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yendiPrince of Darkness. 1987. Written and Directed by John Carpenter. Distributed by Universal.
When people ask me what my favorite John Carpenter film is, I almost inevitably answer with The Thing, or Big Trouble in Little China, or Halloween (or Dark Star if I'm feeling odd). All of those are finely-crafted classics, but picking a favorite is nearly impossible. But if you ask me what his most ambitious movie is, I don't hesitate. Prince of Darkness, although flawed, has a scope that dwarfs anything else that Carpenter has given us, attempting a merger of science and mythology that remains startlingly original. And it has Alice Cooper.
When an old priest dies, he leaves all his worldly possessions to a fellow priest. Alas, those possessions only include a Deep Dark Secret about the history of the Catholic Church*. Turns out there's yet another secret society within the Church, and when the priest, played by Donald Pleasence, checks out the church in which his dead friend toiled, he finds a vat of green goo. Instead of making the logical assumption**, he decides that there's something Not Quite Right here, and contacts a scientist acquaintance (and occasional adversary) of his to check it out. Between the goo and the strange text that accompanies it, they realize that there's a lot of work here, so the professor brings in a bunch of his students.
Coincidentally, each student has a useful sub-speciality: linguistics, physics, theology, biology, and Being One of the Two Titular Characters from Simon and Simon.
Okay, that last isn't technically a specialty, but Jameson Parker is, indeed, one of the grad students, complete with his trademark bad mustache. He plays Brian, the paramour of fellow grad student Catherine.
As the folks settle into the church, we get lots of Creepy Shots. The local homeless population are all acting a little weird, letting bugs walk all over them. And one of them even looks like Alice Cooper! Sadly, they all remain mute throughout***, so we never hear Alice shout "no more Mr. Nice Guy" as he kills someone . Aside from the homeless folks, we also see weirdness from the insects, especially the worms crawling all over the windows. As things progress, one of the students shows some kind of weird bruise in her arm, which you know is going to create problems by the creepy music that plays whenever we see it.
The folks work into the night, when the Nerdy Computer Technician (complete with Woody Allen voice, ugly glasses, and bad haircut) heads home, only to find a crucified pigeon in the alley behind the church! Yes, Squit died for your sins! As the nerd stares in shock, he hears a noise from further down the alley, and along comes Homeless Alice Cooper! As Nerdy Computer Technician turns to run, he finds his escape blocked by the other homeless folks. When he turns back around, Cooper stabs him with. . . .a bicycle!
Yes, a bicycle!
Admittedly, one that had its front wheel removed (and the remaining metal sharpened). But still. A bicycle. Dude.
Back in the church, the researchers are picking up some creepy clues, like translations referring to the devil and other fun stuff. And downstairs, at the vat, one researcher is shocked to see the green goo escaping and pouring onto the ceiling, where it stays there like a green goopy extra from a Lionel Richie video. As she stares at this blatant violation of the laws of physics, the poor woman gets sprayed in the mouth by a stream of the goo, causing her to gasp and choke.
Upstairs, we learn that Christ was really an alien, and that he'd learned of the container filled with goo -- which was created by Satan and which will eventually open the inter-dimensional gateway to allow Satan access to our world -- and came to warn humanity. Alas, the humans assumed he was crazy and killed him, but some of Christ's followers created a secret society to preserve his teachings until mankind was advanced enough to understand them. Yes, an alien Christ and a scientifically-founded Satan. Like I said, Carpenter was ambitious here.
Donald Pleasence's priest goes into a fit of depression, and as the scientists debate whether to believe the story they've translated, we see Susan, the girl who got sprayed, rising up, zombie-like. After a few character moments (featuring debates about how to handle sentient evil goo) and false scares, one of Susan's friends goes looking for her, and gets his head snapped.
After Pleasence and his professor friend debate why the Church covered this up for so long (this was before the last two rounds of child molestation cover-ups, so it's a more legitimate question at the time), we cut to the outside, where three of the researchers are debating the situation. Two wander back inside as the third dismisses everything as "caca****." Out comes Susan, who stares at the soon-to-be-dead guy. He looks down at his feet, sees that he's covered with roaches, and is so distracted that he fails to notice the homeless lady who runs up to him and stabs him eighty-eight times with a pair of scissors.
Back inside, the remaining folks don't yet realize that they've already lost four of their colleagues in the span of fifteen minutes. One of them reads a translation talking about a "chosen" one, and sees an odd symbol. And upstairs, the researchers are starting to have weird dreams that seem like bad home videos of the outside of the church. It's America's Creepiest Dream Videos!
The translator eventually heads off to take a nap, only to find Susan hiding in her room. In a moment that the translator clearly assumes is supposed to be a lesbian seduction scene, Susan crawls on top of her, and before the latter can really explain that she just likes Susan as a friend, Susan is spitting green goo into her mouth*****.
Upstairs, Catherine and her friend Kelly are chatting, and we get another look at Kelly's bruise. Sure enough, it's now formed into the pattern the translator saw. Guess we know who Satan's chosen one is! Kelly heads off for a nap, and one of the other researchers heads to the translator's office, where she's back at her computer. She's typing away furiously even as she has a blank look on her face. When he goes to see what she's writing "I Live!" over and over. As he stares, she starts typing threats about how his gods won't save him, and we see Susan enter the room and close the door. As they double-team him and kiss (and gooify) him on the floor, we can kiss another researcher goodbye.
By this point, the remaining scientists have figured out that there's some sort of signal coming from the future, possibly affecting their dreams. They also assume that the missing folks have gone home in fear or disgust over the project. But they hear the voice of their colleague -- the "caca" guy -- from outside, and he delivers the message "pray for death" before his entire body falls apart as it's consumed by bugs. As they run away from the window in disgust, they encounter the researcher who just got kissed by Susan. He sings Amazing Grace, then breaks off a piece of wooden bannister, giggles, and slits his own throat******
Things escalate quickly:
• Susan and the translator bring the vat of goo to the bed where Kelly is sleeping.
• The researchers discover that the doors to the church have been barricaded from the outside.
• One researcher walks into Kelly's room just in time to see the entire vat of goo enter her mouth.
• Another one gets sprayed in the face by the translator.
• All the previously dead folks -- including the guy with the broken neck and the one with the slit throat -- come back to attack everyone.
At this point, the survivors are: the priest, who has hidden off in a room by himself; the researcher who walked in on Kelly, who has barricaded himself in the closet; the head scientist; Catherine; Brian; and one other guy who never shows any personality. The latter four barricade themselves inside yet another room, even as Kelly, in her room, now seems to be very pregnant.
As dawn breaks, Kelly's skin peels, making her look like a radiation burn victim (one of the known side-effects of being impregnated by Satan Goop). We get a few more scenes -- the priest hiding from a possessed researcher, more dreams, debate about the nature of Satan -- as the group of four attempts to break through a wall to rescue the guy trapped in the closet. Then Kelly's pregnancy mysteriously vanishes, and she arises, looking hideous, evil, and telekinetic.
The group of four tries to make a run for it, but one possessee takes out the Boring Guy. As a trade-off, though, they do rescue the researcher from the closet. But Kelly has found a compact, and stares into the mirror shouting, "Faaaaatheeeeer!" Yes, Satan comes from the mirror universe (and presumably has a goatee)! She realizes that she needs a biggerboat mirror. Naturally, there's one in the room in which the priest is hiding, so she heads in there and initiates the process (guarded by one of the possessed researchers). As Brian rushes in and attacks the guard, the priest takes a fire axe and cuts off the hand she's using to pull Satan through the mirror. We're all saved!
Oh, wait. We're not. Evil Possessed Kelly quickly grows a new hand. So Pleasence cuts off her head instead. We're all saved!
