive skills in editing and mood-setting music are in evidence throughout the film, however some critics and fans believe the standard horror trajectory of the story keeps it from becoming a classic. The film was shot through a slightly anamorphic lens, giving a subtle distortion to every scene.
Although Carpenter wrote the screenplay, in the film's credits the writer is listed as Martin Quatermass, a homage repeated in the film with Kneale University. These were in reference to the British film and television writer Nigel Kneale and the famous fictional scientist he created, Professor Bernard Quatermass. The storyline features elements associated with Kneale (the ancient evil aspect of both Quatermass and the Pit and The Quatermass Conclusion, the idea of messages from the future from The Road, and the scientific investigation of the supernatural from The Stone Tape). Carpenter would return to the idea of clerical secrecy in Vampires.
Kneale, however, was irritated with this use of the character's name in the film's credits, as he feared that the impression may be given that he had something to do with the film. Previously, he had written the original screenplay for the 1982 film Halloween III: Season of the Witch for Carpenter, but had been so incensed with all of the changes director Tommy Lee Wallace had made to it that he had his name removed from the credits.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Gilles Boulenger, John Carpenter Prince of Darkness, (Los Angeles, Silman-James Press, 2003), pp.201, ISBN 1-879505-67-3
- ^ Boulenger, pp. 201
- ^ Boulenger, pp. 204
- ^ Murray, Andy (2006). Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (paperback), London: Headpress, p. 158. ISBN 1-900486-50-4.
[edit] External links
- Prince of Darkness at the Internet Movie Database
- Prince of Darkness at theofficialjohncarpenter.com
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