If you wanna see my review on The Thing I'll link it down below...
The big connections are all three movies were directed by John Carpenter. He also made some songs for em as well. All of them are apocalypse theme movies that portrays a different view on humanity. The Thing representing physical and themselves. Prince of Darkness representing spiritual and their faith in God.
In The Mouth of Madness representing mental and yourself. Despite originally being stand alone movies. The director was ultimately inspired by H. P. Lovecraft stories. Which is deeply presented within all three of these movies. It's no wonder why he eventually group these all movies together in an unique trilogy. Not to mention some huge stars as well.
Originally I was going to do this section after the reviews. After waking up this morning close to noon. I realized I should give a very good reason why I'm writing this blog entry. I was very interested among learning about this trilogy of horror movies. Three vastly different apocalypse movies that comes together. I also plan to rank em but feel free to post your own rankings or thoughts of these movies down below.
Prince of Darkness (1987)
You know by the title this movie involves the devil. But it's done in a rather different way than you expect. Donald Pleasance who played Dr. Loomis in a few Halloween movies plays a priest. Personally I felt he was perfect for the role. He also one of the actors within the original James Bond movies to play Blofeld. This priest gets in contact with a professor.
Who agrees to help that convinced his class to assist. Obviously being the devil arriving on Earth apocalypse scenario. You know crazy things going to happen. A lot of people acting weird staying close by the building. I was surprised by Victor Wong's performance in this. There's a couple movies he's famous for.
He previously was in another classic John Carpenter movie, Big Trouble in Little China. He also was in the original Tremors as Walter Chang. Some might remember him for 3 Ninjas series. This movie from what I seen of movies he's in. One of the best movies I seen. There's also a love story thrown into this. Thankfully it's not forced in.
This is a slower pace horror movie. Heavily playing on suspense to a degree. You always have a feeling something bad going to happen. A lot of people trying to figure what's about to happen. One of them gets marked that plays a role later in the movie. I will say the disturbing scenes do stick with you. There's a scene a dead guy delivers a message before breaking down.
His body also covered in beetles it's difficult to watch for some. I just expect more of this in the movie. The possessed either kills or attempts to get others possessed by spitting into their mouths. It's more like hosing down their throats. Which should be a clue what to expect from the devil. In this movie, the devil actually in liquid form.
Eventually the devil finally claims his vessel aka that marked person's body. Originally I thought she was going to give birth to the anti-christ nope. The dead doesn't stay dead during all this madness either. I won't spoil the ending but man it left me unsure about stuff. Somehow it's fitting for this movie. A lot of rememberable characters.
It's way better than End of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Which was a similar concept movie done vastly differently. This is more of Carpenter's typical style of horror. You know the original Halloween style. Where it's a slow pacing horror movie that eventually picks up right at the ending. Not to mention the story telling is amazing as well.
This often gets overlooked among his other movies. I felt you should give this one a try. It's an unique take on the concept. I actually seen stuff I can't say I seen before. The overall acting was truly amazing stuff. Prince of Darkness just simply works in so many ways. I confess it's not my favorite of the trilogy. I will say this though there's some good special effects.
Parts of this is somewhat similar to The Thing. I know I gotta clarify what I meant by that. We don't need an angry mob coming in here with flaming torches lol. Both involves groups that are being targeted. They won't always know who isn't among em until it's too late. The Thing has shape shifting aliens that plays perfectly into paranoia.
Some members of this group becomes possessed. They act very strange almost unhuman like. Not quite animals but more of people that's insane. At the same time, none of the actual traits of insanity you expect to see. They won't hesitate things people out. Especially the group waiting outside for em. Thankfully they move somewhat slow not quite classic zombies slow.
The lore is surprisingly deep here. They do reveal the church kept the secret about the devil hidden. If they had chosen the other option things could've gotten ugly at a faster rate. Some might say they were cowards. But again they didn't want one wrong move then that's the end of humanity. In a way it makes sense why they chosen to kept such a secret hidden for so long.
