Prince of Darkness (1987) Review

Often overshadowed by The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness, John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness is the overlooked middle child of his Apocalypse Trilogy. It doesn’t have the same iconic status, but it still showcases his trademark ability to turn confined spaces into nightmares.

The story begins when a priest (Donald Pleasence, in full doom-saying mode) discovers a mysterious canister of swirling green liquid hidden in a Los Angeles church basement. He recruits Professor Birack (Victor Wong) and a group of grad students – including Brian Marsh (Jameson Parker) and Catherine Danforth (Lisa Blount) – to investigate. Because obviously the best way to handle ominous, physics-defying slime is to let sleep-deprived postgrads poke it with clipboards.

Naturally, things spiral. The liquid starts leaking upwards, strange insects infest the church, and homeless people outside – led by Alice Cooper, of all people – become zombie-like guardians. Inside, the scientists argue over whether it’s a physics anomaly or literal Satan juice. Spoiler: it’s Satan juice. One by one, the team is possessed, their bodies twisted into shambling minions. Kelly (Susan Blanchard) gets the worst of it, becoming a grotesque incubator for the Anti-God’s penis tears, her skin flaking off like she’s auditioning for The Exorcist on meth.

Computers flash cryptic warnings, dreamlike visions from the future tease the apocalypse, and the survivors realize the canister isn’t just weird goo, it’s actually a gateway for the Anti-God to re-enter the world. The climax plays like a siege: trapped inside with their possessed friends, the dwindling survivors try to hold the evil at bay. Catherine ultimately sacrifices herself, diving through a dimensional portal with the Anti-God’s avatar to seal it away. The day is saved (sort of) but Carpenter leaves us with the uneasy sense that the apocalypse has only been postponed.

So far, so Carpenter. The setup is classic: single claustrophobic location, slow-burn tension, atmosphere thick enough to chew on. Unfortunately, much of the movie is bogged down by endless pseudo-science and religious babble. Characters spout lectures on subatomic particles, anti-matter, and divine prophecy until it feels less like a horror film and more like a bad Open University course.

When the horror finally kicks in, though, it’s genuinely gripping. Carpenter leans into surrealism – zombie priests, insect swarms, visions from the future – rather than the gore of The Thing, and the atmosphere is pure nightmare fuel. The wide-angle camerawork makes the church feel increasingly hostile, and the practical effects (the gravity-defying liquid, Kelly’s possession) are disturbing in their rough, uncanny way.

The problem is the characters. For supposed scientists, they’re remarkably dumb, wandering into danger like Tesco shoppers on autopilot. Brian Marsh is meant to be the lead, but he’s so bland he makes David Schwimmer look like Daniel Day-Lewis. The romance subplot with Catherine feels tacked on. The characters, ultimately, are bodies for the slaughter, nothing more.

Thematically, Carpenter borrows heavily from Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass and The Stone Tape, stories that blended science and ancient evil. Kneale used that mix to comment on real-world tensions (like race and social unrest), whereas Carpenter circles big ideas like matter, anti-matter, and cosmic dread but never really ties them together. The result is intriguing but hollow, like a horror film written by ChatGPT.

Still, Prince of Darkness has its moments. The claustrophobic setting, surreal imagery, and unsettling climax make it worth a look for Carpenter fans. It’s not as brutally terrifying as The Thing, nor as mind-bending as In the Mouth of Madness, but it carves out its own space as a slow, strange, atmospheric piece of cosmic horror.

Atmospheric, surreal, and occasionally brilliant, but bogged down by incoherent exposition and flat characters. The David Schwimmer of Carpenter’s movies: competent, sometimes entertaining, but definitely no one’s favourite.