Prince of Darkness

1987

 

Directed by: John Carpenter

Written by: John Carpenter (as Martin Quatermass)

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount

 

 

 

 

From IMDB:

"A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world."

 

I've seen this a few times but I just can't remember the movie.  So many elements I like - religion, the devil, John Carpenter, Donald Pleasence, 1987

 

Ahhhh - a Carpenter score.  It doesn't get better (except maybe Chris Young).

 

One of the first guys we meet is a blonde cat with a red golf shirt tucked into his pleated pants - and the finishing touch on this suave mofo - a big bushy blonde mustache.  For the love of all things holy, please let this guy be the bad guy. 

 

Hey - there's the amusing Asian guy from Tremors (Victor Wong).  That guy is funny.

 

We've got a handful of scientists entering the old church to investigate the phenom in the basement.  And the church is now surrounded by a bunch of homeless men and women - presumably under the control of Old Nick!  Fun stuff!

 

And there's Alice Cooper - leading the hobo revolution!  Perfect!

 

I wonder who's keeping all those candles lit in the basement - gotta be a thousand of the suckers and they were lit when everyone first arrived??

 

No one ever runs when faced with super creepy unexplained shit.  Why is that?

 

The guy with the mustache it turns out, is looking like the protagonist in our story.  Too bad.

 

Great set-up.  Satan locked up in the basement of a long closed church.  Sweet stuff.

 

3 million dollar budget and 30 days to shoot.  Brilliant!

 

I loved this movie.  It's everything right about the genre.  It's not as good as the Fog or Halloween obviously - lacking the scare punch of those films, but it's certainly watchable even after all these years.

 

I'm going to give it 3.5 Bloody Eyes out of 5 - I'm very close to going 4 and might come back later and adjust.