Movie Background

Prince of Darkness was John Carpenter's return to low-budget horror after his 1984 romantic sci-fi Starman, and the good-humoured hi-jinx of Big Trouble in Little China (1986). POD forms the second part of what he has called his 'Apocolypse Trilogy', the first part being The Thing (1982) and the final part In the Mouth of Madness (1995). All three films deal with the end of the world. POD was to be the first picture as part of a five-picture deal which Carpenter made with Alive Films. They Live, released the following year, was the second movie of this deal but after the disappointing box-office performance of both movies the remaining three were never made.


Poster from the 1967 movie Quatermass and the Pit
Prince of Darkness is clearly influenced by a number of earlier science-fiction works, most notably by British author Nigel Kneale's Quatermass and the Pit. Dramatised by the BBC in 1958 Quatermass and the Pit contains several elements which would re-appear in some form in Prince of Darkness. Carpenter also seems to have been influenced by another Kneale story, The Stone Tapes (again dramatised by the BBC, in 1972), which features some plot similarities.

See the Trivia section for more information on both of these works and their influence on Prince of Darkness.

    The Plot

A reclusive elderly Catholic priest dies in a Los Angeles mission the night before an appointment with the Cardinal. Another priest at the mission, Fr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance), finds a diary which Fr. Carlton has left behind. On reading the diary, Loomis learns that Fr. Carlton was a member of a secret sect within the Catholic Church called the 'Brotherhood of Sleep'. The sect has guarded an ancient and deadly secret from mankind for centuries - a secret now contained in an underground chapel beneath a downtown Los Angeles church.


Loomis and Birack survey the deadly canister On visiting the church, Fr. Loomis finds a cannister which contains a ominous swirling liquid, and an ancient book which provides a clue to this liquid's origin. According to the book, a powerful anti-god had once walked the earth before mankind but was banished to another dimension. Before it was sent to the other side this malevolent being managed to store a part of its essence in liquid form in a large cylindrical container. The cannister was buried in the Middle East in the hope that one day the essence would break free and bring its master back from the void to our world. Centuries later the container was unearthed and has been closely watched by the Brotherhood ever since.

Loomis' worst fears are confirmed on observing the cannister - the essence seems to be breaking free from its prison. Inexplicable phenomena are occuring in the sky and light from a distant supernova has been detected.

An alarmed Fr. Loomis enlists the help of the physics department at the local University to try to prevent the entity escaping and to prove scientifically to the outside world what its release will mean for mankind.

For a detailed run down of the movie's action, visit the synopsis section.

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March 12th 2012
Stacie Ponder illustration of Saint Godard's and Alice Cooper!
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