Reviews: Prince of Darkness (1987) Movie Review
Subgenres: Demons, Supernatural, Psychic, Satanic
Exploring Prince of Darkness (1987) through our review, we cover its story, scares, and how it fits into the broader horror genre landscape.
Prince of Darkness (1987) is an American supernatural horror movie that is the second installment John Carpenter’s "Apocalypse Trilogy." John Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy consist of The Thing (1982), Prince of Darkness (1987), and In the Mouth of Madness (1994). Prince of Darkness (1987) had an estimated budget of $3 million and grossed over $14.1 million at the box office. Director and writer John Carpenter (Halloween (1978), Escape from L.A. (1996), Escape from New York (1981), They Live (1988)) did not do well making this cheesy horror movie. Unfortunately, I do not like this movie but others that I view the movie with have a different opinion from me. The events in the movie are not at all scary but instead humorous, ex: devil-juice squirting. The acting was not good or bad, just in between which does not help the movie. A few of the actors overacted a few times, and there was also a few unrealistic acting. The plot and subplot were cheesy and did not appear as though John Carpenter wrote it because I look forward to his movies as they are always a phenomenal watch, but this movie proved me wrong.
A priest (Donald Pleasence - Halloween (1978), The Great Escape (1963), Escape from New York (1981), Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)) is investigating a mysterious cylinder with a green liquid in it. He needs the help of Professor Howard Birack and his students. Professor Howard (Victor Wong - The Last Emperor (1987), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), 3 Ninjas (1992)) visit the priest in an abandoned Los Angeles church. As they research and decipher the text located next to the cylinder, liquid escapes from the cylinder causing people who are exposed to the liquid to become possessed. The possessed person then fights against the others and soon we see a huge amount of people being possessed. Professor Howard’s student Kelly (Susan Blanchard - All My Children (1970), They Live (1988)) later becomes the vessel of Satan. Will there be any survivors who are not possessed? Will anyone save the day/city from Satan?
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Prince of Darkness Rating Scores
- Our Score: 4/10
- Overall Score: 5.30/10
- IMDB: 6.7/10
- MetaCritic: 5.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 6.3/10
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