Oh, wait. We're not. Evil Possessed Kelly grabs her head and puts it back on her neck. At this point, I think it's pretty obvious that an axe is of no use against Satan's minion, but Kelly plays it safe and telekinetically traps the priest behind a bookcase. She restarts her spell, and just as she's (slowly) pulling Satan's hand through the mirror, Catherine sees her, pauses for about five minutes in indecision, and then tackles her, sending Kelly, Satan, and herself into the mirror world. The priest shatters the mirror with the axe, and that's the end of that, as the possessed researchers revert to old-fashioned corpses, and the possessed homeless folks wander away to go record "Poison" and play in VH1 Celebrity Golf tournaments.
Of course, we get one last dream from the future, in which we recognize the shadowy figure as Catherine, and Brian wakes up in a cold sweat. He turns over and sees the bloody face of Catherine, looking much like Kelly did before! And then he wakes up again*******, presumably for real, heads to the mirror, and is about to touch it to see if anything's on the other side... as we fade to credits.
Prince of Darkness may be flawed, but it's still a minor masterpiece. This is the penultimate movie of Carpenter's to actually show directorial vision, and the attempts throughout to meld science and theology without dismissing either one completely are bold and still effective today.
The actors are a major reason that this movie works. No one conveys angst over evil beings like Donald Pleasence, and his priest plays wonderfully off Victor Wong's scientist, with both merging their world views as they're forced to realize how much they don't yet know. Dennis Dun, another Carpenter vet, steals much of the movie, mixing comic relief into the mix without ever throwing the movie off track. Even Parker is perfectly fine in the "hero" role.
Prince of Darkness also features one of Carpenter's best scores, a creepy update of his music from Assault on Precinct Thirteen that conveys a sense of understated terror throughout. Throw in a solid script, also by Carpenter, and there's not much to dislike here. Fans of the ghastlier side of horror flicks will enjoy the (mild) gore, violence, and bugs, and fans of the more cerebral side of horror will enjoy the unusual take on the nature of good and evil. Highly recommended.
*Not explained by the works of Leonardo Da Vinci using a secret code that only Tom Hanks can figure out.
**That "You Can't Do That on Television" had infiltrated the Church.
***Excluding one lady with a cup full of maggots, who thanks Pleasence for re-opening the church.
****Seriously. This might be the only movie to feature the word "caca."
*****So not my kink.
******No, he's not named Dibbler.
*******Yes, Carpenter swiped this sequence for In The Mouth of Madness.
When people ask me what my favorite John Carpenter film is, I almost inevitably answer with The Thing, or Big Trouble in Little China, or Halloween (or Dark Star if I'm feeling odd). All of those are finely-crafted classics, but picking a favorite is nearly impossible. But if you ask me what his most ambitious movie is, I don't hesitate. Prince of Darkness, although flawed, has a scope that dwarfs anything else that Carpenter has given us, attempting a merger of science and mythology that remains startlingly original. And it has Alice Cooper.
When an old priest dies, he leaves all his worldly possessions to a fellow priest. Alas, those possessions only include a Deep Dark Secret about the history of the Catholic Church*. Turns out there's yet another secret society within the Church, and when the priest, played by Donald Pleasence, checks out the church in which his dead friend toiled, he finds a vat of green goo. Instead of making the logical assumption**, he decides that there's something Not Quite Right here, and contacts a scientist acquaintance (and occasional adversary) of his to check it out. Between the goo and the strange text that accompanies it, they realize that there's a lot of work here, so the professor brings in a bunch of his students.
Coincidentally, each student has a useful sub-speciality: linguistics, physics, theology, biology, and Being One of the Two Titular Characters from Simon and Simon.
Okay, that last isn't technically a specialty, but Jameson Parker is, indeed, one of the grad students, complete with his trademark bad mustache. He plays Brian, the paramour of fellow grad student Catherine.
As the folks settle into the church, we get lots of Creepy Shots. The local homeless population are all acting a little weird, letting bugs walk all over them. And one of them even looks like Alice Cooper! Sadly, they all remain mute throughout***, so we never hear Alice shout "no more Mr. Nice Guy" as he kills someone . Aside from the homeless folks, we also see weirdness from the insects, especially the worms crawling all over the windows. As things progress, one of the students shows some kind of weird bruise in her arm, which you know is going to create problems by the creepy music that plays whenever we see it.
The folks work into the night, when the Nerdy Computer Technician (complete with Woody Allen voice, ugly glasses, and bad haircut) heads home, only to find a crucified pigeon in the alley behind the church! Yes, Squit died for your sins! As the nerd stares in shock, he hears a noise from further down the alley, and along comes Homeless Alice Cooper! As Nerdy Computer Technician turns to run, he finds his escape blocked by the other homeless folks. When he turns back around, Cooper stabs him with. . . .a bicycle!
Yes, a bicycle!
Admittedly, one that had its front wheel removed (and the remaining metal sharpened). But still. A bicycle. Dude.
Back in the church, the researchers are picking up some creepy clues, like translations referring to the devil and other fun stuff. And downstairs, at the vat, one researcher is shocked to see the green goo escaping and pouring onto the ceiling, where it stays there like a green goopy extra from a Lionel Richie video. As she stares at this blatant violation of the laws of physics, the poor woman gets sprayed in the mouth by a stream of the goo, causing her to gasp and choke.
Upstairs, we learn that Christ was really an alien, and that he'd learned of the container filled with goo -- which was created by Satan and which will eventually open the inter-dimensional gateway to allow Satan access to our world -- and came to warn humanity. Alas, the humans assumed he was crazy and killed him, but some of Christ's followers created a secret society to preserve his teachings until mankind was advanced enough to understand them. Yes, an alien Christ and a scientifically-founded Satan. Like I said, Carpenter was ambitious here.
Donald Pleasence's priest goes into a fit of depression, and as the scientists debate whether to believe the story they've translated, we see Susan, the girl who got sprayed, rising up, zombie-like. After a few character moments (featuring debates about how to handle sentient evil goo) and false scares, one of Susan's friends goes looking for her, and gets his head snapped.
After Pleasence and his professor friend debate why the Church covered this up for so long (this was before the last two rounds of child molestation cover-ups, so it's a more legitimate question at the time), we cut to the outside, where three of the researchers are debating the situation. Two wander back inside as the third dismisses everything as "caca****." Out comes Susan, who stares at the soon-to-be-dead guy. He looks down at his feet, sees that he's covered with roaches, and is so distracted that he fails to notice the homeless lady who runs up to him and stabs him eighty-eight times with a pair of scissors.
Back inside, the remaining folks don't yet realize that they've already lost four of their colleagues in the span of fifteen minutes. One of them reads a translation talking about a "chosen" one, and sees an odd symbol. And upstairs, the researchers are starting to have weird dreams that seem like bad home videos of the outside of the church. It's America's Creepiest Dream Videos!
The translator eventually heads off to take a nap, only to find Susan hiding in her room. In a moment that the translator clearly assumes is supposed to be a lesbian seduction scene, Susan crawls on top of her, and before the latter can really explain that she just likes Susan as a friend, Susan is spitting green goo into her mouth*****.
Upstairs, Catherine and her friend Kelly are chatting, and we get another look at Kelly's bruise. Sure enough, it's now formed into the pattern the translator saw. Guess we know who Satan's chosen one is! Kelly heads off for a nap, and one of the other researchers heads to the translator's office, where she's back at her computer. She's typing away furiously even as she has a blank look on her face. When he goes to see what she's writing "I Live!" over and over. As he stares, she starts typing threats about how his gods won't save him, and we see Susan enter the room and close the door. As they double-team him and kiss (and gooify) him on the floor, we can kiss another researcher goodbye.
By this point, the remaining scientists have figured out that there's some sort of signal coming from the future, possibly affecting their dreams. They also assume that the missing folks have gone home in fear or disgust over the project. But they hear the voice of their colleague -- the "caca" guy -- from outside, and he delivers the message "pray for death" before his entire body falls apart as it's consumed by bugs. As they run away from the window in disgust, they encounter the researcher who just got kissed by Susan. He sings Amazing Grace, then breaks off a piece of wooden bannister, giggles, and slits his own throat******
Things escalate quickly:
• Susan and the translator bring the vat of goo to the bed where Kelly is sleeping.