In The Mouth of Madness (1995)
In my opinion the weirdest of the three movies by far. I know some might be wondering Prince of Darkness had the devil. How can you get weirder than that? Well Carpenter found a rather unexpected way to do just that. John Trent played by Sam Neill who also played Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park series.
Trent is an insurance inspector that's gets tasked to locating a missing horror book author. Already parts of this reminds me of several movies. Secret Window being the one that comes to mind the most. Trent discovers a bizarre method to possibly locate the author. He goes to a town with Sutter's editor to investigate.
The movie doesn't hide something wrong from the start. It heavily plays on mind trickery if you're into that stuff. Some amazing special effects for it's time. The main antagonist is the horror author himself. Sutter Cane is obviously inspired by H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. A fact the movie kept throwing into our faces right up to the ending.
It's kinda difficult to review this movie more without spoilers. To sum up everything Cane's writing started to alter reality to a degree. A lot of fictional stuff he created showed up in the world including people. The town Trent went to go investigate was another creation of his. Trent himself is later revealed to be in the same boat.
What an ambitious take on things right? The main protagonist created by the main antagonist. Just not the way you were expecting though. If you haven't guess the apocalypse theme of the movie yet. This author's writing cause chaos around the world. The most meme part of the movie is the ending. Several aspects led to it being the most meme Carpenter movie to date.
Personally I don't think it's a bad movie. It's just one of those movies either you love it or you don't. A mixed reception film you could enjoy or avoid altogether depending on things. This really felt like a story worthy of H. P. Lovecraft's legacy. You will notice a lot of stuff repeats as well. After a while watching this you start to wonder what's going on?
They do explain how Trent gotten committed to an asylum. To a degree it's like Prince of Darkness where death becomes questionable. We actually see one character die twice in two different ways. Trent does go into madness as the movie goes on. The title of the movie so happens to be a title of a horror novel Cane written.
Sutter Cane played Jurgen Prochnow who also played Judge Griffin in Judge Dredd as well as General Ivan Radek in Air Force One respectively. He truly delivered an amazing performance here. Parts of this movie also heavily reminded me of The Dark Half by Stephen King. For those not familiar with that story.
The author had a deceased twin brother. Out of no where the supernatural happens after the author killed off his most famous protagonist character. The character somehow came into the real world possessing the author's twin brother corpse. He planned to force the author to change his fate to live again.
It's also like Secret Window because this writer suddenly gets confronted by another writer. Accusing him of stealing his story leading to stuff happening. Eventually the writer discovers the two writers are two personalities within one person. Stephen King written some stories somewhat similar to this. King even directly appears in one of the Dark Tower books as well.
This movie makes you question things. What is real as well as these loops you kept noticing among other things. It felt like a huge insanity test fitting for the movie. In The Mouth of Madness is among the weirdest Carpenter movies I ever seen. Which is speaking volumes to Big Trouble in Little China. I would say at least give this Carpenter movie a try to see where it fits with you.
Ranking John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy
3. Prince of Darkness
2. In The Mouth of Madness
1. The Thing
Isn't that much of a surprise I still felt The Thing the best among of em. Not only I personally considered it the greatest horror movie remake I ever seen!!! It's still among the very best horror movies I ever seen as well. Truly amazing in every possible way. In The Mouth of Madness was slightly more of my thing horror movie over Prince of Darkness.
Usually I'm not crazy for psychical horror movies. Somehow this one quickly won me over. It was rather creative with the concept. Obviously ambitious in it's own right. Carpenter should be deeply proud of all three horror movies. He delivered one of the greatest horror movie trilogies I ever gotten into.
Each movie within that trilogy brought major stuff into the group. By In The Mouth of Madness you really couldn't ask for more. All these movies covers so much it's mind blowing. A near perfect trilogy of movies. Even labeling any of them the worst. The worst among em is still a great movie. All of them brings such unique perspective of the apocalypse.
There's no question the lineup is perfect to watch close to or on Halloween. You're guarantee for one hell of a ride. Carpenter delivered awesomeness in ways you couldn't imagine. This is giving me more reasons to respect the director. I highly recommend John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy. You simply aren't living until you watch all three of these movies.
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