PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987 – HORROR / SCI-FI) ***1/2 out of *****
(Ol’ Scratch is knocking at the door – and he’s grumpy. Watch out…)
CAST: Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong, Jameson Parker, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Anne Howard, Ann Yen, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, Dirk Blocker, Thom Bray, Alice Cooper.
DIRECTOR: John Carpenter
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some seriously devilish, End-of-the-World shenanigan – straight ahead…
IT’S LIKE THIS: I don’t imagine there are many scientists who are also Horror Movie fans. After all, more than any other movie genre, horror flicks require some real suspension of disbelief. And scientist are so logical, it’s not even funny. Otherwise, we would’ve walked out of the theater the first time Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees stood up like nothing happened after being shot in the chest with a shotgun. Or after the first time some dimwit teenager decided to investigate a strange sound in a dark room upstairs – instead of running the fuck out the front door and down to the police station for safety. Or after the first time someone’s legs forgot to function properly while being chased by a vicious killer, leading to some serious wipeouts that would shame your average drunk surfer. I just don’t see many scientists buying into this shit.
Which makes our next review, the highly enjoyable PRINCE OF DARKNESS, something of a conundrum. You see, our heroes are a group of scientific graduate students who are asked by their professor, Birack (Victor Wong), to hole up in a rundown L.A. church to investigate something his pal, Father Loomis (Donald Pleasence), discovered in the basement. It’s a canister of foul-smelling liquid, and Loomis believes that is – are you sitting down or carrying something breakable? – the Devil Himself. Dun-DA-DUN-DUN!
As you can imagine, our highly logical and scientifically-minded group of degree-chasers are about as accepting of this theory as I am of the hypothesis that men should shave their chests to be more comfortable. In other words – “Are you out of your FUCKING MIND? Keep that shit furry, yo!” Nevertheless, our students know that they must please Birack if they hope to ever get their PhDs, so they reluctantly agree to spend a weekend at the shithole church, analyzing the huge vial of loogie to see if Birack and Loomis are right. Or if they’ve just been sucking on the same bong. I’m thinking the latter, folks. Probably sucking each other, too. Par-tay!
But I digress. Anyhow, our intrepid scholars are: (1) Brian Marsh (Jameson Parker), barrel-chested blonde dude who is great at cards and trailing hot chicks; (2) Catherine Danforth (Lisa Blount), smokin’ hot brainy redhead chick whom Brian likes to trail; (3) Walter Something-Or-Other (Dennis Dun), comic relief Asian dude who is forever whining like a bitch with cramps; (4) Kelly Forgetting-Her-Last-Name (Susan Blanchard), sweet blonde lady who is obviously destined to have something really nasty happen to her because she is a sweet chick in a horror flick; (5) Lisa Some-Asian-Sounding-Surname (Ann Yen), Asian chick whom Walter seriously offends by saying she could pass for Asian (um, bitch, he’s right – why are you raging?); (6) Susan (Anne Howard), hot chick with glasses who learns first-hand why horror movie characters should never wander off alone in sketchy places; and (7) Lomax (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson), smokin’-hot dark-haired dude who looks like Keanu Reeves and Richard Gere’s love child. I’d fuck him.
Oh, and there’s about six or seven more students, but the above 7 are the main players. And it’s not worth listing the others since that stupid canister opens itself and starts converting them one by one into pissed-off zombies who contaminate the others by – no joke – spitting in their face. It’s as if an episode of JERSEY SHORE or THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF MIAMI got fused with THE EXORCIST and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Anyhow, before you know it, most of the graduate students have been demonically possessed – and only Birack, Loomis, Catherine, Brian, Walter, and Lomax are left to try to defeat the Devil and his, uh, devilish plan. Hey, at least the hottest ones survived the longest. Par-tay!
So… what exactly is in that canister? Is it really Satan himself? And what about the ancient book that Lisa translated? What does it mean when it says that Satan is trying to rescue his father, the Anti-God, from the “dark side”? What is Satan’s agenda? And what does the book mean when it says that “one will be chosen”? Who is the “chosen one”? Is that a good thing? Or a really, really nasty thing? And who will be chosen? Brian? Catherine? Lisa? Kelly? Walter? Birack? Loomis? Susan? Lomax (please not him – he’s really cute)? Or is it… someone else? And what happens when the team members start having the same mysterious dream whenever they fall asleep? Is it just a dream? Or a warning from the future? A message on how to change events to save mankind? Is that even possible with Pimp Daddy Lucifer about to make his grand debut on Earth?
All I can say is this: The End is Near – jump the bones of the hottie you’ve been jonesing after before it’s too late!
STILLS COMING SOON
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Of all horror auteur John Carpenter’s films, PRINCE OF DARKNESS is probably his most underrated. Unlike ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, and THE THING, this film is generally not as celebrated or regarded as a classic. Which is a shame, because it is just as effective and scary. PRINCE OF DARKNESS has the Carpenter trademarks: atmospheric widescreen lensing, an evocative and brooding synth score, a gradually-building sense of dread and doom, likable and quirky characters, and – last but definitely not the least – a zinger of an ending.
PRINCE OF DARKNESS’s relative obscurity is puzzling. Budgeted at a modest (for 1987) $3 million, the film grossed almost $ 15 million at the North American box-office during its initial release, more than making its budget back and earning a respectable profit at the same time – making it a clear hit. Unfortunately, because of some rather negative high-profile reviews, PRINCE OF DARKNESS is usually seen as a misfire in John Carpenter’s body of work. The fact of the matter, though, is that it is a solidly good horror flick that posits some offbeat themes and imagery – and juxtaposes some intriguing and provocative ideas about science, religion, and faith. Ultimately, I think the movie was just ahead of its time with heady and cerebral handling of what is usually standard horror material. Thankfully, it is remembered better and better as time goes on, with talks of a remake beginning to circulate.
Carpenter’s strong hand with helming suspenseful set-pieces is once again in abundance here. From the very first opening shots, he does an excellent job of setting up the apocalyptic central premise, while also taking the time to establish the critical human touches. He doesn’t neglect the gradually building connection between two of the graduate students, Brian and Catherine, which becomes the film’s emotional center later on – and pays off in the stunning double-whammy finale. As with his more celebrated works mentioned above, Carpenter never forgets to root the horror in human terms, and he does this by deftly and efficiently shaping the main players and their links to each other. As Brian and Catherine, the pivotal central couple, Jameson Parker and Lisa Blount have a believable chemistry that sells their relationship. It’s a testament to the strength of this plot thread that the ending is as powerful as it is. Not going to say anymore, because I would be giving away too much.
Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Ann Yen, Susan Blanchard, Anne Howard and Jessie Lawrence Ferguson all deliver vivid work in their small but important roles. Rock star Alice Cooper has nice, creepy cameo as one of the street people who is possessed first by the evil very early on. As with the best of Carpenter’s work (THE THING, THE FOG, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13), PRINCE OF DARKNESS is an ensemble piece, and all the actors deliver their parts strongly.
The only thing that keeps PRINCE OF DARKNESS from rating higher than good (***1/2) is that Carpenter’s premise deserved a higher budget than $ 3 million. Still, with his limited resources he manages to craft a thought-provoking, eerie, scary, offbeat horror film that isn’t afraid to be different – and therefore interesting.
