Trivia

The movie's opening credits list Martin Quatermass as the writer. This is a pseudonym for John Carpenter. The name is a nod to the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass from the Quatermass stories written by British author Nigel Kneale. Prince of Darkness is clearly influenced by one Quatermass movie in particular, Quatermass and the Pit (1967). In this movie a Martian spaceship is unearthed by workmen in London and begins to extert a psychic influence on people. Interestingly, Kneale co-wrote the script for Halloween III - Season of the Witch (1982).

Prince of Darkness also borrows elements from another Kneale-written story, The Stone Tape, dramatised by the BBC in 1972. In The Stone Tape, a group of scientists arrive at an old Victorian house to begin work on developing a new recording medium. At first they think they have inadvertently stumbled across a method of detecting psychic echoes, after a member of the team sees the ghost of a Victorian chamber-maid. But it soon transpires that the walls of the house contain a force far older and more sinister than anyone imagines.

Prince of Darkness has a similar central plot - a group of scientists arrive at an old run-down church to investigate an unusual discovery which turns out to be far older and more primordial than first thought.

In yet another nod to Nigel Kneale, Brian can be seen wearing a sports sweater at the start of the movie with 'Kneale' emblazoned across it. He also tells Catherine, during their first conversation, that he has transferred from Kneale University to the Doppler Institute, the University where Birack lectures.

Donald Pleasence's character of the priest is not actually named in the movie. He is simply referred to as 'Priest' in the closing credits and nobody ever mentions his name during the course of the movie. The name Fr. Loomis seems to have been bestowed on the character by fans of the movie, probably in a nod to the character of Sam Loomis, which Pleasence played in Halloween.

Jameson Parker (Brian) was sporting an old leg injury he picked up while making TV series Simon & Simon and would sometimes need to rest in his trailer because of the pain.

A bemused Peter Jason holds himself together
after Victor Wong walks out of the shot

When actor Peter Jason (Dr. Leahy) introduces himself to Professor Birack (Victor Wong) for the first time, he wasn't expecting Wong to walk away in the middle of the scene. Jason's subsequent confused expression is unscripted, although he plays it perfectly to match with his character's confusion regarding the project.

Yes, the lead hobo on the street outside with the tea-cosy on his head is rock singer Alice Cooper. Alice wrote a song specially for the movie called 'Prince of Darkness' (from the album 'Raise Your Fist And Yell' (1987)). Etchinson is listening to it on a Walkman when he leaves the church. Alice seems unflattered however, and promptly impales him with a bicycle frame.

This is the second movie in what Carpenter refers to as his "Apocolypse Trilogy". The first part is The Thing (1982) and the final part is In the Mouth of Madness (1995). All three movies deal with the end of the world.

Peter Jason hurt his shoulder in the scene where he and Victor Wong try to break a door down to escape from the church. He claims that the pain still flares up to this day.

The entire movie was shot in just over 30 days.

The scene where Birack goes to meet Fr. Loomis after receiving his letter was shot at the San Fernando Mission in Southern California.

Donald Pleasence was late on the first day of filming - he got lost driving to the Long Beach set.

Thom Bray's character (Etchinson) was brought in at the last minute for pick-ups.

Post production for the movie was done at Disney Studios!

The church in the movie is called St. Godard's, possibly a reference to French director Jean-Luc Godard.

Susan Blanchard (Kelly) appeared in the 'Press-On-Nails' adverts on US TV.

The scene where Wyndham (Robert Grasmere) is stabbed by the bag-lady at the back of the church is inspired by a smiliar stabbing scene in the Terence Fisher movie Curse of the Werewolf (1961).

Alice Cooper used the bike impalement trick in his stage shows prior to this movie. The bike he uses is his own personal prop.

Shep Gordon, one of the movie's executive producers, was also Alice Cooper's manager at the time.

The church used in the building was formerly the Japanese Union Church of Los Angeles, built in 1922. The building became a National Historical Landmark in 1995. It is now the Union Center for the Arts housing the David Henry Hwang Theatre.

