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Reviews
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Carpenter's biggest missed opportunity
John Carpenter has made some of the greatest genre films in history. Later in his career, he had some films that I think we can agree are clunkers.
This one seems to be close (though not exactly) to the hinge point between the great and the mediocre. It's a shame, because there was an awful lot of potential here. The first half of this film is smart, atmospheric and has great pacing. I love the ideas presented here: religion vs. Philosophy; evil as an interstellar force (hints of a Quatermass film); using science & academia to assess and ancient foe; and a centuries-old secret society keeping evil at bay (hints of The Sentinel). And top it off with a creepy performance by Alice Cooper.
But then it all falls apart. I have to think that problem with the second half of the film starts with the script, which just doesn't follow through on the intellectual promise of the first half the movie. The pacing is off. The slasher-style deaths are dull. Most of the characters go into Idiot Mode. The tone is all over the place: This movie shot NOT have had a comic-relief character, which is not that actor's fault, but the director's fault. And the ending is abrupt is stupid.
Was the budget the problem? Was Carpenter forced to compromise his full vision for the story? That's hard to say, because there's little evidence that script once had smarts the whole way through. Also, how do you not have a closure scene with Alice Cooper, after his menace from the first half of the film?
Finally, I don't think it helps that this is a poorly cast film. Donald Pleasance & Victor Wong are outstanding. They get the best material and handle it with gravitas appropriate to a film about the impending unleashing of the devil.
Beyond that, the acting in this film ranges from "meh" to just awful and wooden -- and I'm not talking about the actors who just stand there with blank looks on their faces when possessed. They're fine. The weak script can't even be blamed; there are just some terrible performances. And I cannot accept that the filmmakers didn't know it.
I'd love to see another try, from scratch, at this plot and film. Focus on the smarts, not the gore. The gravity of the situation, not cheap jokes. See it through from beginning to end. Highlight the claustrophobia and shadows. Light it like Suspiria (but keep the Carpenter soundtrack). There's a great horror film within this idea, that's why this is such a missed opportunity.
Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy (2005)
Excellent overview
A great overview of Lewton's career. Especially good because it ties the mid-century and modern creators of horror cinema back to Lewton as an influence. I could have listened to some of them talk for another half-hour. Harlan Ellison is especially insightful and generous with his praise of Lewton's style of filmmaking.
I think it could have gone a bit deeper into Lewton's psyche and how that played into the subtext of his films, but that's also been covered extensively elsewhere, so maybe this was better off with the approach it took.
I do wish that my favorite Lewton film, Curse of the Cat People, had gotten more than a cursory mention at the end. The films that seemed to get the most time spent of them were Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, The Leopard Man, The Seventh Victim and The Body Snatcher -- the last of which this documentary definitely convinced me that I need to see soon. It's a glaring hole in my movie watching.