Synopsis
A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open it, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all of humanity.
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Cast
- Donald PleasenceVater Loomis
- Lisa BlountCatherine Danforth
- Victor WongHoward Birack
- Jameson ParkerBrian Marsh
- Dennis DunWalter
- Susan BlanchardKelly
- Anne Marie HowardSusan Cabot
- Ann YenLisa
- Ken WrightLomax
- Dirk BlockerMullins
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Tribune
Prince of Darkness is a real tour de force, and a welcome return. - 75
Portland Oregonian
Those who don't go for horror films, period, won't go for this, but those who do will find this one of the more intelligent, better produced outings of late, with a good, continuing stream of sarcastic humor. [30 Oct 1987, p. E13] - 70
The Dissolve
It’s an endearingly odd, consistently creepy film that hearkens back to the director’s previous work. - 70
Tampa Bay Times
Carpenter returns to his roots, which is to say he's gouging eyes and summoning demons. He's doing it in a wonderfully rough-hewn, low-budget style that fondly recalls Halloween, the granddaddy of slasher movies. [24 Oct 1987, p.1D] - 60
Los Angeles Times
To give the movie its due, it's been directed, at least on the visual level, with unusual elegance: filled with graceful, gliding tracking shots, and icily precise Hitchcockian setups of the bleak decor and scary effects. - 50
Chicago Sun-Times
John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness gets off to an intriguing start. But then the movie loses its way. - 40
The New York Times
A surprisingly cheesy horror film to come from Mr. Carpenter (''Halloween,'' ''Escape From New York,'' among others), a director whose work is usually far more efficient and inventive. - 30
Variety
Carpenter spends so much time turning the screws on the next scare that he completely forsakes his actors, who are already stranded with a shoddy script.
