SkullBunnie

Prince of Darkness is one of John Carpenters movies that gets looked over quite often. In fact most people haven’t heard of this one and I personally think that is a crime. Carpenter is my favorite Horror/Sci Fi director from the 70′s/80′s and I feel one of the most original. Today’s horror just doesn’t have the panache of a good carpenter film, and I’ve always liked that a good portion of his movies revolve around older adults and not idiotic teenagers. Prince of Darkness is no exception.

The Plot goes something like this; A priest (Donald Pleasence) invites Professor Howard Birack (Victor Wong) and a group of academics  to investigate a mysterious cylinder in the basement of an abandoned church. The Cylinder seems to be a green pre-biotic fluid that is rapidly spinning into  existence.

After researching the text found next to the cylinder, it is thought to be  the son of an even more powerful force of evil, an Anti-God, who is trapped in another dimension. The liquid itself appears sentient, producing increasingly complex data that is revealed by computer decoding to include differential equations.

Over two days, attempts to escape the building are prevented by a mass of possessed street people surrounding it (including a pale faced Alice Cooper). In addition everyone involved shares a recurring dream, , showing a shaky video sequence of a shadowy figure emerging from the front of the church. The shadowy figure shown seem to change slightly with each occurrence of the dream. The narration of the transmission each time instructs the ‘dreamer’ that they are witnessing an actual broadcast from the future and they must alter the course of events to prevent this occurrence. As the being’s powers grow, the team begins to uncover a a plot at the center of the catholic church that involves the true origin and incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Devil and the end of the world.

P.O.D is a bit dated, and in Carpenters signature style but is truly one of his most original movies. It’s essentially a modern Lovecraftian tale that uses science to explain otherworldly beings and religion. I would highly recommend this, especially if your a fan of other carpenter movies. As said before it is somewhat dated and slow in a few places, but let yourself fall into the telling of the story and youre sure to have chills running up your spine.