John Carpenter's 'Prince of Darkness'. A Horror Masterpiece
John Carpenter is unmatched when it comes to dealing with multiple characters confined to a specific location, while gradually escalating tension until the inevitable climax. Whether this is a group of cops and convicts trapped in a police station in Assault on Precinct 13, a team of researchers stuck in an Antarctic base camp in The Thing, or in this case, a crowd of academics, scientists, and a priest holed up inside a church.
What he does so effectively to create a genuine feeling of entrapment is make the area outside the specific location extremely hostile. Whether through freezing harsh weather, street gang members laying siege, or in the case of Prince of Darkness, the possessed zombies surrounding the church. Therefore, when the location is inevitably breached, panic and hopelessness follow. There is truly nowhere to go as the circle of safety shrinks until it can shrink no more. This ties in well with the sheer nihilism present here and in other Carpenter films. No amount of advancement in Science can save humanity from its impending doom. We as a species are the characters that are confined to a specific location (in this case, our world). And it is only a matter of time before the game is over.
The synth score here is signature Carpenter. Somehow terrifying, yet cool at the same time. The use of insects even before the characters set foot in the church, reminded me of the insects in the opening of Blue Velvet. In both cases, they are used to symbolize the terror that lingers beneath the peaceful facade that we have created for ourselves.
Submitted September 20, 2021 at 05:42PM by aliasad1998 https://ift.tt/3nO9Zek
Không có nhận xét nào: