Prince of Darkness (1987 movie)
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Prince of Darkness is a 1987 American horror film directed, written and scored by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong and Jameson Parker.
The story is set in a Los Angeles church, Father Loomis (Pleasence) invites Professor Howard Birack (Wong) and his students to investigate a mysterious cylinder in the basement of the building.
This film was the first to break Carpenter's run of low-budget commercial successes. Critically the film was poorly received, accused of being dull with an over-complicated plot, wordy script, wooden acting and uneven pacing, while offering insufficient 'horror' for Carpenter fans. It did poorly at the box-office, taking under $3 million in its first month from release, and has defied attempts to redefine it as a cult film. It was the first of a three film deal Carpenter had with Universal, it was followed by They Live (1988) and Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992).
Carpenter's inventive skills in editing and mood-setting music are clearly demonstrated in the first half of the film before it loops through the standard horror trajectory. The film was shot through a slightly anamorphic lens, giving a subtle distortion to every scene. An eerie and fragmented foreshadowing dream sequence occurs repeatedly during the film, each time showing a little more and also providing a final twist.
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. 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 Carpenter had made to it that he had had his name removed from the credits.
The film features a cameo by Alice Cooper, playing a murderous vagrant who kills one of the hapless students with a bicycle frame.
External links
- IMDb.com Listing: Prince of Darkness (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093777/)
- Prince of Darkness at theofficialjohncarpenter.com (http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/themovies/pd/pd.html)