Thoughts on John Carpenter’s PRINCE OF DARKNESS |

Thoughts on John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness

Today at Life After Gateway, I wanted to point you toward this John Carpenter film, which I feel could be the scariest movie I’ve seen.

This is one of Carpenter’s best efforts, and that is saying a lot. After all, the director made Escape From New York, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China. Not to mention They Live, Halloween, and The Fog. But POD has a visionary story and there is an undercurrent of dread and fear — and possible religious apocalypse — through the entire thing, aided of course by Carpenter’s incredible score.

The Set Up

When a priest passes away, leaving behind a religious artifact hidden for centuries, it plunges the characters into a weekend of terror and an end-of-humanity dilemma. He was the guardian of a mysterious cannister in an old, abandoned church in the heart of Los Angeles. Donald Pleasence’s character investigates, and unable to decipher the truth, enlists the aid of an old acquaintance — a theoretical Physics professor at the University of Southern California, portrayed by Victor Wong. The story evolves into an examination of science and religion as the Professor’s students struggle to uncover the cannister’s secrets and explain how it is affecting nature — and the people in its immediate vicinity — and why science is unable to explain it.

There is also an historical document with the object, which, when translated, contradicts the church’s official history. This adds to the mystery.

The confluence of science and religion is best represented by these two characters, who frequently share the screen:

And here are the university students, faced with the mystery for the first time; look at that set!

The Priest and the Professor, examining the object:

Throughout the weekend, as events escalate and the body count begins to pile up, the characters are faced with a common dream sequence. Carpenter wrote the script, and his research into quantum physics led to the fascinating source of the dream, which I won’t spoil here. (He filmed this sequence, then played it on a low-res TV and filmed it again off the CRT screen, and these are the images used in the movie. The dream’s narrator is Carpenter himself.) The recurring vision contributes to the undercurrent of dread and horror; Prince of Darkness is dripping with both. I love this movie. Here’s an image from the dream:

Today, I want to point you to an article over at Dread Central. It includes tweets from people who profess a love for the film and those who believe it’s one of the best horror movies. Check out the article.

Prince of Darkness also stars Jameson Parker (of Simon and Simon fame), Dennis Dun (Big Trouble in Little China), Alice Cooper, and Lisa Blount. I saw this film in theatres when it came out in 1987. I remember the theatre (Huron Marketplace in London, Ontario) and I also remember whom I was with. I can honestly say it was one of the best scary movie experiences I’ve ever had. The theatre was packed and the audience seemed to really have a great time with it.

This is one of Carpenter’s movies from his “low budget era,” which I wrote about here, in a comparison with Steven Spielberg. Carpenter filmed Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, and They Live in 1986, 1987, and 1988. What a trio of films in only three years. It was an astonishing achievement, especially considering that he wrote the latter two and also composed the score for all three.

Here’s the trailer from back in 1987. Check out the article at Dread Central.

This Halloween, watch this film!

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 28 October 2025

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

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FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007