7. Prince of Darkness (1987)
I am a huge fan of John Carpenter’s movies. “The Thing” and “Escape from New York” mean a great deal to me as I never tire of those movies and am always inspired by them. “Prince of Darkness” is an odd one from Carpenter but it is also a great one. It mixes sci-fi metaphysics with horror and an awesome ’80s synth score. I think the movie hits it on the head for the phenomena of possessions, spirits and demons. I don’t believe in religion but I do consider myself spiritual, just not bound to any religion. If there is any truth to the possession/spirit phenomenon, I see it more as a metaphysical event rather than a religious one. There is so much to this universe we are oblivious to, for example the concept that the universe is expanding has to make you question, “into what?” Is there anything outside? It’s a strange concept. This movie dives into these types of themes in a classic ’80s horror way and definitely has its unintentionally funny moments. Overall I love this movie. It has a very slow and methodical pace but that’s what makes it so good. Alice Cooper as a possessed vagrant has an awesome cameo and Donald Pleasance is always great in pretty much anything he did, but he really goes for it as the priest. Towards the end, one of the characters named Kelly is possessed by the “Prince of Darkness” and her face looks like a disgusting pizza with rotting pepperoni, there is something so cool about Carpenter movies’ special effects and makeup. That scene is a classic.
