Prince of Darkness [Blu-ray] [4K UHD]

I first saw John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness" when it came out in 1987, and I have to admit to walking out of the theater with mixed feelings. After his groundbreaking "Halloween", the competent and suitably creepy "The Fog", the incredible benchmark that was "The Thing", and the lively, unforgettable romp of "Big Trouble In Little China", I felt a little let down, somehow expecting something completely different. It's too bad that because of those expectations, I had completely missed the point.What I didn't appreciate at the time (along with many others, apparently) was that "Prince of Darkness", instead of being a straightforward "good vs. evil" balls-out experience like "The Thing", wasn't so much about high-end visual imagery or action, but rather something altogether different...a harrowing descent into a disquieting, pervasive atmosphere of approaching doom. Not that it didn't have it's fair share of striking visuals (although more economical in scope, because of the smaller budget, and made all the more impressive when one takes that into account), but that was never the point; simply put, this film was for many years an unrecognized and unheralded masterclass in mood and tone, possessing a subtle but powerful overarching sense of impending dread that few other films have been able to match. There are a number of reasons why this film is so effective, in spite of it's faults, and it's easy to forgive those shortcomings for the sake of the overall experience it offers.Other reviewers have covered various points in greater detail so I'll try to keep from being too redundant. First off, a minor note of viewer discretion: the story itself is based around the transposition of traditional western religion with theoretical quantum mechanics to offer up an alternative worldview of the nature and origin of Good and Evil, and while highly original and inventive, it may come across to some viewers as too severe in it's radical re-thinking and therefore requisite departure from traditional belief systems. Your mileage may vary on this, but speaking from a personal perspective I daresay that anyone who has even a nominal upbringing in a Judeo-Christian or Catholic environment could, depending on their tolerance level for this sort of thing, perhaps be challenged, possibly offended...or simply roll their eyes and shake their head in amusement at some of the audacious liberties taken here. You'll know it when you hear it, but in any case there's really nothing more threatening here than what one would find while watching any given episode of "Ancient Aliens" on the History Channel, so anyone who's able to hang with those astro-nerds and their New Age revisionist "history-of-the-universe" shenanigans for the sake of entertainment value shouldn't have any problems.As for the aforementioned shortcomings: In laying the groundwork early on there are some expositional scenes concerning the science and theology where the character dialogue and delivery can at times come across as trying a little too hard to sell the story, and the admittedly complicated reasoning and explanations given may not always appear to gel with complete clarity, or are left purposely ambiguous and incomplete (viewers with short attention spans or an inability or unwillingness to process information may as well go elsewhere). However, given the ambitious and complex scope of the subject matter, trying to hammer out all of the possible intricacies involved or answer every conceivable question would have ruined the pacing and overall flow of the film, so it's hard to find too much fault there. There are a few instances of questionable character behavior, a few scenes that seem to have been included for effect but that don't quite make sense or add anything useful, and one or two questionable details of the story or setting (specifically in regard to the basement of the church where the ancient cylinder is kept) which could have benefitted from either a short additional scene or perhaps an extra line or two of dialogue to give a reason for their presence, because without that consideration they can come across as oversights or mistakes unless the viewer is willing to actively participate by coming up with their own interpretation or explanation. This may all sound like nitpicking but it really isn't...just mentioning the things that are there, but overall they're trifling, with nothing unforgivable or deal-breaking.The cast, with a few notable exceptions, were mostly unknown or little-known actors but whom I found to all be pleasantly suitable in their respective roles. By and large I've always enjoyed the casting in Carpenter's films; he has a knack for procuring competent, professional talent and getting the most out of them. Among the veteran actors participating here are Donald Pleasence ("Halloween"), Victor Wong and Dennis Dun (of "Big Trouble" fame), and a surprisingly solid Jameson Parker from the 80's TV series "Simon & Simon". A quick aside: over the years I have come to particularly appreciate his performance in this film more with each viewing and find myself wondering why he wasn't used in more films. He brings an understated gravitas and stalwart maturity to the role of Brian Marsh, and is one of the two heroic figures in the story. The other, Brian's tragically-fated love interest Catherine Danforth (played with subtle, quiet melancholy by the talented Lisa Blount), becomes with one desperate, selfless act the ultimate catalyst and tipping point of the scales in the seemingly hopeless conflict at the film's climax. Completely by design there's a definite delineation between Brian and Catherine and the rest of the team, and although the character development between them is necessarily abbreviated and mostly by way of inference, over the course of the film I found myself coming to care