Prince of Darkness Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A priest enlists a group of scientists to study an ancient relic that may contain evil itself.

Review: Probably one of the most underrated horror films of the '80s--and definitely John Carpenter's most underrated--I was never surprised "Prince of Darkness" did poorly when it was released. I mean, this was the golden age of slashers after all and this movie was borderline Lovecraftian in nature. I don't want to sound pretentious, but I think this is a rare instance where the audiences simply didn't get it. The concepts of the film are complicated and need a certain open-mindedness to fully grasp and appreciate. But, to be fair, for every fantastic idea implemented there is an equally stupid moment to counterbalance the situation...which is kind of ironic considering the themes of the film.

I'll run through the storyline a bit and then try my best to explain what it all means. After a priest dies, he passes a key onto another priest played, a bit over the top, by Donald Pleasence. The key unlocks the basement to a random church that has been closed down for quite a long time. In the basement is a large, metal canister containing a swirling green liquid. Believing the canister to be something malevolent, yet beyond human understanding, the priest asks for the assistance of a physics professor who then recruits many of the (allegedly) finest students in the university to help him study the object. While this is going on, we kind of get the perspective of the main character, Brian, as he has a crush on his classmate, Catherine. The two are hitting it off well enough when both are asked to help study the canister. Also, there is the indication that weird occurrences are happening in the area (or the world) as there is a strange and lingering unease people occasionally notice. Anyway, once everyone is assembled at the church, they quickly realize they are dealing with something extraordinary. The canister is estimated to be 7 million years old and gives off signals that are interpreted as advanced and abstract mathematical formulas. More so, there is a chill and presence to the canister as if it is a living thing that has awakened suddenly. Homeless people nearby become enthralled by the canister's signals as they mindlessly circle the church in order to prevent anyone from leaving; there is a similar effect on nearby insects as well.

A linguist expert interprets a unique bible kept beside the canister that has been rewritten multiple times leaving some of the explanations confusing. This bible explains that there was once a powerful being banished to a different dimension by, what we can assume, is human's understanding of god. Before this occurred, however, the being left his son behind in the canister as a means to one day bring itself back to this plane of existence. So to speak, the canister would be our interpretation of the devil, and the being that created it is referred to as "Anti-god." At one point in time, an alien, who humans referred to as Jesus, tried to warn the humans of what they had on their hands but he was killed for his efforts. Despite this, Jesus' disciples established a sect hidden within Christianity that guarded the true secrets of the religion and hid the canister away until a day would come that people would understand what it all meant. As the scientists try to fathom whether any of this could be true or not, droplets of liquid from the canister have been seeping out and shoot into the mouth of one idiot who becomes yet another thrall for, what I will refer to as, the devil. The crux of the situation is that the devil is escaping his canister, seeking a body to inhabit, and to release his father, Anti-god.

People get picked off here and there with some being enthralled and some just dying. The group discovers that if you sleep within a certain proximity of the canister you will have the same dream over and over. That dream entails a vision of the church with a dark figure at the doorway accompanied by a narration, using a distorted voice, explaining that you are not dreaming, but, in fact, this is a transmission from the future as a warning. A female scientist had noticed an odd bruise on her arm earlier that has formed into a strange symbol as she is to become the host for the devil. With a significant amount of the group either dead or enthralled, the remaining liquid in the canister is put inside the scientist with the symbol. The remaining scientists are separated as a day-long gestation period occurs for the devil to merge with the host. Finally, after completion, the thralls try to kill the last of the group as the devil attempts to use mirrors as a doorway to unleash Anti-god. With everyone either fighting or dying, the priest tries to kill the devil but he/she regenerates any damage. With a large enough portal opened to release Anti-god, Catherine manages to push the devil and herself into the mirror. But before the devil or Anti-god can escape, the priest breaks the mirror and closes the portal trapping Catherine. The thralls then die and the homeless people go back to normal with their connection to the devil severed. Brian is heartbroken with Catherine's sacrifice and everything appears to be over. Later, Brian dreams of the future transmission from before but instead of a dark figure in the doorway it is now Catherine. We get a little dream within a dream bullshit as Brian awakes to find a devil-looking Catherine next to him but then wakes up for real. The film ends with Brian moving his hand toward the mirror in his bathroom.

