Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Why are people rating this 10/10? Ha..really ? Carpenter fans who will rate anything he does as masterpieces.. I didn't see this back in the 80's..Maybe I did , It's just that forgettable. An hour into it, still waiting for something to happen..Right now they could switch the entire main cast and I would barely notice..At first I was excited seeing some Big trouble actors..That quickly faded with such boring nothing characters the whole movie It has the vibe that it should be a good movie..Just isn't..

Maybe for some people this film is invokes some kind of deep nostalgia and that's why they love it so much, but it's honestly a terrible film. The idea is interesting, with the devil being an actual being intricately linked with the very fabric of the universe, Jesus being an alien sent here to warn us and the Catholic Church spreading a lie to cover up the horrible truth. It's a great premise, but it's handled so badly that the movie is barely watchable. The writing is atrocious, so much of the plot is half ass explained with some of the most awful dialogue I've ever seen. There are several plot points that go completely unresolved and one of them is a major one that is talked about through most of the film. The acting is terrible (unfortunate because many of these actors had given great performances in previous John Carpenter films) I don't think any of the actors had a clue what was going on and gave performances that ranged from limp and dull to completely absurd and over the top (not in the good way either). All of this makes the slow pace of the movie, which could have made for a great slow and terrifying movie, incredibly dull and frustrating to watch. I think any fan of John Carpenter should watch it, but it's honestly a terrible movie.

Asked to investigate a giant canister of bright green fluid found in the basement of an abandoned church, a group of quantum physics students begins to suspect that the liquid may have diabolical origins in this John Carpenter horror movie. 'Prince of Darkness' is a fairly ambitious project as Carpenter attempts to mesh scientific reasoning (the Devil is referred to as some sort of anti-matter) and theology, however, the two realms of knowledge do not exactly go well hand-in-hand and much of the dialogue comes off as babble. The film has some great moments though when the characters stop talking and simply react to the bizarre things that begin to happen around them as they research and prod further into matters. In particular, the homeless folk outside begin behaving very strangely (could they be possessed?), led by Alice Cooper in a creepy performance. There is also something very Cronenberg-like to the way the liquid infects its first victim, who then transmits it to others in highly sexual ways; one of the infection sequences almost looks like it is about to turn into a lesbian love scene! The makeup special effects are quite creepy too and the film boasts a characteristically sinister, throbbing score cowritten by Carpenter himself. The film is very lacking in the character department, a humorous Dennis Dun aside, and as mentioned, the whole religion/science fusion does not really gel, but there is enough of interest here in between the chitchat. The film ends on a delightful note of uncertainty too.

The film start with a reasonably interesting premise (if not particularly original). There are a few interesting parts but mostly it was quite predictable and boring. To give credit where credit is due, the special effects are not bad considering a 1980's film and a low budget... but that's just not enough, your waiting the whole movie for the key ploy to unravel and then then when it finally does its soon removed in a highly predictable and just outright lame fashion. The acting was on the whole nothing to write home about either, not terrible, but no golden globe awards here that's for sure. This movie simply doesn't bring much that's new, its a very stereo- typical 'cliché 80's horror film, fairly gory to try give some cheap thrills to compensate for a lack of complex plot and ideas of where to take the story since the initial premise'. if you like cliché gory 80's horror films, then maybe this review is not one you should take into consideration, but if you are like me and enjoy horror, but expect every movie to truly be original to a reasonable extent and horrify in ways other that cheap lame gore, then ask me for a recommendation.