about these two and what happens to them, and it is this connection which further gives the end of the film a singularly potent, unforgettable gut-punch which will stay with the viewer long after the credits have ended.As far as the visual presentation goes the production design, locations, sets and cinematography are all well-conceived and melded together with optimal consistency and meticulous attention to detail, and it really shows throughout. This is a great looking film, with keen aesthetics that complement the subject matter admirably. The special effects and makeup appear to be almost exclusively practical in nature, with only a smattering of digital effects added in post-production, but this is purely speculation on my part. To go in expecting a top-shelf visual effect extravaganza such as that which was present in "The Thing", well...it isn't here. This film only had one-fifth of the budget as that one to work with, so no dice on that count. What is here on full display, however, is a prime example of making the very most of what you do have to work with and doing it in a way that overcomes budgetary restraints with ingenuity, imagination, craft and technique. I found the visual effects throughout to be unpretentious yet ultimately satisfying and dramatic in the best workmanlike sense, punching well above their weight class without taking over, while also being finely-tailored and in keeping with the overall look and tone of the film. The lighting, camera angles and set pieces are all capably fitted together and executed with a master's flair, and the unorthodox (albeit somewhat risky) technique Carpenter employed to create the mirror scene during the final, climactic confrontation near the end of the film was an inventive stroke of pure genius.As many others have stated, perhaps the single most defining factor contributing to the overall atmosphere of "Prince of Darkness" is the somewhat minimalistic, yet supremely effective score. Written by Carpenter (and later mastered, I believe, with his multi-film collaborator Alan Howarth) while watching the finished film on a tv set (remember those?), the pulsing synthesizer begins at the opening credits and immediately becomes the organic heartbeat of the film, rising and falling and undulating throughout with a life all it's own. For the most part the music is understated, even approaching ambience at times, and is brought to the fore as punctuation only during certain scenes, but this to great effect, and seldom has any soundtrack exuded such a disquieting, profound undercurrent of brooding menace as is on display here. When given free rein as he was on this project, Carpenter is a true auteur in the sense of creating films that are unmistakably his, down to the scoring and sound design, and in this area he excels much more often than not. I believe his most beautiful work (to my ears, at least) was in "Village of the Damned", and the most well-known being the classic, instantly recognizable theme from "Halloween", but I'll contend that the score from "Prince of Darkness" is by far the most fitting and effective of any of his films. In particular, the passage flowing through the final mind-wrenching epilogue into the end credits will chill your bones to the marrow and haunt your dreams.Final Thoughts:When everything is said and done it really all comes down to the storytelling, through either narrative or presentation (hopefully both), and the ability to create and maintain a consistent integrity of characterization, mood and atmosphere that will make or break any film, especially when it comes to suspense and horror. Although having pretty much moved on in my viewing habits as I've gotten older, I have sampled quite a fair number of newer efforts and in doing so have noticed a dramatic shift in the genre, namely that over the years so much in the horror film industry has gone the way of the mean-spirited and ugly; wherein the classic archetype of ordinary people forced by circumstances beyond their control to push back against the darkness has been replaced with a certain all-encompassing, corrosive ambiguity in which quite often there are no longer any clear protagonists and antagonists, and indeed very little discernable difference between good and evil anymore, and old-school storytelling, filmmaking craft and ingenuity have been usurped by little more than alarmingly ubiquitous grotesquery, obscenely graphic portrayals of sadistic cruelty and torture, cheap jump scares, darting figures in the foreground or background, lazy sound design and editing, uninspired and unimaginative directing and lastly, uninformed and derivative storylines populated with shallow and wholly unsympathetic characters who are impossible for the viewer to engage with because writers and filmmakers today either don't know how to invest them with any sense of genuine humanity, or else don't think it's important enough to bother with. To put a fine point to it, the only useful purpose I can find anywhere for the overwhelming majority of this myriad of post-millennial failures is to serve as a contrast and reminder of just how much better many of the older films really were, and still are. So there it is...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.I'll finish up by saying that for whatever it's worth I consider "Prince of Darkness" to be one of the very last genuine accomplishments in horror cinema before everything started to go south just a few short years later, and arguably one of the finest. They simply don't make films like this anymore, and if you're someone who likes the genre and somehow missed out on it, go watch it one dark, stormy evening...you won't be disappointed. If you're one of the many who have seen it, go watch it again...you won't be disappointed either; it holds up remarkably well and is one of the few films that somehow seems to get better with each viewing.

