John Carpenter celebrated his 68th birthday a few days ago, so it felt like a no-brainer that I should cover one of his films this week. We here at FSR are big Carpenter fans and have already covered several of his films on Commentary Commentary — Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live — but while those titles are beloved I’m turning this week to one of his less-respected titles that I happen to love.
1987’s Prince of Darkness is a fun mix of gory horror and metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, and while some sketchy acting hurts it the film as a whole is terrifically creepy entertainment. The score is fantastic, the film ends strong, and the cast includes a bevy of Carpenter favorites including Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong, and Dennis Dun.
Keep reading to see what I heard on the Prince of Darkness commentary.
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Commentators: John Carpenter (writer/director), Peter Jason (actor)
1. The film was budgeted at $3 million, shot in about thirty days, and was Carpenter’s “return to horror” after Starman and Big Trouble in Little China.
2. Actor Peter Jason joins Carpenter for the commentary and takes the blame for momentarily confusing the director as to which film they’re there discussing. “I probably confused you because I was in Ghosts of Mars also,” he says, to which Carpenter replies “I know, you’ve been in almost everything I’ve done. Well, not really.” For those keeping track, Jason starred in seven of Carpenter’s twenty-one films: Ghosts of Mars, Escape from L.A., Village of the Damned, In the Mouth of Madness, Body Bags, They Live, and Prince of Darkness.
3. Jason recalls being given the script by Carpenter and asked what he’d “like to do with the character.” He was thrown by the director’s question. “Well you’re an actor aren’t you?” says Carpenter, “so what did you come back and do for me?” Jason went and got some tips from his friend, David Warner, including the idea of returning from the dead and being in great pain.
4. Jason had suggested having the seven people who return as zombies represent the seven deadly sins, but Carpenter nixed it as it would have required to many rewrites.
5. Carpenter refers to the priest who dies during the opening credits as “a Sentinel-type guy” in a nod to 1977’s The Sentinel.
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6. The opening university scenes were filmed at Carpenter’s alma mater, the University of Southern California. “I spent many happy years at SC as a film student. I learned everything about how to make movies there.”
7. The church used in the exterior shots is located at 1st & Los Angeles St in L.A. according to Jason. “I was born in Hollywood, but I went down there.”
8. Jason says IMDB lists him as being born in New York in 1950, but he was actually born in Los Angeles in 1944. The page has since been fixed.
9. Victor Wong died shortly before this commentary was recorded, and both men show a real affection for their time spent working with him. He had a tough childhood — the left side of his face was paralyzed, he suffered from tuberculosis, he spent time in a sanitarium — but he was an energetic joy as a performer. “And he always had a great story, and you never knew what it was about,” adds Jason.
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10. This was Gary B. Kibbe’s first film as director of photography, and he would go on to shoot seven more Carpenter films — eight if you count Blood River, a TV western written but not directed by Carpenter.
11. When Martin Quatermass’ name appears onscreen as the film’s writer Carpenter points out that “he’s a personal friend of mine, a fine, fine man.” Jason asks what he’s working on now, and Carpenter replies “I think he retired, I heard he’s an alcoholic. He’s writing, but nobody wants to read what he writes.”
12. The church basement is actually in a big, run down building in Long Beach that used to be a popular ballroom. It was falling apart during production, and the cast and crew had to sign waivers stating that they wouldn’t sue if anyone was injured.
13. The green swirling goo is the anti-god’s son, not the anti-god himself.
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14. Carpenter’s love of science led to the story idea involving quantum mechanics and the crossroads of science and religion. He had become fascinated with quantum uncertainty after reading several books on the subject, but he ultimately felt it was impossible to explain. “It was all mumbo-jumbo anyway, it was just a horror movie,” he says. Jason suggests that the script touches on just enough of it to catch and hold viewers’ interest.
15. He and Alan Howarth completed the score in 4-5 weeks. “All my scores are basically improvised,” he says. He watches the scenes on a “TV set” and creates the themes on the spot using a 24-track recorder linked into the film to layer in sounds.
16. “There’s two kinds of scoring in movies. One is the kind of, underscore, minimalist idea, and one is Mickey Mousing.” The latter was made famous by Max Steiner (Casablanca, Gone with the Wind). “For instance, in King Kong, every step that King Kong made is scored — bom! bom! bom! bom! Every emotion is scored. That’s Mickey Mousing.” Carpenter’s opinion of the style in general is that “everything is scored so heavily that you haven’t got a chance to miss anything.” He also adds that “John Williams is the biggest, most famous Mickey Mouser of all.”
17. He first met Alice Cooper at Wrestlemania — obviously — and the performer shared his desire to be in a horror film. Carpenter said okay but only if he could use Cooper’s “impaling gag” from his onstage shows.
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