Okay, so what does all this mean and why do I think people don't get it? Well, for one, the film takes a scientific understanding of how these beings exists and their capabilities. It's not that these creatures are spiritual, simply that their powers were beyond human understanding and we called it magic or supernatural. The film greatly implies that they used technology to have the powers they appear to have (like telekinesis) and that we cannot fully understand how they can do what they do. For example: the canister itself and its durability, the math equations, the dimensional openings, the liquefied form of the devil, etc. Jesus being an alien that came to help humans cements this notion as perhaps the canister was familiar to him or from a species his kind had encountered. The reason this feels Lovecraftian is because humans are dealing with immense forces that they cannot hope to understand, but, at the end of the day, they're still regular creatures that merely appear godlike to human minds due to their power. To sum it up, the religions exist as humanity's way of trying to explain the unprecedented forces they encountered in the past. Another confusing aspect is the future transmissions since this appears to cross fantasy with sci-fi which doesn't always mesh. But if you understand that this isn't the devil, only what we call him, and that these things aren't supernatural, the film itself is technically more sci-fi in nature. My personal interpretation of the future transmission is that we're dealing with multiple timelines now. In the timeline that created the original transmission, events must have led to the release of Anti-god (the shadowy figure) with this fleeting warning as a means to alter that future. But, since we know that the future transmission was targeting the canister and those around it, that means the warning has been influencing everyone that experienced it for possibly hundreds or thousands of years. In other words, simply viewing the transmission has gradually altered the events that led up to that original timeline. This leads me to the ending and why the transmission changed. You see, not hearing the full year the transmission came from is important in my theory as to why I believe time was altered. Throughout the film, the transmission only says from the year 199X before cutting off so that it is deliberately ambiguous as to when it will happen. I believe the reason the full date isn't revealed as 1999 until the end is because Carpenter wanted to leave the validity of the final dream as debatable and so you wouldn't know for sure if time altered or is predetermined. But think of it like this: Brian would want to save Catherine and this would now possibly create a timeline where he releases her, but she is possessed by the devil or Anti-god. The new transmission was now sent specifically to him as a warning of what will happen instead of being sent to the surroundings of the canister. I also believe the final shot of him touching the mirror is to imply his interest in trying to find a way to get Catherine back. Or...it could have all been a dream thus why there was a dream within a dream. It gets you thinking though, right? I hope my ramblings made sense too.

While there are a lot of cool things going on here, I can't deny the reasons people call this movie stupid aren't legitimate. The plotline is farfetched, no doubt about that, and can come off overly preachy as an anti-religion message. I'm okay with Jesus as an alien, but you also want me to believe he came here solo, knew what the canister was, and didn't call for backup? The fuck? And what the hell was with the strange feelings and changes to the world? I can accept the devil and Anti-god are powerful, but you're telling me they can warp reality too? Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on that since it looked like the devil was having trouble breaking a door at one point! There was a major lack of focus when it came to dealing with the characters, and the romance was not planned properly. Catherine's sacrifice didn't have as much impact as it should have. If more time was spent establishing Brian and Catherine's relationship this would have appeared better. There are a lot of bad jokes in the film especially from an unnecessary comedy relief character who doesn't even get killed. I could not stand the implication that the homeless people were more easily enthralled due to mental problems. It was like a big fuck you that the scientists were too smart to be enthralled naturally and had to be physically controlled. This leads to another problem in the fact that these guys are mostly just college kids, and I don't buy that they're practically experts already as the one professor claims. They sure don't act it that's for sure; reminds me of those fucking idiots in "Prometheus." One of the weakest moments is the climax. Come on now, you can't have an entire day pass just to allow for the devil's transformation, and the audience is expected to believe everyone just sat tight and did nothing; this was a bad idea plain and simple. Lastly, there was a general sense of cheesiness to many moments like the lame taunts from the devil on the computer and Brian's moustache to name a few. It's hard to explain, but this film suffered from many of the negative aspects that '80s movies would typically employ; it's a certain nuance you pick up on.

Overall, this is going to be a film that has a divided audience whereby it falls into the love it or hate it category with little grey area. I, for one, enjoy this movie for its creativity and imagination to tell a unique tale unlike anything else. On top of that, the music is good, the effects are decent considering the tight budget, and the ideas are interesting with much to consider. While there are numerous flaws that do detract from the experience, they can be ignored in favor of the greater presentation at hand. If you've overlooked this one, give it a chance or maybe a second chance if you hated it upon an initial viewing...maybe considering a few things I've mentioned.

Notable Moment: That ending scene with Brian waking up to an evil Catherine. Although it is a decent jump scare in its own right, I'm mostly taking note of it due to the sheer amount of "gifs" it has spawned.

Final Rating: 6.5/10