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Prince of Darkness (1987)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
23 October 1987 (USA) moreTagline:
Where are you...? Christ? morePlot:
A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
1 win & 1 nomination moreNewsDesk:
(7 articles)
Lists of Doom III: Ravage (From Fangoria. 23 March 2009, 8:06 PM, PDT)
Holy Terror!: 11 Creepy Catholic Horror Films
(From Icons of Fright. 14 March 2009, 6:25 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Carpenter's best work . . . moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Donald Pleasence | ... | Priest | |
| Jameson Parker | ... | Brian Marsh | |
| Victor Wong | ... | Prof. Howard Birack | |
| Lisa Blount | ... | Catherine Danforth | |
| Dennis Dun | ... | Walter | |
| Susan Blanchard | ... | Kelly | |
| Anne Marie Howard | ... | Susan Cabot | |
| Ann Yen | ... | Lisa | |
| Ken Wright | ... | Lomax | |
| Dirk Blocker | ... | Mullins | |
| Jessie Lawrence Ferguson | ... | Calder | |
| Peter Jason | ... | Dr. Paul Leahy | |
| Robert Grasmere | ... | Frank Wyndham | |
| Thom Bray | ... | Etchinson | |
| Joanna Merlin | ... | Bag Lady |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
102 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Ultra StereoCertification:
Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | West Germany:16 (video release) | Australia:M | Canada:18+ | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2000) | UK:18 (original rating) | UK:18 (video rating) (1988) | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM RestrictedFun Stuff
Trivia:
When actor Peter Jason, who plays Dr. Leahy, introduces himself to Dr. 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 appearance and awkwardness is natural and unscripted. moreGoofs:
Factual errors: The student radiologist Susan Cabot says she has been "carbon dating the corrosion on the lid" of the cylinder, and "we're talking about 7 million years". Carbon dating is used to determine the age of materials, usually organic, containing carbon, not metal corrosion substances, and is only useful for about 60,000 years. moreQuotes:
[Walter is studying quantum physics]Walter: Why do I want a Ph.D. in this?
Catherine: Particle beam weapons, research grants...
Walter: A millionaire when I'm forty! Now I remember!
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Prince of Darkness moreFAQ
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John Carpenter's made some great horror films, and Prince of Darkness is my hands-down favorite Carpenter flick. First and foremost, the music does it for me every time. Sometimes Carpenter's score do miss their mark, but this time, the music is dead on perfect. Beyond this, the movie overall is wonderful. The opening title sequence (which does extend quite a bit into the film itself) does a great job of setting up the characters and the beginning of the drama at hand. Once the film picks up, it really doesn't let you go until the end, and even then, to the very last shot, the film reminds you that, for the briefest of moments, it had you. Oh, it had you. Alice Cooper makes his first theatrical film appearance with this film, but he appears briefly. Instead, the film centers mostly around Brian Marsh, a grad student brought in as part of a group of collegiate-types to investigate something dark and sinister in the basement of an old church. A lot of people I know pan his performance, but I felt Jameson (TV's "Simon & Simon") Parker's performance was solid and that look of confusion he wears throughout a bulk of the picture seems appropriate to the events unfolding around his character. Donald Pleasance's presence as a Catholic priest who begrudgingly recruits the team of college students and professors, scientists and theorists, adds a sense of credibility to the threat involved, as well as the film itself. And Victor Wong - he's just fun to watch. I love this movie.