Prince of Darkness (1987)
Last night I watched John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness. I don't remember seeing this when it was first released ... or subsequently over the years, when I watch way too many horror movies. Prince of Darkness is a strange mix of religion and science for a horror movie. The movie tries to create a union of science and religion, leveraging the "sub-atomic" -- or quantum level, as the bridge between the two. Reality as we know it breaks down at the quantum level -- things don't make classical sense, and that's where the movie decided, that God and the Devil reside.
The movie follows a group of college students, led by a professor, who are called to investigate secret container of green liquid that's been hidden in a church for years. Apparently, the container is a prison that was either created by, or found by, Jesus, some two thousand years ago, to imprison the son of Satan. That prison is slowly being breached however, and the son of Satan wants to reach into the negative reality and bring his father back into ours -- a reality he was cast out from, some time ago, by God. The movie infers that God, Satan, Jesus and their ilk, are just aliens from outer space -- and religion, specifically Catholicism, is nothing more than a myth created by the Church to keep the container a secret.
The movie wouldn't be called Prince of Darkness unless the container broke and released the spawn of the Devil on our unsuspecting heroes. That happens slowly, and our heroes have to do battle with each other as they begin to succumb to evil. There is some gore, but a lot of the horror comes from the clever use of the camera and music. This isn't a bad movie, and is worth watching if you're a John Carpenter fan ... or find yourself drawn to such movies on Friday nights.
The movie follows a group of college students, led by a professor, who are called to investigate secret container of green liquid that's been hidden in a church for years. Apparently, the container is a prison that was either created by, or found by, Jesus, some two thousand years ago, to imprison the son of Satan. That prison is slowly being breached however, and the son of Satan wants to reach into the negative reality and bring his father back into ours -- a reality he was cast out from, some time ago, by God. The movie infers that God, Satan, Jesus and their ilk, are just aliens from outer space -- and religion, specifically Catholicism, is nothing more than a myth created by the Church to keep the container a secret.
The movie wouldn't be called Prince of Darkness unless the container broke and released the spawn of the Devil on our unsuspecting heroes. That happens slowly, and our heroes have to do battle with each other as they begin to succumb to evil. There is some gore, but a lot of the horror comes from the clever use of the camera and music. This isn't a bad movie, and is worth watching if you're a John Carpenter fan ... or find yourself drawn to such movies on Friday nights.
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