Starring: Donald Pleasence, David Wong, Jameson Parker, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Alice Cooper.
Director: John Carpenter.
Figured I'd follow up one weird, unconventional John Carpenter film with another. Prince of Darkness is most definitely unconventional and takes a particularly fascinating approach to a fairly ordinary plot idea: Scientists, Philosophers and Theologians all team up to understand and, eventually, stop the spreading of what is essentially The Devil in one form or another(depending on which of those disciplines you might find yourself subscribing to). Veteran character actor and horror legend Donald Pleasence stars as a Priest who brings the knowledge of this "Anti-God"(which is in a big jar in the sub-basement of a inner city church) to Physicist David Wong (of Big Trouble In Little China fame) and his students. What occurs is a plethora of supernatural goings-on that never chooses the same route twice. It's really interesting.
Wong's Physicist has more in common with a Philosopher, really, but that's hardly uncommon. Plus, it makes the character much more interesting, and it also allows the plot to happen. Along for the ride is student Brian, who has an unrequited crush on his pretty classmate Catherine. I can relate to the crush but not quite to his incredible porn mustache. Also, Dennis Dun (Wang of Big Trouble in Little China) is Brian's best buddy, Walter. Then there are, like, a dozen side characters who are given bits and pieces of characterization, but mostly serve as victims. The film is one half Philosophical discussion of where Science and Faith meet, the other half standard supernatural pseudo-slasher.
Y'know, watching these older flicks from the seventies and eighties almost makes me miss the long credit sequences interspersed with brief scenes from the movie. Almost. Big black title cards are...well, I dunno. How do I feel about them? I guess I like them when Carpenter does them?
Speaking of what Carpenter does: I didn't really bring up the score when writing about In The Mouth Of Madness-pretty sure I did when discussing Halloween-but Carpenters skill at writing and performing movie scores is really impressive. The musical tone here is quasi-spiritual, veering between creepy and hymn-like at equal turns. It sounds like parts of the equally excellent score of Big Trouble In Little China in its Eastern Spiritualism feel.
There's a charming enough scene between Brian and Catherine, even if it is awkward. Brian makes a joke that is kind of sexist, she gets mad, and then she apologizes when she realizes she didn't get the joke..but the joke didn't really make sense anyway so...anyway, they have enough chemistry and Brian seems likable enough to not come off like an asshole, so we can accept their courtship.
Pleasence is here to over-act again, and it's glorious. Wong can meet him, though, with his fairly down-to-earth meets wacky performance method. Oh, and then Alice Cooper shows up as a homeless guy. Cooper happens to be a huge horror buff, so it's always nice when I see him in a horror film. He gives a good performance, considering he's just supposed to stand there looking ghoulish.
The pacing of the film is very unusual. Carpenter throws side characters in to briefly interact with each other, introduce themselves and their specific degree of study, show some elements of personality and then occasionally we see the homeless people looking weird, new characters meet and then we repeat the process.
Funny bit about this movie: actually, it's my favorite thing about it because it is vaguely offensive...they suggest that this entity primarily manages to control "lower lifeforms" i.e. Insects and such. But, it also controls the homeless people. So, uh, are they calling the homeless people lower lifeforms? (I mean, I know that the suggestion would be that it's reaching them through their mental illness and the like...but that isn't nearly as funny)
Jesus was an alien who had come to warn us about this horrible Anti-God, and they managed to seal it up with advanced science that historically did not exist yet. Christ was then killed for being crazy, and the Disciples hid it all away and the Church kept it safe. The Church then lied about it and kept it hidden so it could "keep selling its product" as Pleasence puts it. This movie has some truly awesome ideas in it, man. Also, the science they present is really fascinating, especially in the way this discuss it.
Susan The Radiologist is possessed by the anti-god because nobody thought to have any rules about hanging around this potentially dangerous substance (they even acknowledge that, before they know it's a force for evil, it could be toxic) by themselves...for geniuses, they aren't super smart. Also, nobody is keeping an eye on the equipment down there. I also forgot to mention that Guy-With-Glasses was murdered by Alice Cooper in an alley. So, they're down two members. Oops, three: Susan just got another guy with a neck snap.
They have one black guy, and he is super psyched about all of this. A guy looks like a country singer is next to die, eaten alive by insects and stabbed a bunch by homeless people. They then introduce the weird dreams: through staticy interference, you can faintly here "is not a dream, we are broadcasting this..." The suggestion being that it is literally a vision of the future, sent to warn them about failure. A shadowy, robed figure is slowly leaving the church...multiple characters begin to experience it, and Pleasence says that anyone within close proximity to the jar-of-evil has the same dream. Explained by Science!
Kind of a cheesy scene where the black guy witnesses the linguist or whatever typing "I live" over and over again. He looks closer and she types "YOU WILL NOT BE SAVED" and, for whatever reason, he kinda stands there until he's taken down and possessed himself.
No sooner do they discuss the dreams and decide to attempt to fight back does one of their deceased number shows up and dissolves into bugs, and then the black guy shows up giggling(and half crying) maniacally and singing "Amazing Grace." Then he kills himself, momentarily anyway. It's interesting that he's the only possessed character that vocalizes. The two lead scientists immediately go for the door-smartest guys in the room-only to find that the homeless have erected a barrier outside.
The pace has sort of slowed down considerably. It's trying to pick itself back up, but it's main card to play is in the ideas it wants to discuss. The death scenes are too quick and, mostly, pointless (very little suspense or focus is given to any of it that it literally just feels like someone wrote "Insert Death Scene Here" into the script) and the dramatic moments seem to mostly fall flat. The big conversations work quite well: there's a lot of intelligence in the theory but not so much in the practice. One by one people either die or are possessed (save for the central five characters or so) and that's basically it until the finale, which is...well, it's more or less decently mounted.
The blonde is used a device to give birth to the Devil that will then use its power to return its diabolical Father to this reality. As much as you can tell that the actress has a difficult time acting through her makeup, she does a pretty okay job with the performance. It still feels a little "long way around," though. Almost like the movie needed to stretch its running time. The leads decide to go out swinging at this point, with Brian leading the charge and taking out the other possessed victims. It's like the movie suddenly leaps into action after ten or fifteen minutes of stalling. I mean, in some ways literally: Donald Pleasence spends what seems like twenty minutes hiding behind a mirror. The mirror needs to be used to access the other side, too, for whatever reason. Pleasence does eventually join the fight, attempting to behead the main bad guy.
The big moment comes when Catherine, seeing that the Anti-God is coming through, sacrifices herself to tackle both villains through the mirror (the moment mostly works because her face contorts in agony over the realization that she probably won't live through this). Immediately after, Pleasence destroys the mirror, which dooms Catherine. But, hey, he's not wrong when he excitedly says "We stopped it." However, Brian once again has the dream: but this time it is Catherine who exits the church. And then he reaches for the mirror...
Final Thoughts: It's a much better movie in theory than in practice. The dialogue is intelligent, the concept fascinating, the ideas presented undeniably fun. Unfortunately it also kind of plods along with mostly one note characters, uninspired and random death scenes and too little overall action. This isn't entirely the movies fault: it's clear there wasn't a lot of money or resources, so really all they DID have was an intelligent idea and a bunch of very willing actors. It's a fun enough little movie, even with it's faults.
Final Rating: Two and a Half Stars.
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