When a priest dies before he can meet with a Cardinal in Los Angeles, he leaves behind a key and a diary explaining his role in the church. The priest was a guardian of a vault beneath a mission in a decaying area of the city. Inside that vault is a large cylindrical container of swirling green fluid and an ancient book written in many different languages.
Father Loomis (Donald Pleasence) investigates the mission after reading the diary. He contacts quantum physics professor Howard Birack (Victor Wong), who teaches at a nearby university, to help him identify the contents of the container. Birack assembles a team of physicists, chemists, biologists, and a translator to help with the process. Father Loomis explains to Birack that the container has been in the care of the church for centuries. It has been cared for by a sect called “The Brotherhood of Sleep,” who have kept it in the mission basement since the 1500’s.
As the team begins translating the book kept with the container, they discover a passage that states that the fluid is actually the imprisoned essence of Satan. After the scientific team analyzes the container for a very short period of time, it becomes apparent that what is inside is becoming conscious and is beginning to use telekinesis to affect the minds of those in close proximity.
As news of the container’s contents make the rounds through the team who are scattered throughout the church, homeless people surround and barricade the building. One of the scientists is sprayed by the green fluid and falls into a zombie-like state, spreading the fluid to other people, who, also fall under control of the liquid.
The team translates another passage that informs the remaining scientists that although the cylinder contains what is essentially the anti-Christ, it is awakening for a purpose. That purpose is to bring something much larger into the world from the “dark side”: the anti-God.
Prince of Darkness was directed by John Carpenter (Halloween) and was the first film of a multi-picture deal with Alive Studios which gave him complete creative control and a relatively small budget. Carpenter wrote the screenplay (under the pseudonym Martin Quatermass) and composed the soundtrack. He also assembled a cast of people who had worked with him previously, including Victor Wong and Dennis Dun from Big Trouble in Little China, and Donald Pleasence from Halloween.
The film is an effective thriller that provides a tense atmosphere that’s aided by the claustrophobic confines of the church. It’s main downfall is that the script doesn’t handle the issue of faith vs. science very well. Carpenter doesn’t seem to know what to do with the subject. A lot of techno-babble and pseudo-theological ideas are spouted by characters but, when all’s said and done, very little of it has anything to do with the plot. Basically, you’ve got evil in a jar and it wants out. However, it can’t do much on its own and it has to possess people to do its bidding. That’s the basis for the whole movie.
Even with its flaws, Prince of Darkness does provide some decent scares and a few interesting twists on the demonic possession formula. You may never look at a mirror the same way again.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
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