Day 1 - John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness (1987) | 31 Days of Halloween
Day 1 of the 31 Days of Halloween kicked off with a deep dive into one of the strangest and most underrated entries in John Carpenter’s filmography: Prince of Darkness, viewed on 4K Blu-ray.
Released in 1987, this cosmic horror entry was written, directed, and scored by Carpenter himself. It marked his return to horror after the box office disappointment of Big Trouble in Little China and reunited him with actors Victor Wong and Dennis Dun from that film. It also features the legendary Donald Pleasence, best known for his iconic work as Dr. Loomis in Halloween.
A Story Built on Dread, Faith, & Science
The film follows a group of graduate students, scientists, and researchers who are brought together by a professor (Wong) and a priest (Pleasence) to investigate an ancient, sealed canister hidden beneath an abandoned church. Inside the container is a swirling, sentient green liquid that begins to infect and possess anyone who comes into contact with it.
As the film unfolds, the substance slowly turns people into vessels of violence, all with one goal: to release the Prince of Darkness into the world.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the film is that a core part of its imagery and story was inspired by a nightmare from producer Debra Hill. Those eerie, distorted “dream transmission” sequences are meant to feel like half-remembered visions of the future, and they remain some of the most unsettling moments in any Carpenter film.
The Middle Chapter of the Apocalypse Trilogy
Prince of Darkness sits right in the middle of what has aptly been named Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy:
The Thing (1982)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Unlike The Thing, which leans into paranoia and body horror, or In the Mouth of Madness, which delves headfirst into Lovecraftian madness, Prince of Darkness blends science and religion in a way that very few horror films had before. It isn’t about jump scares or body counts, it’s about the slow realization that reality itself might be far more fragile than we want to believe, that everything we think we know about both science and religion may be a lie, a story crafted by those before us to protect us from a truth darker than we could handle.
Carpenter’s Score: Minimal, Menacing, Perfect
This is easily one of my favorite Carpenter scores. It’s minimal and deeply hypnotic. It doesn’t tell you how to feel, it just crawls under your skin and stays there. The pulsing synths feel like a heartbeat of background music, pushing every scene forward and making even quiet moments feel dangerous.
Carpenter has always understood that silence can be more terrifying than noise, and here he walks that tightrope perfectly.
My version of the movie, from Shout Factory! and Sacred Bones, contains the 4K Collector’s edition of the movie along with the poster, and finally a 7” vinyl pressing of new and unreleased tracks from the film. A must have for any fan and collector.
Why It’s So Divisive (And Why I Love It)
This is one of my favorite Carpenter films, but I completely understand why it hasn’t always been embraced. It’s weird. It’s philosophical. It doesn’t play by normal horror rules. There’s no traditional “monster.” There’s no clear villain. And there’s definitely no neat, clean ending.
A lot of horror fans want something more straightforward, and Prince of Darkness refuses to give them that. It asks you to think. It asks you to sit with discomfort. It asks you to accept that you might not fully understand what you just watched, and that’s exactly why it works for me.
It’s also one that I truly believe gets better with every viewing following the initial one, once you understand exactly what you’re getting and are able to fully appreciate what Carpenter was going for.
That said, it still has all the staples of a classic Carpenter movie:
A group trapped in a locked-off location, much like Assault on Precinct 13 and The Thing
Practical ’80s effects that hit harder than most modern CGI
Improvised, brutal weapons like scissors and impalements that feel raw and real
And some truly legendary Donald Pleasence monologues that any Halloween fan will immediately appreciate
Inspiring Future Filmmakers
The dread, paranoia, and madness of Carpenter’s Apocolypse Trilogy have inspired countless filmmakers over the years.
We’ve seen homage’s like in the season 5 finale of The Walking Dead where they used a similar score to that of John Carpenter’s The Thing, coupled with a feeling of impending doom to expertly create tension. We’ve seen entire series’ become insirations like in True Detective: Night Country where the setting, visual imagery, and mystery seem like they are all direct copies of The Thing.
But, one of my favorite homages stands as 2016 crowdsourced feature, The Void, directed by Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski, about an understaffed hospital in a small town where strange and violent experiences occur, seemingly linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures. The movie contains references to Lovecraft horror and nearly all of John Carpenter’s best output including Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing, In the Mouth of Madness, but especially Prince of Darkness. It also features some of the best practical effects of recent memory.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve never seen Prince of Darkness, I think it deserves a spot on your Halloween watchlist. It’s atmospheric, strange, and quietly terrifying.
It may not be for everyone, but that’s kind of the point.
Give it a shot this Halloween season with your own 31 Days of Halloween.
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