• The researchers discover that the doors to the church have been barricaded from the outside.
• One researcher walks into Kelly's room just in time to see the entire vat of goo enter her mouth.
• Another one gets sprayed in the face by the translator.
• All the previously dead folks -- including the guy with the broken neck and the one with the slit throat -- come back to attack everyone.
At this point, the survivors are: the priest, who has hidden off in a room by himself; the researcher who walked in on Kelly, who has barricaded himself in the closet; the head scientist; Catherine; Brian; and one other guy who never shows any personality. The latter four barricade themselves inside yet another room, even as Kelly, in her room, now seems to be very pregnant.
As dawn breaks, Kelly's skin peels, making her look like a radiation burn victim (one of the known side-effects of being impregnated by Satan Goop). We get a few more scenes -- the priest hiding from a possessed researcher, more dreams, debate about the nature of Satan -- as the group of four attempts to break through a wall to rescue the guy trapped in the closet. Then Kelly's pregnancy mysteriously vanishes, and she arises, looking hideous, evil, and telekinetic.
The group of four tries to make a run for it, but one possessee takes out the Boring Guy. As a trade-off, though, they do rescue the researcher from the closet. But Kelly has found a compact, and stares into the mirror shouting, "Faaaaatheeeeer!" Yes, Satan comes from the mirror universe (and presumably has a goatee)! She realizes that she needs a bigger
Oh, wait. We're not. Evil Possessed Kelly quickly grows a new hand. So Pleasence cuts off her head instead. We're all saved!
Oh, wait. We're not. Evil Possessed Kelly grabs her head and puts it back on her neck. At this point, I think it's pretty obvious that an axe is of no use against Satan's minion, but Kelly plays it safe and telekinetically traps the priest behind a bookcase. She restarts her spell, and just as she's (slowly) pulling Satan's hand through the mirror, Catherine sees her, pauses for about five minutes in indecision, and then tackles her, sending Kelly, Satan, and herself into the mirror world. The priest shatters the mirror with the axe, and that's the end of that, as the possessed researchers revert to old-fashioned corpses, and the possessed homeless folks wander away to go record "Poison" and play in VH1 Celebrity Golf tournaments.
Of course, we get one last dream from the future, in which we recognize the shadowy figure as Catherine, and Brian wakes up in a cold sweat. He turns over and sees the bloody face of Catherine, looking much like Kelly did before! And then he wakes up again*******, presumably for real, heads to the mirror, and is about to touch it to see if anything's on the other side... as we fade to credits.
Prince of Darkness may be flawed, but it's still a minor masterpiece. This is the penultimate movie of Carpenter's to actually show directorial vision, and the attempts throughout to meld science and theology without dismissing either one completely are bold and still effective today.
The actors are a major reason that this movie works. No one conveys angst over evil beings like Donald Pleasence, and his priest plays wonderfully off Victor Wong's scientist, with both merging their world views as they're forced to realize how much they don't yet know. Dennis Dun, another Carpenter vet, steals much of the movie, mixing comic relief into the mix without ever throwing the movie off track. Even Parker is perfectly fine in the "hero" role.
Prince of Darkness also features one of Carpenter's best scores, a creepy update of his music from Assault on Precinct Thirteen that conveys a sense of understated terror throughout. Throw in a solid script, also by Carpenter, and there's not much to dislike here. Fans of the ghastlier side of horror flicks will enjoy the (mild) gore, violence, and bugs, and fans of the more cerebral side of horror will enjoy the unusual take on the nature of good and evil. Highly recommended.
*Not explained by the works of Leonardo Da Vinci using a secret code that only Tom Hanks can figure out.
**That "You Can't Do That on Television" had infiltrated the Church.
***Excluding one lady with a cup full of maggots, who thanks Pleasence for re-opening the church.
****Seriously. This might be the only movie to feature the word "caca."
*****So not my kink.
******No, he's not named Dibbler.
*******Yes, Carpenter swiped this sequence for In The Mouth of Madness.