Prince of Darkness

1987

Action / Fantasy / Horror

72
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 61% · 43 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 61% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 54908 54.9K

secret research dreams dream obsession secret society

Plot summary

A priest discovers an ancient canister containing a strange liquid in an abandoned church. When a group of graduate students and scientists are tasked with studying it, they unknowingly unleash an evil force waiting to destroy all of humanity.

Director

John Carpenter Photo
John Carpenter

Top cast

Peter Jason Photo
Peter Jason as Dr. Paul Leahy
Joanna Merlin Photo
Joanna Merlin as Bag Lady
Jameson Parker Photo
Jameson Parker as Brian Marsh
Thom Bray Photo
Thom Bray as Etchinson
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
885.25 MB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 24
1.65 GB
1920*816
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 72

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by sugar_daddyo 7 / 10

An Apocalyptic Horror

It has been more than 10 years since I have seen this movie, but it is clear from reading the user comments that no one understands the basic plot. It is a little heavy and presupposes some basic knowledge of physics, so I will do my best to explain it even though it has been 10+ years.In a plot similar to the Da Vinci Code, Satan or Evil, unbeknownst to everyone, has been locked up and carefully guarded for millenia. However, the forces are starting to stir in an unusual manner, so the priest guarding the presence summons some scientists to study it setting in motion a chain of events that eventually bring about the return of ultimate evil to our world. We are gradually made aware of this because the scientists upon arriving at the church begin having unusual dreams. The dreams are messages from the future accomplished by tachyons which are particles that travel faster than the speed of light. A well known property of physics dictates that time slows to zero for particles that approach the speed of light and theoretically time goes backward if the particles "break" the speed of light. So we are to believe that humans in the future have developed tachyon transmissions to warn humans in the past (i.e. the present) and prevent an apocalyptic event. Unfortunately the transmission is jammed for some reason and never completed so the scientists do not know how to interpret the dream or in this case message.Eventually the series of events climaxes when a possessed student tries to bring the ultimate evil to our world but is stopped by a lady scientist who tackles the possessed student and gets trapped in the alternate dimension, supposedly all is well.However, the movie concludes when one of the scientists some time later finally receives the full transmission where it is revealed that at some time in the future the ultimate evil emerges from the church in the form of the lady scientist who got trapped.For me this conclusion provides the thought provoking idea that the message that humans in the future were trying to communicate was that the lady scientist would become the ultimate evil. So we are left to wonder if anything could have been done to prevent the chain of events, tachyons or not! It's a rare horror that follows similar themes as Terminator which I give 7 out of 10.
Reviewed by LeonLouisRicci 8 / 10

Effective and Eerie

One of the Director's most underrated Movies. This is almost a bona-fide Classic. The thing that keeps it from such an exalted status is a few major missteps. It starts with a very creepy setup and manages through most of the Film to keep that sense of Impending Doom with its Supernatural and Apocalyptic tone.The use of Ancient Texts and Religious language Prophecy is introduced but somewhat abandon as things unfold, giving way to more conventional displays of Zombie like Characterizations and Gore Movie conventions. When a Text translation is rendered on a computer screen... the goosebumps arise. The scariness is lessened by the end of it all as the Director veers away from the unseen Evil and things get a bit standard. Such as some unnecessary attempts at humor and a denouement that is a reflection of a weak wrap-up. One more item...hopefully, it should be clear by now that Sci-Fi Writers should completely avoid using specific dates in their Stories. It is a Death Trap, because as you discover here, the Dream induced message is coming from the year 1999. Oops!
Reviewed by leplatypus 10 / 10

Still scary on repeat, 20 years after the 1st ? (rental)

That was indeed the question that haunted me as my first viewing in the 90s was totally scary. In fact, if my memory is good, i watch it on a sunny afternoon as relaxed as this team of scientists and students. And then, the music, the silent threats and kills really oppressed me with the same panic that was played on screen.Now, i tried to watch on a black night and my opinion is that ... the movie is still gripping but the fear decreases with the number of viewing. I think that the movie isn't related to this effect because it just due to memory: there is a excellent proverb for that: " once bitten, twice shy". It's a good thing finally to feel this way because without this kind of learning, mankind would have been never got out of his cave!As i already know this dreadful church and that flashes come back slowly, the bonus of this new watching was to pay attention to new details and to use a kind of new glasses made by all the experiences i lived since the last time: Thus, i found that the basic ideas of this movie are brilliant and not used very much in horror: to choose a sacred place to hold the devil is great as it's really the last place in which you can expect fear. To expect analyze devil with technology is audacious as the failure is certain. In addition, it was cool to see that unknown or a bit familiar faces could play as good or better than the usual big names of Hollywood. So there are still great things with this movie, even if i won't make nightmares again.
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