Some commentators would have you believe this 1987 low budgeter is one of John Carpenter’s biggest failures, while others maintain that it’s a masterwork. I say both views are wrong. PRINCE OF DARKNESS can be characterized as a misfire, but contains enough interesting things to earn a qualified recommendation.
PRINCE OF DARKNESS was the first film in a two-picture deal Carpenter had with Alive Films (the second was THEY LIVE), with Carpenter, after spending much of the eighties laboring in the big studio trenches, returning to the low budget sphere in which he made his mark. The film is said to have been made for an economical (by 1980s Hollywood standards) $3 million. Carpenter wrote the script himself (under the pseudonym “Martin Quatermass”), inspired, he claims, by reading a book about quantum physics—which gave him a jump on quantum-themed narratives like the Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Blake Crouch DARK MATTER novels.
The set-up, which essentially reframes ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) as a supernatural drama, is this: a physics professor (Victor Wong) invites his graduate students to spend a weekend translating an ancient religious text in a downtown LA church, where, it transpires, the devil—or, rather, the “Anti-God”—is about to be unleashed onto the mortal plain. This is indicated by a swirling mass of goo in the church basement that periodically squirts out fluid that turns people into zombies. Further strife is provided by bands of malevolent homeless people amassing outside, led by a pasty fellow who closely resembles (and is) Alice Cooper.
More weirdness is provided by a woman (Anne Howard) who bears a nasty bruise that turns into an arcane satanic symbol, and subsequently becomes pregnant. There are also mirrors that lead to alternate dimensions (a concept admittedly borrowed from Jean Cocteau), masses of invasive insects and, in the film’s most striking touch, video transmissions from the future showing a dark figure emerging from a church, which take the form of present-day dreams.
Quantum mechanics and gross-out horror: it’s a combination that doesn’t work nearly as well as it should have. The gore, slime and insect swarms feel tacked-on, included to keep the audience from nodding off during the philosophical chatter. Schrodinger’s cat is discussed, as are subatomic particles and the New Testament, dialogue Carpenter dismissed on his Blu-ray commentary track as “all mumbo-jumbo anyway, it was just a horror movie.” Yet the quantum-based overlay, which was quite revolutionary in 1987, places the film on a much brainier level than most eighties horror fare. Furthermore, the plot strand involving transmissions from the future is so haunting and provocative I’m amazed it hasn’t been copied.
The cast is headlined by Carpenter regular Donald Pleasance, who has very little to do. The ersatz protagonists are played by Jameson Parker and the late Lisa Blount, both of whom are far too bland to make much of an impression, while the unprecedented-for-the-1980s Asian representation (this, remember, was an era when Joel Grey was subjected to heavy make-up to appear Korean in REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS) includes two cast members from Carpenter’s previous feature BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986)—Victor Wong and Dennis Dun, who as a bonus plays a non-stereotypical gay man—in addition to the little-utilized, but extremely pretty, Ann Yen. Alice Cooper, who received the lion’s share of the publicity, has what amounts to an extended cameo (due to the fact that his manager Shep Gordon was the executive producer), and so doesn’t make much of an impression.
Vital Statistics
PRINCE OF DARKNESS
Alive Films
Director: John Carpenter
Producer: Larry Franco
Screenplay: “Martin Quatermass” (John Carpenter)
Cinematography: Gary B. Kibbe
Editing: Steve Mirkovich
Cast: Donald Pleasance, Lisa Blount, Victor Wong, Jameson Parker, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Ann Howard, Ann Yen, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, Dirk Blocker, Peter Jason, Ken Wright, Robert Grasmere, Thom Bray, Alice Cooper, Joanna Merlin