By Brian M. Sammons
Prince of Darkness. Director: John Carpenter. Cast: Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun.
When you think John Carpenter, do you think Lovecraft? I’m betting you don’t, but that’s ok; most people don’t. No, most people…well most people won’t even know who John Carpenter is and that’s because most people are dumb. Ha, just kidding (kind of), but it’s true that most folks in the world aren’t horror fans and therefore, don’t have a clue. However, you are a horror fan. I’m assuming as much because you are here at Innsmouth Free Press, so not only are you one of the elite, but I’m sure you know the amazing body of genre films ol’ J. C. gave to the world. Such pure gold entertainment as Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China. Those are some of his best-known, but the man has lots of other movies that run the gambit from underrated gems like today’s topic of discussion, Prince of Darkness, to films that were good but had their share of flaws – Christine and They Live top this category – to movies he made towards the end of his career that were, in a word, so-painfully-bad- that-I’d- rather-jam-screwdrivers-into-my-eyes-before-watching-again. Yes, Ghosts of Mars, I’m looking at you.
Yet even knowing all that, I’m still betting that you didn’t know that Carpenter has admitted that three of his films, the ones he calls his “Apocalypse Trilogy”, all owe large debts to the odd gentleman from Providence, R.I. Well, one of the three, In the Mouth of Madness, has some pretty blatant connections to Lovecraft, so that’s the obvious choice. Oddly enough, of the three, it’s the one that I like the least, but I’ll come back to Madness some other time. Another is the most Lovecraftian movie ever, so says me in my last review and now once more, here. Yes, I’m talking about The Thing, but I’m still not ready to get into that yet, so you’ll have to wait. Sorry. The third is, of course, Prince of Darkness.
“But Prince of Darkness is about the devil, how is that Lovecraftian?” I can hear you thinking right now. No, really, I can hear you. The Mi-Go messed with my brain a few years back and now, I keep picking up thoughts like a supercharged ham radio. That’s one of the reasons for all the voices in my head. The other reason is that I’m batshit crazy, but I digress. Prince of Darkness has about as much in common with the traditional “Satan and the Antichrist try to take over the world” flick as Silent Night, Deadly Night has in common with Miracle on 34th Street.
Still don’t believe me? Keep reading.
The movie starts with some Catholic priests looking pensive about something, so you might start off thinking that you’re in for an Omen kind of night, but then, all of the sudden, WHAM, Donald Pleasence shows up sporting a collar. That right there should be reason enough for any horror fan to watch this film, but I’ll keep going. Dr. Loomis, I mean Donald Pleasence, goes to a rundown church in the middle of some unnamed LA ghetto and finds in the basement a very old Bible and a huge glass jar filled with swirling, glowing green liquid. This decanter of evil lime-flavoured Kool-Aid so unnerves the priest that he calls in an Egg Shen, I mean egghead theoretical physics professor and his class of smarty pants. They are to spend the weekend in the creepy church to study the green goo, carbon-date the container holding it, and decipher the ancient Bible that has been rewritten, word on top of word, countless times and in numerous languages. The grad students all agree to the slumber party, but little do they realize that the church is slowly becoming surrounded by a large group of crazy homeless people lead by original shock rocker, Alice Cooper.
Then before you know it, Alice kills a computer nerd with a bicycle. No, really, he does.
“But when does this start to get all Lovecrafty?” Well, it always was, but Carpenter expertly introduces themes of cosmic horror so subtly that you don’t know they’re there, at first. As the film goes on, the little bits of cosmic dread come more frequently and, by this movie’s end, it’s almost a total Lovecraftpalooza. Before the credits roll, everything you thought you knew about the nature of the universe will be proven wrong, but before we go there I guess I should post a warning, so…
SPOILERS!!!!!
First and foremost, Prince of Darkness is filled with “secrets man was not meant to know”™. Such as, there might not be a God, but there could an Antigod; Jesus was an alien and insane; all the major religions of mankind are false; oh, and that icky green goo in the can in the basement? Yeah, that’s the Devil. Worst yet, the Devil’s got a bigger, badder daddy who’s currently trapped between time and space, but he’s getting things ready for his big comeback.
Also, strange theories on the nature of the universe and the very nature of good and evil are wildly thrown around while theoretical scientific ideas are proved to be factual, such as the possibility of time travel. Want more HPL goodness? Ok, then, how about sacrilegious books filled with damnable information, which are uncovered, studied and start to drive people crazy. Then there’s the faceless and mindless mass of filthy riff-raff that is at the beck and call of some unseen evil presence. While they are not inbred country folk or the foreign horde of Red Hook, these murderous bums would fit nicely into any number of Lovecraft’s stories.
Lastly, there is the overall feel and tone that this movie exudes like the stench off of a rotting corpse. While H.P.L loved weird theories, secret and ancient truths, and strange new science, his favourite emotion to play with was hopelessness. After all, in his mythos, the Great Old Ones will rise again and humanity will be destroyed and it’s only a matter of time. Nothing can be done to stop it. The same is true for Prince of Darkness, because almost right from the start, the characters in the church start having dreams of the coming Apocalypse; only, these turn out not to be dreams, but something else entirely. Something far worse. The best the heroes in this film can do is to postpone the inevitable end, but to even do that, they will have to sacrifice much. And when all is said and done, what minor victory have they really won? How much more Lovecraftian can you get than that?
END SPOILERS!!!!!
In closing, don’t let the title fool you: Prince of Darkness is as Lovecraftian as any movie out there. I think it was only given such a Judeo-Christian title in an attempt to put butts in seats. After all, no one but weirdos like us would go to see a movie called “Prince of Azathoth”. This flick is a hidden gem that needs to be discovered by more people. Hopefully, one of those people will be you.
Verdict: so Lovecraftian that HPL would go to see this film, and he hated movies.
Purchase Prince of Darkness through Amazon.com.