Prince of Darkness Review
When I was in my late teens I was embarrassingly obsessed with The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain. I was edgy and cynical, so I needed an edgy and cynical alternative to Sophiaâs World by Jostein Garder. Now that thatâs out of the way letâs talk about Prince of Darkness. The reason I bring up two overly existential (if partly nihilistic) books is simple: I wouldâve been more obsessed with this movie than I was with the same directorâs movie âThe Thingâ had I seen this one first instead. I guess the only thing more scary than its existential nature is the fact Iâve almost been seeing a different Carpenter movie for the first time by each particularly allotted time of years (2011: The Thing, 2014/2015: Halloween, 2018/2019: Starman, 2022(ish): Prince of Darkness). Of course before it gets to its existential core (if not during), Prince of Darkness still excels in both the visual and soundtrack based department early on. Some scenes even reminded me of a gothic Stanley Kubrick (whether it was the shots of hallways, or the âYou will not be savedâ typed on a computer screen) while others brought to mind a mixture of as much John Hughes as Clive Barker. At first, as Iâm watching this, I assumed it wanted to take the religious extremism of horror from the 70s and add a Sci-fi twist to them. but as I mentioned: its existential nature doesnât let religion get too in the way. But it certainly doesn't just get existential/scientific, it as far as brings antiparticles into its dialogue, as a way of bringing the concept of the AntiChrist into the table. â¨Much like the Mysterious Stranger itself it aims to blur the line between religion and science as a way of really getting more existential than even your average 80s horror fare. In my opinion, if nothing else, horror seemed to be less a genre and more like a canvas for Carpenter here, with the mysteries of the universe being its color wheel. Whether it was scenes like the dream broadcast, Kellyâs transformation, Susan essentially blurring the line between The Exorcist and The Thing itself, or just the dialogue if not one scene that brought to mind Hausu directed by Wes Craven, Carpenter was unusually inspired here. Better yet, especially during the final act when he steps so far outside of the box he could only see it from a mile away, horror began feeling more like a repository for its aim at Horror-Science-Fantasy before once again ending on a suitably bittersweet yet fairly twisty note. I almost even feel that this sort of uncommonly thought-provoking work may have influenced films such as âBeyond the Black Rainbowâ with the way it wanted to bite on more than it could chew yet chew anyway. I enjoyed it, even if I still (somewhat) stand on what I mentioned in my Near Dark review concerning how Iâm not a teenager anymore. Donât get me wrong: I have seen John Carpenter direct Jamie Lee Curtis, Jeff Bridges, and Kurt Russell, but Alice Cooper is now my favorite actor to have seen collaborate with the former. It was just hard enough to feel like a teenager again with only memories to lend a hand. To think like one just doesnât even seem worth the trouble (especially when, unsurprisingly enough, it was never at the time even that admittedly rewarding a ride to start) anymore. But I still donât regret seeing this as it looked like it was (uncommonly) as much fun to make as it was to watch.