John Carpenter believes Prince of Darkness is his most underrated movie, and it’s also a spiritual sequel to a classic British horror franchise. Prince of Darkness arrived during the glorious John Carpenter movie run of the 1980s, where he made back-to-back classics like The Thing and They Live.
Prince of Darkness involves a team of scientists studying a mysterious cylinder in the basement of a church, which may or may not contain the essence of Satan. Spoiler alert: it totally contains Satan. The film was a modest success upon release, but it remains one of the more obscure Carpenter movies.
This is despite the fact Carpenter himself feels Prince of Darkness is underrated. The movie is loaded with Lovecraftian concepts too, from its feeling of cosmic dread, its blend of science and religion and the existence of ancient forces out to destroy mankind.
Prince Of Darkness Is A Spiritual Sequel To Quatermᴀss And The Pit
Carpenter nods to The Stone Tape too
Carpenter made Prince of Darkness on a low budget following a bad experience with 20th Century Fox on Big Trouble in Little China. In the aftermath, he wanted to make something where he had total creative control whilst paying homage to the works of famed British writer Nigel Kneale.
Kneale is best known as the creator of the Quatermᴀss TV serials and movies, in addition to 1972’s chilling ghost story The Stone Tape. In particular, Prince of Darkness feels like a retooling of Kneale’s Quatermᴀss and the Pit, where the тιтular scientist (played by Andrew Keir) uncovers an alien spaceship buried in the London underground.
A study of the ship and the bodies inside reveals these creatures were responsible for intelligent life on Earth – and the source of humanity’s innate violence and religious concepts. Once the ship reawakens, events turn somewhat apocalyptic. The original Quatermᴀss and the Pit series and its later Hammer Horror movie adaptation are now considered sci-fi classics.
Carpenter played with the same ingredients for Prince of Darkness, putting more emphasis on religion and quantum mechanics. The structure of both tales is quite similar too, including an ending where a noble sacrifice saves the day – or maybe not, if Prince of Darkness‘ ambiguous final sH๏τ is anything to go by.
The Quatermᴀss Franchise Was Hugely Influential On John Carpenter
There is a reason Carpenter is credited as “Martin Quatermᴀss”
Carpenter grew up with a love of trashy B-movies and horror, and was a particular student of Kneale and Quatermᴀss. Carpenter claims The Quatermᴀss Xperiment – the first movie in the series – “blew my mind“ when he saw it as a child (via Kino Lorber).
The young Carpenter was hooked by its blend of horror and sci-fi, and its body horror elements clearly inspired parts of The Thing. The influence of Kneale is felt through much of Carpenter’s filmography, with Prince of Darkness and Ghosts of Mars being prime examples.
Hammer Films called it The Quatermᴀss Xperiment to emphasize to viewers that it carried the then scandalous X rating in the UK. In the US, the movie was reтιтled The Creeping Unknown.
Carpenter didn’t think much of 1979’s Quatermᴀss, however, which was Kneale’s bleak finale that saw an aged Quatermᴀss having to deal with another alien menace and, most terrifying of all, hippies. It should be noted that not only did Quatermᴀss and the Pit inspire Carpenter on Prince of Darkness, but there’s some Stone Tape influence too.
Namely, the experiments being run on the canister and the attempts to explain the supernatural through scientific means. In both cases, science is no protection against evil forces far older than mankind.
Quatermᴀss’ Creator Wasn’t A Fan Of Prince Of Darkness
Kneale and Carpenter had a bad experience together making Halloween III
After he made it big in Hollywood, Carpenter took the opportunity to approach Kneale, one of his icons, about writing Halloween III: Season of the Witch. This entry was intended to move away from Michael Myers, with the Kneale-conceived story following an ancient witch planning a mᴀss sacrifice of children on Halloween night.
Kneale’s concept was outrageous and creepy, but while producer Carpenter liked it, he insisted on changes to up the scares and gore. Kneale refused to make changes and took his name off the Halloween movie after it was rewritten by others. Kneale didn’t think kindly of Carpenter in the aftermath, and said of Prince of Darkness (via The Observer/Vice):
With an homage like this, one might say, who needs insults?
Again, Prince of Darkness is steeped in Kneale’s influence, from the premise to a character wearing a “Kneale University” T-shirt. None of this inspired warm feelings from the Quatermᴀss creator, who had a reputation as something of a curmudgeon.
In a 2014 Vulture interview, Carpenter revealed their bad working relationship didn’t alter his opinion of Kneale’s work, stating, “No, I really loved his original stuff. I just think he’s groundbreaking … but unpleasant to work with!“
Since Kneale had a poor relationship with Hollywood in general, Prince of Darkness is the closest thing to an American Quatermᴀss movie. There actually was talk of a big-budget Quatermᴀss movie starring Sean Connery happening in the early 2000s, though nothing came of it.
Prince Of Darkness Is The Second Part Of Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy
PoD is sandwiched between The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness
Carpenter only helmed one direct sequel with 1996’s Escape from L.A. Outside of that, he steered clear of the various Halloween sequels or other follow-ups since he preferred to focus on new material. He did helm a thematic series, however, with Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy” being made up of The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness.
Nigel Kneale’s influence can be felt in all three Carpenter movies, though there’s a strong undercurrent of H.P. Lovecraft to them too…
The movies feature no returning characters or plots, but all three deal with the end of the world in one form or another. The Thing is about the end of idenтιтy, Prince of Darkness is about the death of God and In the Mouth of Madness involves the end of reality itself.
Kneale’s influence can be felt in all three, though there’s a strong undercurrent of H.P. Lovecraft to them too. The Thing feels like a riff on Lovecraft’s most famous story At the Mountains of Madness, while In the Mouth of Madness basically asks, “What if Lovecraft was a prophet for the Old Ones?“
It’s one of the best horror trilogies ever constructed, with Prince of Darkness still being the most underrated of the bunch. While the Quatermᴀss series has fallen somewhat into obscurity in recent decades, the franchise is worth seeking out for horror fans interested in the genre’s history.
Source: Kino Lorber, The Observer/Vice, Vulture