First, put aside any notions about the plot or acting...just focus on the imagery that John Carpenter brings in this film. The image of the green, swirling mass in the decaying container is horrifying. Now imagine it's in the sub-sub basement of an abandoned church....down in a part dating back to the 1500's. And imagine a secret sect of priests charged with containing this swirling mass within the vessel. Pretty intense.The visuals that John Carpenter created in this movie are without question, the most memorable, horrifying and chilling images that I've ever seen on screen. I've never had another movie that gave me literal chills like this--and purely from the imagery alone. I saw it ages ago when I was really too young--someone got a video at some point after it had been out, and I was terrified by the movie then--and remember the scary images to this day! I bought a streaming version recently and re-watched it--It's just as chilling as it was when I was little. The abandoned church, the swirling mass of green/evil, and the most horrifying part--the dream that kept recurring throughout the film....absolutely spine tingling!!!!As much as I've tried to convince myself the swirling mass of green looks oddly like a Star Trek swirl-type warpcore, I simply can't...the visual of that swirling container, in the church basement, surrounded by thousands of crucifixes--it's horrific and beautiful at the same time. Cinematic fabulousness! And the dream that everyone kept having--chilling! There are snippets of voices in the dream sequence, and you can feel the sense of terror building as you slowly begin to process what the voices are saying, as the camera pans closer and closer to a doorway where something shadowy and evil is about to step foot out into the world... It's done incredibly well, and relies on human fear-instinct and dream terror to evoke a tremendous sense of dread as the camera pans towards the figure. It's reminiscent of The Fog, with the slowly creeping fog, and the hook that invariably appears as you feel goosebumps rising. Very John Carpenter.Now, the not-so-great. The movie is rather dated. The dream sequence, while still terrifying, has a very 80's quality about it....smoke machine, fan, figure standing in a doorway--I could be watching a Bonnie Tyler video if I didn't know better--or any number of other 80's videos/movies. It seemed the smoke machine/fan/shadowy figure was a requirement of the 80's video production. While that aspect is logically very mundane and dull, Carpenter has been able to include the buildup of terror as the camera pans, so it becomes more than an 80's music video and instead becomes this looming horror. Very well done for a trope that could be dated and trite.As an 80's flick, the characters interactions seem very foreign to what we're used to now. For example, Brian's initial interest in Catherine on campus, seems more like scary-stalker-guy than average college guy in love/lust. Not having seen the movie in ages and having been traumatized by it, I probably forgot that there was the whole love affair between the two characters that developed(quickly). Seeing it now, in today's context, he seems creepy and needs a good spray of mace. Only in the 80's would his weird obsessive brooding be considered 'courting'or whatever...today I'd call it 'stalking'. Just saying....Now the plot. There's alot of plot that happens fast so it's confusing and weird. There's time travel involved, messages from the future, old-time religion, good vs. evil, Satan vs. God, etc. Basically they try to intertwine religion and science(time travel and quantum mechanics). It gets tiresome quickly. I think it would be a better movie to stick with maybe good vs. evil or satan vs. god... Trying to tie metaphysics to science is tricky and takes away from the chill factor.Alice Cooper. Yes who doesn't love Alice? But I found him to be a distracting factor. It was like, "Look! We got a rock star to appear in our movie--gonna come see it now?!!!" His role wasn't super complicated...any day-player could have done the role, so again, using Alice Cooper's celebrity to 'lure' viewers is kinda sketchy. It's like they didn't think the movie could stand on it's own merit, but that's totally not the case.Donald Pleasence as the priest...didn't work for me. I think this came out in '87 or so, so he'd already done at least a few horror movies and was the one with a gun chasing down the killer. Seeing him cowering behind a boiler seemed so odd and out of place. His character didn't work for me either. When he took charge of supervising the green slime container after it's original priest died, he seemed like he was afraid(rightfully so) but never seemed confident or caring enough to try to stop the evil from being released. I won't spoil anything, just saying he does't seem like he would put up a fight to keep the container closed....the priests from The Exorcist seemed like they'd put up a pretty good fight, while this one seemed to say oh well end of the world, whatcha gonna do....Overall this movie is as terrifying as it was to me years ago. It's creepy, scary and terrifying in all the right ways. There are plot holes and character issues, but the cinematography make it all worthwhile. Still one of, if not the, most terrifying films I've ever seen. Def recommend!