night_son
Diamond Member
We just picked up the Blu-ray Collector's Edition and watched it last night. The disc includes audio commentary with director/composer John Carpenter and interviews with cast members, including Alice Cooper, who had no lines in the movie yet delivered one of the most iconic ominous performances of 80's horror films.
Carpenter, perhaps my favorite signature horror film maker behind Romero, in Prince of Darkness sets up an intelligent showdown between classical supernatural evil, philosophy, theology and burgeoning (at the time) theoretical sciences in Man's latest attempt to quantify, define and stop the force and idea of the eternal darkness plaguing our race since time began. It weighs the evil in men's hearts against the most ancient evil of all and trusts the viewer's own judgment in deciding which is the worst.
In usual Carpenter form tension begins to rise with first note of his award winning soundtrack and intensifies relentlessly for the rest of the film. Ominous portents accompany the characters who continue attempts to live their normal daily lives even as signs of the increasingly and less deniable abnormal confront them and reality begins to crack and then shatter without warning.
The three pillars of the film are well acted by Donald Pleasence, a Catholic Priest on the verge of confronting evil directly arisen from the pages of dusty antiquity; Victor Wong, physics professor given the chance to measure and define ancient evil if his lack of belief will allow it; and the Prince of Darkness himself, manifested in many forms and symbols throughout the film.
Overall, an amazing, highly intellectual film I recommend for all fans of horror. It operates on a situational, more psychological than splatter punk sort of terror, yet never loses the ominous tension to cerebral inanity or wooden acting. I've seen the film more than fifteen times, yet it remains one I will view at least annually. If you've never heard of John Carpenter and love horror movies, you are in for a treat.
Carpenter, perhaps my favorite signature horror film maker behind Romero, in Prince of Darkness sets up an intelligent showdown between classical supernatural evil, philosophy, theology and burgeoning (at the time) theoretical sciences in Man's latest attempt to quantify, define and stop the force and idea of the eternal darkness plaguing our race since time began. It weighs the evil in men's hearts against the most ancient evil of all and trusts the viewer's own judgment in deciding which is the worst.
In usual Carpenter form tension begins to rise with first note of his award winning soundtrack and intensifies relentlessly for the rest of the film. Ominous portents accompany the characters who continue attempts to live their normal daily lives even as signs of the increasingly and less deniable abnormal confront them and reality begins to crack and then shatter without warning.
The three pillars of the film are well acted by Donald Pleasence, a Catholic Priest on the verge of confronting evil directly arisen from the pages of dusty antiquity; Victor Wong, physics professor given the chance to measure and define ancient evil if his lack of belief will allow it; and the Prince of Darkness himself, manifested in many forms and symbols throughout the film.
Overall, an amazing, highly intellectual film I recommend for all fans of horror. It operates on a situational, more psychological than splatter punk sort of terror, yet never loses the ominous tension to cerebral inanity or wooden acting. I've seen the film more than fifteen times, yet it remains one I will view at least annually. If you've never heard of John Carpenter and love horror movies, you are in for a treat.
