Prince of Darkness (Widescreen)

The film concerns a secret Christian sect, called the Brotherhood of Sleep, who have kept something evil locked up in one of their churches downstairs in a large glass vessel. When the final brother dies he passes on the secret to Father Loomis (Donald Pleasence) who in turn decided to call in some physics students from the local college to find out what is in the vessel. Soon the students find themselves up against an evil that is waiting to be reborn, and also up against themselves as the evil takes hold of them (sort of turning people in zombies that spray evil water out from their mouths).

The single most amazing thing about the Prince of Darkness is the whole atmosphere. There is very little blood at the start and yet the feelings that are evoked by the wonderful set designs, music and lighting will have the hair on the back on your head sticking up. When the blood does come it is not as shocking, however there is one scene of a dead man outside standing in beetles that gave me sleepless nights for weeks. Imagine that thing standing at the end of your bed at night!

This is not just a horror film either. There is lots of quasi-science going on, including theories on things like tachyon particles that can transmit messages through time (in fact the Brotherhood of Sleep all the have the same dream). So in reality this movie's genre is a horror/sci-fi rather than just horror.

Although the film has certainly dated, it is still leaps and bounds ahead of the horror we put out these days. We like horror films that think a little and Carpenter used to do that for us. Oh how times have changed for this once great author, but let's not be too judgemental because of what he has already given us. Certainly Prince of Darkness ranks up there as one of the tenses and weirdest horror films of all time. Alice Cooper also has a cameo as a possessed wino! Now how can you say no to seeing that!

Bottom line is to let this film take you. Sure it is nearly twenty years old, but it is just so damn original that you have to give the man top marks. A cult classic in every sense of the word and certainly DVD ownership is a must for early Carpenter fans.

As a note Screenwriter "Martin Quatermass" is actually John Carpenter.

Deep within the sanctuary of a run down church lies a dirty little secret few know about. The Prince of Darkness, son of the devil himself, is being held captive in liquid form, and is guarded by only a few lucky priests and nuns. However, the time has come for the Prince to awaken and bring forth his father to wreak havoc. As the Prince, and thus his father, gains his strength, many of the more weak-minded are turned to do the biding of the dark lord. The zombie and bug counts rise as the plot thickens, and this group of science professors and students are in a race against time to stop the forces of evil from inflicting their ill will on the unsuspecting public.

Unfortunately, this film tends to be hidden in the shadows behind Carpenter's more famous "Halloween" and "The Thing." However, that does make this film all that much more of a gem. This is truly one of his great cinematic accomplishments, complete with his own score, a great cast, and stellar effects for the time. The characters are fairly well developed, yet Carpenter manages to accomplish this without dwelling on this aspect of the film. Instead, he submerges the viewer into the intrigue and story line, which there is plenty of.

The plot is completely original, which is something hard to come by in this particular genre. Though Carpenter enlists certain elements that may be stereotypical, such as the Romero-esque zombies and the notion of all-encompassing evil attempting to over-take good, Carpenter adds his own unique twists. One thing that's absolutely superb with regards to this film is that it never devolves into a gore or suspense filled vacuum, completely devoid of meaning. Hidden within the blatant horror facets are religious undertones as well as a love story. Though it may seem that this would not work well for a film of this genre, Carpenter pulls it off as only a horror master could. Interspersed throughout the film one can also find excellently cheesy comic relief, mostly in the form of poor jokes presented by Walter (Dennis Dun).

All in all this movie happens to be one of my favorite films, by one of my favorite directors. Thought the DVD is completely bereft of extras, I highly recommend this film to any fan of the genre!

-The opening credits are boring and take a LONG time to roll by.
-The first half hour of the movie, nothing much happens.
-There is a "romantic" subplot that is about as exciting and fun as eating paint chips.
-The budget is clearly really small, even for a Carpenter flick.
-It has a lot of scientific/spiritual mumbo-jumbo dialogue, which is bount to put people off in what is mostly a ZOMBIE MOVIE.
-The plot is outrageous, even by horror movie standards.
-Almost all the actors are recycled from older John Carpenter movies like "Big Trouble in Little China."
-Satan in a jar... 'nuff said.
-Alice Cooper... 'nuff said.

Having said all that, this movie really creeped me out. It has some good scares, some gross-outs, and some chilling moments. The ending was flat-out nuts, in a good way. This movie doesn't measure up to Carpenter's version of "The Thing," but it is a good and original chiller all the same.

On to the DVD... the sound and picture quality are excellent, but you get practically NO extras whatsoever. And I think this movie deserves the "Special Edition" treatment like "The Thing" and "The Fog" got.