John Carpenter/Prince Of Darkness

just saw this yesterday..interesting concepts with just a bit of 80's cheese .doesnt seem to get talked about a lot but still worth a viewing. and Donald Pleasence is always a presence(unintentional rhyme there).any fans of this film and its' Satanic green goo????

 

Yes, I saw it for the first time shortly after Scream Factory released it on blu-ray and I loved it. But, then again, I love most Carpenter films. Damn, what a run he had from Assault on Precinct 13 through In the Mouth of Madness! Anyone else think that Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness have strong Lovecraft vibes?

 

I don't think I ever saw In the Mouth of Madness, but yes, I agree that there is a Lovecraftian feel to Prince of Darkness.

I personally love this film, although it's not as tight or as technically accomplished as The Thing and Halloween. Nice to see some love for it here.

Too bad John Carpenter and Dario Argento both went down the crapper at roughly the same time. At least John Carpenter knew when to quit.

 

I'm a Carpenter fan and I really like it. Not quite as great as his other 80s films but still very good, very interesting, with some great sequences.

 

followed it up with Village Of The Damned...seems Carpenter himself saw this as a "contractual obligation" type thing...wasnt bad..notable for being the last film of Christopher Reeve before his unfortunate accident.and hey, Luke Skywalker as a priest!

 

They sure do, especially the latter. I wish more movies explored that vibe. It's certainly a more profound and intellectual horror than the slasher/torture vein of recent years.

 

Carpenter comes up with interesting ways of setting up the premise. He did it in They Live, too. That film, Prince of Darkness, and several other of his works have been among my go-to SciFi/Horror films for decades. His work is generally more on the level of, say... Total Recall, as opposed to Rosemary's Baby or The Birds... but he's pretty darned good at what he does.

 

his commentary track is fun to listen to...see you at the movies!

 

Same with The Thing.

 

I haven’t seen the movie since it’s release, which I saw in the theater. My recollections of it was that it was pretty disappointing overall, considering it was a John Carpenter film, but there was one scene that I recall being pretty creepy: the scene where the camera is slowly panning around to finally show a silhouette of the Devil. Other than that, I don’t remember too much about the movie.

 

It was flawed only because of the lead, Jameson Parker, he just weren't up to the level of the other actors in the film and couldn't carry water as the lead. Other than that, i enjoy it.

 

In "In The Mouth of Madness" it's more than vibes, it's intentional. Sutter Cane is superficially Stephen King, but his "mythos" is all Lovecraft. There's also names and places in the film taken from Lovecraft's stories.

 

I think it’s a solid movie—it takes a long time to get going, but the implications by the end are haunting (the scene with the guy talking on the lawn was eerie also).

And Alice Cooper as one of the street thugs!

Great movie, haven’t seen it in forever. My favorite Carpenter movie is most likely the original The Fog.

 

...And of course I forgot the obvious connection - the movie's title :facepalm:

My earliest memory of "The Fog" was from a damaged VHS tape recording, I could barely see anything from the noise - which made the scene where

Spoiler

one of the undead sailor's silhouette is seen knocking on the door and then stepping away

and the scenes

Spoiler

at the coroner's office

even creepier. I must've been around 6-7 then.

 

I only saw PRINCE OF DARKNESS once when it played on HBO. I think I taped it, but have never revisited it. One of the hallmarks of those old HBO tapes is that I'd hate the thought of trying to watch one on today's equipment. Nevertheless, I also hate throwing out something without a better version to replace it.

I remember thinking it was a pretty good movie, that Donald Pleasance was as good as ever, and I recall something about the climax taking place in a church.

 

If I had to rank John Carpenter's 1980s films, I'd put Prince of Darkness last. It's never been one of my favourites.

 

Let's pretend he didn't make Memoirs Of An Invisible Man.... hard to find these days, disheartening to watch, and a catalogue of wasted opportunities. Though Madness was the last truly classic film he ever made.

 

I saw Ghosts of Mars a few years ago and it was ok.