Review: Prince of Darkness (1987)
I like John Carpenter, he’s only made one really great movie (
The Thing), but even his lesser films have a certain low budget fuck you attitude that is very appealing. Carpenter also gives one heck of an interview: frank, unpretentious and very funny. I think if we had to choose one word to describe why John Carpenter is overrated in certain circles, attitude would be the word to go with . The guy seems to be legitimately cool.
Anyone who provides us with Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, Assault on Precinct 13, Escape From New York, and Christine deserves a big heap of respect and cred in the genre, but great filmmaker? I think that is overstating things a bit. I intentionally left out Halloween because its the most overrated of the bunch, a spunky little horror movie that’s been made out to be a lot more than it actually is. Halloween is pretty good, its moody, and stylish, but its also rather empty and, with the exception of Donald Pleasance, populated with boring characters.
Vampires is goofy crap, but cool goofy crap with a funny James Woods performance. Ghosts of Mars is goofy crap that’s not particularly cool, but I seemed to recall it having a mild dosage of Jason Statham, so it’s probably partially ok. I guess we’re beginning to get to the bottom of why I can’t speak more comprehensively of our past international film masters.
All that said, Prince of Darkness is just bad. I think the intention was to blend the classic Carpenter take on the classic Howard Hawks theme of a few against many with an occult, Satan returns to take over the world story. Ok, I’m down with that. Except nothing happens, ever.
Enough is Enough
Ingmar Bergman died last weekend, or maybe Monday. Michelangelo Antonioni died Monday. I feel unqualified to write an obitiuary for these men because I feel unqualified to write an obituary of anyone and because I am way, way underinformed of their work. As bad as it may sound both Bergman and Antonioni have always sounded more like homework than sitting down and watching a movie, and its that sort of thinking that allows someone to go an entire life loving a field of pursuit without properly informing themselves of said field of pursuit.
Bergman I’m slightly more familiar with. Of his intimidating list of supposed masterpieces I’ve seen four: Wild Strawberries, Persona, Scenes From a Marriage and The Seventh Seal. The Seventh Seal didn’t move me as much as I thought it would, but its a strange, well performed film that is worth seeking out at least once for the experience of it, and for seeing an early Max Von Sydow. Wild Strawberries was my first Bergman film, and its a great Bergman for beginners, wedding Bergman’s obsessions to a more conventional (for him) story of regret. Woody Allen, the most famous Bergman fan, later reworked this story as Deconstructing Harry. Persona and Scenes From a Marriage are intense, pretentious, terrifying, intimate, brilliant, and unforgettable. Yes, these films are draining and demanding, but they have an after effect that is worth it, and I’m not just saying that because the guy is dead.
Of Antonioni, I’ve only seen Blowup, and that is a more approachable masterpiece than any of the Bergman I’ve seen. The film has frustrated many, but the existential thriller trappings lured me in, and while I certainly don’t claim to entirely understand it, I found it memorable and deeply haunting. Though, full disclosure, I return to Coppola’s sort of remake, The Conversation, much more often. I guess it’s easier for me to relate to a man tearing his place apart in the throes of paranoid agony than a guy who appears to be fucking his life away, though I wish the opposite were true.
I’m watching The Passenger and Smiles of a Summer Night over the next few days, and will try to post my reaction next week. These men accomplished more, and were revered more, than anyone can ever hope, and they lived nine decades. Nothing to be sad about here, so let’s just watch the movies.
