I’m a John Carpenter fan. I think he offers something sadly lacking in many big productions: independence of thought. He does what he wants to do. Sometimes this means he struggles for funding. Sometimes it shows.
His track record is reasonably good – Dark Star: classic SciFi comedy on a shoestring - Halloween: The slasher movie. –The Thing: so close to Campbell’s original story that you’d think they were joined at the hip.
Prince Of Darkness (1987) is a film that has intrigued me in many ways.
The start is promising – hinting at a relationship between science and God – of the existence of an Anti-God who is not so much a malevolent consciousness as an elemental and opposite force.
There are ideas aplenty – an exploration of the true nature of the Church – the notion of using tachyons as message carriers – the need to hide the truth on the nature of reality from the unsuspecting populations of the world.
And then it all falls down. We end up with what becomes nothing more than a zombie shock-fest with the usual quota of screams. Sure there are a few interesting moments – check out the guy in the car park as he falls apart to reveal his true nature – or Alice Cooper trying to act.
It’s as if Carpenter had this great idea and started off full of enthusiasm but run out of steam half way through. Wondering what to do next, he decided to throw in a few gory moments and bring proceedings to a halt – which is a real shame because this film could have been so much more than it was.
I’m still a Carpenter fan and I still watch this film from time to time. It lies in my collection like a broken statue in an art museum – never to be repaired but never to be discarded. That’s just the way it is.
His track record is reasonably good – Dark Star: classic SciFi comedy on a shoestring - Halloween: The slasher movie. –The Thing: so close to Campbell’s original story that you’d think they were joined at the hip.
Prince Of Darkness (1987) is a film that has intrigued me in many ways.
The start is promising – hinting at a relationship between science and God – of the existence of an Anti-God who is not so much a malevolent consciousness as an elemental and opposite force.
There are ideas aplenty – an exploration of the true nature of the Church – the notion of using tachyons as message carriers – the need to hide the truth on the nature of reality from the unsuspecting populations of the world.
And then it all falls down. We end up with what becomes nothing more than a zombie shock-fest with the usual quota of screams. Sure there are a few interesting moments – check out the guy in the car park as he falls apart to reveal his true nature – or Alice Cooper trying to act.
It’s as if Carpenter had this great idea and started off full of enthusiasm but run out of steam half way through. Wondering what to do next, he decided to throw in a few gory moments and bring proceedings to a halt – which is a real shame because this film could have been so much more than it was.
I’m still a Carpenter fan and I still watch this film from time to time. It lies in my collection like a broken statue in an art museum – never to be repaired but never to be discarded. That’s just the way it is.
