Prince of Darkness is a John Carpenter film, with everything that entails. In it a group of professors and students enter an abandoned church to investigate a mysterious cylinder that has been hidden there for centuries. But is all their scientific profess any match against Satan himself?
It's a very typical John Carpenter film. It has spooky atmosphere, muted colours, very down to earth characters, amazing special effects, creepy set designs and its story is straight from a pulp magazine. And yet it isn't corny. Not really. Carpenter has this honesty to his films, this intensity. He really believes that he's telling a great story and that translates to the audience.
That being said, the film lacks that edge some of his other films have had. It never goes downright silly, but it flirts with it. Like with the basement where the mysterious object is being kept. The whole place is covered with crucifixes. Like absolutely every single surface has them. I'm doubtful there was a crucifix left in LA once the prop people were done decorating this place.
The story is also a bit all over the place. We have Satan, we have university people, we have time travel messages, we have zombies, we have mysterious green goo, we have mirror dimensions. None of these elements quite match.
But, I had fun watching it. It has personality, if nothing else.
It's a very typical John Carpenter film. It has spooky atmosphere, muted colours, very down to earth characters, amazing special effects, creepy set designs and its story is straight from a pulp magazine. And yet it isn't corny. Not really. Carpenter has this honesty to his films, this intensity. He really believes that he's telling a great story and that translates to the audience.
That being said, the film lacks that edge some of his other films have had. It never goes downright silly, but it flirts with it. Like with the basement where the mysterious object is being kept. The whole place is covered with crucifixes. Like absolutely every single surface has them. I'm doubtful there was a crucifix left in LA once the prop people were done decorating this place.
The story is also a bit all over the place. We have Satan, we have university people, we have time travel messages, we have zombies, we have mysterious green goo, we have mirror dimensions. None of these elements quite match.
But, I had fun watching it. It has personality, if nothing else.