Cheap Prince Of Darkness (DVD) (Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount) (John Carpenter) Price

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Customer Reviews of Prince Of Darkness

-The opening credits are boring and take a LONG time to roll by.
-The first half hour of the movie, nothing much happens.
-There is a "romantic" subplot that is about as exciting and fun as eating paint chips.
-The budget is clearly really small, even for a Carpenter flick.
-It has a lot of scientific/spiritual mumbo-jumbo dialogue, which is bount to put people off in what is mostly a ZOMBIE MOVIE.
-The plot is outrageous, even by horror movie standards.
-Almost all the actors are recycled from older John Carpenter movies like "Big Trouble in Little China."
-Satan in a jar... 'nuff said.
-Alice Cooper... 'nuff said.

Having said all that, this movie really creeped me out. It has some good scares, some gross-outs, and some chilling moments. The ending was flat-out nuts, in a good way. This movie doesn't measure up to Carpenter's version of "The Thing," but it is a good and original chiller all the same.

On to the DVD... the sound and picture quality are excellent, but you get practically NO extras whatsoever. And I think this movie deserves the "Special Edition" treatment like "The Thing" and "The Fog" got.

"...this is not a dream..."
A group of scientists are asked by a priest to analyze the contents of a container, filled with a swirling liquid, in the basement of an old church. However once the origin of the liquid is revealed, this group of people (now trapped inside the building) has to stay alive and try to change the course of the future in order to prevent the apocalypse as each member is possessed by the power of the liquid.

Right from the start, Carpenter sets a tense tone for the movie. He introduces the viewer to the scientists as he also shows us how the priest discovers the container. The excitement never lets down for a moment and is kept alive by interesting (but easy to understand) scientific comments, small signs of the apocalypse, some interesting theories about the nature of evil and then traditional scare.

Like most of Carpenter's films, PoD is filled with fresh and creative ideas and solid directing & cinematography. Several unforgetable scenes stand out in the film: Particularly, the "dreams" that scientists experience during their stay and the usage of mirror as a passage way to the "other side". Overall, an excellently made, intelligent horror movie. Highly recommended.

One of Carpenters best ¿ a cult horror classic.
I remember seeing this in the theatre when it first came out and there is no mistaking that this is one terrifying horror movie, not because Carpenter can knock up a load of blood on the screen but because it has brains and all the hallmarks of classic Carpenter suspense. If you are a Carpenter fan then you probably know that his earlier shoestring budget works are better than his recent big budget crap fests - The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween and The Fog are what makes Carpenter great. Prince of Darkness is no exception to that rule.

The film concerns a secret Christian sect, called the Brotherhood of Sleep, who have kept something evil locked up in one of their churches downstairs in a large glass vessel. When the final brother dies he passes on the secret to Father Loomis (Donald Pleasence) who in turn decided to call in some physics students from the local college to find out what is in the vessel. Soon the students find themselves up against an evil that is waiting to be reborn, and also up against themselves as the evil takes hold of them (sort of turning people in zombies that spray evil water out from their mouths).

The single most amazing thing about the Prince of Darkness is the whole atmosphere. There is very little blood at the start and yet the feelings that are evoked by the wonderful set designs, music and lighting will have the hair on the back on your head sticking up. When the blood does come it is not as shocking, however there is one scene of a dead man outside standing in beetles that gave me sleepless nights for weeks. Imagine that thing standing at the end of your bed at night!

This is not just a horror film either. There is lots of quasi-science going on, including theories on things like tachyon particles that can transmit messages through time (in fact the Brotherhood of Sleep all the have the same dream). So in reality this movie's genre is a horror/sci-fi rather than just horror.

Although the film has certainly dated, it is still leaps and bounds ahead of the horror we put out these days. We like horror films that think a little and Carpenter used to do that for us. Oh how times have changed for this once great author, but let's not be too judgemental because of what he has already given us. Certainly Prince of Darkness ranks up there as one of the tenses and weirdest horror films of all time. Alice Cooper also has a cameo as a possessed wino! Now how can you say no to seeing that!

Bottom line is to let this film take you. Sure it is nearly twenty years old, but it is just so damn original that you have to give the man top marks. A cult classic in every sense of the word and certainly DVD ownership is a must for early Carpenter fans.

As a note Screenwriter "Martin Quatermass" is actually John Carpenter.