The symbol which forms on Kelly's arm after she bruises it is taken from a Blue Oyster Cult album cover. Blue Oyster Cult's first album cover - the 'Cross of Cronos' can be seen in the centre Sometimes referred to as the "Cross of Questioning", it was designed by artist Bill Gawlick for the band's first album, and can be seen on several of their other album covers. It is patterned after the astrological symbol of Saturn/Cronos, in the shape of a sickle. Despite suggestions to the contrary, it has no occult or magical significance at all. Carpenter probably just liked the look of it and, admittedly, it does look suitably mysterious and cryptic.

Mercury was used in some scenes to simulate the mirror gateway to the other dimension where the anti-god was waiting. For the scene where Catherine pushes Kelly and the demon through the mirror, a blacked-out swimming pool was used. Lisa Blount who plays Catherine, was understandably quite nervous about having to shoot this scene underwater in a covered-in pool.

Robert Grasmere (Wyndham) also served as the movie's visual effects supervisor. Robert has worked on numerous motion pictures as visual effects supervisor including Clear and Present Danger, The Core and The Saint to name just a few.

The sinister bag-lady is played by Joanna Merlin, who was served as casting director on Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

The computer that Catherine is entering the equations into and the computer that Lisa is using to translate the ancient book (and later to type out the chilling 'I LIVE!' message) are both Commodore Amiga 1000s.

Peter Jason (Dr. Leahy) suggested to Carpenter that the scientists who are zombified by the entity should come back as embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins. Carpenter was intrigued by the idea but ultimately rejected it as it would have led to extensive re-writes.

The scenes in the church's underground chapel were filmed at an abandoned ballroom in Long Beach, Los Angeles. The building was structurally unsound and the crew had to sign waivers before they were allowed to film in there.

Most of the church interiors such as the long corridor and the rooms leading off it (with the exception of the front hallway, stairs and the main lab), were filmed on a set out in Lancaster, California. Or possibly out in the Magic Mountain area. Unfortunately, John Carpenter and Peter Jason disagree on the movie's commentary track over which location it was!

**Update**
Thanks to Sandy King, POD's script supervisor who contacted us to confirm that the interior sets for the church were indeed filmed at the Valencia soundstages in Valencia, California, which is very close to Magic Mountain.

The University scenes at the start of the movie were shot at the University of Southern California where John Carpenter had studied film. All of the University exteriors were filmed in one day.

Birack's surname sounds very much like Paul Dirac's, the British physicist who predicted the existence of anti-matter, a theory which strongly figures in Prince of Darkness.

The institute where Birack works is called the Doppler Institute.

The movie cost US$3 million dollars to make, a feat which Carpenter has said would be difficult if not impossible to achieve today.

In the movie Brian watches a TV report on the discovery of a recently discovered supernova.

In 1987, the year Prince of Darkness was released, a supernova was actually discovered in February. Light from the explosion of Sanduleak-69 202, a star near the edge of the Tarantula Nebula some 168,000 light years from Earth, reached our planet on February 23rd 1987. It was the closest observed supernova to Earth since 1604, before the invention of the telescope.

Because of its relatively close proximity to Earth, the Saundleak explosion was visible to the naked eye and was in the news quite a bit for the five to six months it was visible. It's possible that Carpenter may have been influenced by this event to include the supernova in Prince of Darkness as an omen of the anti-god's awakening.

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News and Updates

March 12th 2012
Stacie Ponder illustration of Saint Godard's and Alice Cooper!
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January 31st 2012
Poll results for latest poll are in and new poll is uploaded.
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December 20th 2011
Interview with actor Peter Jason (Dr. Leahy) is up. read more

October 11th 2011
We've just uploaded a Q+A with Thom Bray who plays Etchinson! read more

August 16th 2011
The complete script (as it is in the movie) in now online
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June 5th 2011
Better picture quality version of Prince of Darkness?
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June 3rd 2011
New gallery layout uploaded... read more

May 13th 2011
Yikes, it's been a while since any updates! What's happening??? read more

March 15th 2011
New survey online. Get voting!
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January 8th 2011
R.I.P. Lisa Blount
We only recently learned of the sad passing of Lisa Blount last October... read more

December 11th - 2010
Interview with Sandy King Carpenter is now online... read more
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November 4th 2010
Just a quick status on updates - we're currently in the process of organising our first interview for the site... read more >>

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