After getting fed up with the studio movie system in 1987, director John Carpenter returned to his low budget horror roots for the fantastic Prince of Darkness. While not everything clicks in this horror flick, which injects science fiction into a biblical tale, it's more entertaining than 95% of supernatural thrillers out there.
Yet again , Carpenter presents a siege movie. This time it's Alice Cooper's army of demonically possessed homeless bums that trap the protagonists in the derelict inner city church. In to this format Carpenter (under the guise of his writer's pseudonym Martin Quatermass) explores a senario where the devil has returned and an evil anti-God is poised to control creation. Refreshingly he does this from the standpoint of science, suggesting how religion (well Christianity really) has interpreted history and scientific fact to mislead the world in to a false sense of security.
So Whats Good?
The cast are great with Donald Pleasense and Victor Wong both getting to spout religious and scientific bollocks respectively, in a convincing and chilling way, while adding integrity to the procedings. Dennis Dunn is clearly having way too much fun as a cocky student.
Carpenter's score is definetely one of his best. It still has that primal, pounding, bassy synth but he's layered it with keyboard string sounds and choral elements to add depth and a more mythic feel.
The basic three act structure of set-up, possession and climactic siege is powerful in it's simplicity. True to form the director presents a great downer ending, using the simple yet powerful image of a mirror to suggest the film's resolution is very fragile indeed.
On the down side?
Gary Kibbe's first collaboration with Carpenter lacks the depth of the Dean Cundy years. While adequete, it hints at the dire, flat camerawork which is to follow in the next decade.
Keeping the image of the anti-God hidden was a bold move...maintaining the mystery of the all-powerful destroyer of reality alive maintains the credibility of the threat to the story. However, what you do get to see of him does kind of resemble Bungle the Bear's paw from childrens TV classic Rainbow. Still, what really grates is that Satan chooses to possess a young blond, pony-tailed girl...and the result isn't at all that unsettling or scary at all. Perhaps Carpenter wanted to subvert an innocent into absolute evil. But the gory face make up clashes dramatically with the pretty blond wig. Result? A bit silly.
Still, those are minor gripes. Prince of Darkness is still one of my favorite Carpenter films, even if it is a little talkier than his stand out classics. Too few horror films are atmospheric. Even less have a real cinematic power. This does. With balls on.
1 comment:
I love Prince of Darkness. It's not perfect and is a notch lower on the Carpenter scale of quality than the likes of Halloween, The Thing, The Fog and Escape from New York, but it is way above his latter efforts and way beter than many other contemporary scifi/horror efforts.
Prince of Darkness works for two simple reasons:
One - the central story and concept is a killer. The coming of the antichrist explained through science and quantum physics and played out in a classic Carpenter siege - this time an old church with something very nasty in the basement and Alice Cooper keeping anyone from leaving. Brrr.
Two - atmoshphere. It has tons of it. That slow burn dread that Carpenter could do so well. Long takes and expertly composed shots. A great and ominous synth score. Some nice shocks. And a downer ending that leaves you wondering...
Oh, and it a;lso has the legend who was Donald Pleasance as a nutty priest and the wonderful Victor Wong as a nutty scientist. Both no longer with us. Both still missed.
Fab film. I can watch it over and over again and it still chils.
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