Prince of Darkness (1987) dir. John Carpenter, Alive Films/Larry Franco Productions
After dealing with the studios, John Carpenter opted to return to the world of independent films with this. He promised a Nigel Kneale yarn with Lovecraft mixed in for good measure.
A priest (Donald Pleasence) has just been promoted. His new digs are a let down though, a rundown and dilapidated church nestled deep in the heart of Los Angeles. The church officially belongs to the Brotherhood of Sleep, a strange order that no one seems to know anything about.
Inside the basement is a massive container and book written in a strange script. The priest figures this is a bit beyond his paygrade, so he brings in Professor Birack (Victor Wong) and his team of students to study the things.
They take a look at the cannister and boy, what a find. As best as they can figure, the whole thing is about seven million years old. Plus the locking mechanism on top can only be opened from the inside. The book is a mystery too. It describes equations and formulas that would make it about a thousand years older than calculus.
The book also has a disturbing story inside it too. Seems the glowing green liquid inside the cannister? That's Satan, who's actually the son of the Anti-God.
Oh, and the liquid has been escaping from the cannister too. It's also possessed a bum (Alice Cooper) and now the church is surrounded by an increasingly large group of homelessness, bugs, and animals. When the liquid starts possessing the students, can Birack and his team stop the evil that is about to be unleashed?
Disappointing. The actors are all wonderful and give it their best, but quantum mechanics via the supernatural doesn't quite click. I get wanting to do a Lovecraft story but the key thing with that is unknowable. Beings that defy description lose a bit when quantum mechanics goes and defines them and gives them dimensions.
Plus the film does lack clarity. So Satan isn't a fallen angel and the devil is an energy drink. We going to spend any time on that? You'd think finding something that predates most civilizations would get a better response than "huh, that's weird". The heroes keep figuring out how the evil works and that kind of defeats the purpose.
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