Existential dread has arrived!  And, this time, in 4K!

Writer/Director John Carpenter must really be a miracle worker.  He’s got some serious mojo working in his favor.  Or maybe he’s simply a smarter filmmaker than most give him credit for.

Other than the late great Howard Hawks, I can think of no other director whose films get better (and better reviewed) the older they get.  Hell, even what we now consider a classic like Halloween was panned in its original run.  The Thing was poorly reviewed and its influence on Hollyweird remains.  Even Vampires and Ghosts of Mars seem to be gaining momentum as cult classics.  Can the poorly received The Ward be too far behind?

This phenomenon happens with Carpenter and his style of direction time and time again; so much so that I find myself scratching my head and wondering if Carpenter (donning some sort of future-friendly sunglasses) makes his films for horror hounds and freaks of Tomorrow.  With each new re-release – especially as evident here from Shout! Factory’s release of John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness – whatever critics found faulty then seems relatively forward-thinking today.

Carpenter’s quasi-independent thriller is a rather dense and complex affair.  The more you comprehend how the film is structured and shot, well, the more terrifying it actually becomes.  This is some seriously sharp filmmaking that stumped average audiences when it was originally released in 1987.  Why?  Because we are dealing with Satan himself – as an extraterrestrial in liquid form no less – and a heavy amount of some serious quantum physics.

With the Catholic Church as a target, Carpenter – writing as Martin Quatermass (in reference to the British film and television writer Nigel Kneale and the famous fictional scientist he created, Professor Bernard Quatermass) – presents a new and secret sect who holds the key to a seven million year old canister of green-glowing Evil.  It’s located in the basement of a rundown Church in a poverty-stricken part of Los Angeles called Saint Godard's.   A Catholic priest (Donald Pleasence) and Professor Birack (Victor Wong) team up to deal with this growing threat.  Co-starring Jameson Parker, Lisa Blount, and Alice Cooper, Prince of Darkness reveals the truth of faith after a long and horrifying night of sheer liquid terror as the Evil spreads from victim to victim.

There are two things which must be addressed in order for the effectiveness of the movie to be fully appreciated.  One is that in 1987 the issue of shopping cart homelessness and the attention the media was giving it was at an all-time high – hence the poverty-stricken surroundings of the movie and the stranger homeless people gathering in the street gawking at the assembled team; they are the devil’s first wave of followers.  Also, it was the era of AIDS.  Notice the attention given to the spread of the Evil as it slithers and slathers from host to host.  Obviously, there’s the issue of the spread of a disease at the center of its heart.

The fact of the matter is that there’s a lot of homegrown paranoia grubbing about in Prince of Darkness.  Carpenter is in complete control and he tackles some human issues, combining them with theories on matter and anti-matter while relating it all to questions about human faith.  The imagery is brutal and surrealistic and, ultimately, worth the journey into the subconscious mind in the battle of Good and Evil.

To quote Pleasence, “the secret can no longer be kept” about this film:  John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness deserves its recognition as a good and different breed of horror.  Sometimes cerebral horror can be most … disturbing.

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Amazon Exclusive Steelbook Edition

Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray - August 12, 2025
Screen Formats: 2.35:1
Subtitles: English SDH 
Video: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos; English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 4K Ultra HD; Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A

Master of horror John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) directs this terrifying battle between mankind and the ultimate evil. A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open it, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all of humanity. As the liquid turns their co-workers into zombies, the remaining members realize they have released the most unspeakable horror of them all. Terror mounts as the team must fight to save the world from a devilish fury that has been contained for over seven million years.​

VIDEO

This 4K release is the 2021 remastered version, which means that it is the best the transfer has ever looked.  The crisp image is fully resolved with the lightest, most beautiful layer of grain and no detection of digital noise reduction whatsoever.  Blacks are deep and strong.  For a low-budget release in ’87, the mastering here is impeccable.  There is a fair amount of detail and not a speck of dirt to be found.  Simply put, this title has never looked better.

AUDIO

Did someone say sound design?  Because Prince of Darkness has it in spades thanks to takes to Carpenter's and co-composer Alan Howarth's unforgettable synth-based score, carrying the viewer from one scene to the next..  This release - brought to you in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos - is fully loaded when it comes to atmospherics and will definitely give your system a workout.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• Carpenter provides the commentary and – without a single doubt – this is a must-listen for fans of the genre, the movie, and Carpenter himself.  It is – in a word – golden.

Special Features:

With a great selection of supplemental features, this release is a must-own for even the most casual of Horror Hounds.  Alice Cooper and John Carpenter shine here in a new collection of interviews, shot just for this release.  Along with them are newly recorded interviews from Alan Howarth and Robert Grasmere.  Howarth tackles the famous score.  Grasmere talks effects.  We get a brand new episode of Horror’s Hallowed Ground which showcases the film’s locations as they appear now.  These are some strong supplementals.  Once again, Shout! Factory has outdone themselves.

• 2021 4K Restoration
• Presented in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
• Audio Commentary with Director John Carpenter
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Presented in Dolby Atmos
• Sympathy for the Devil: An Interview with Director John Carpenter
• Alice at the Apocalypse: An Interview with Alice Cooper
• The Messenger: An Interview with Actor/Special Visual Effects Supervisor Robert Grasmere
• Hell of Earth: A Look at the Film's Score – An Interview with Co-Composer Alan Howarth
• Horror's Hallowed Ground: A Look at the Film's Original Locations
• Alternate Opening from the TV Version
• Trailer and Radio Spots
• Still Gallery

	Movie
	Video
	Audio
	Extras
Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 107 mins
Director: Rob Reiner
Writer: William Goldman
Cast: James Caan; Kathy Bates; Richard Farnsworth
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Tagline: This Christmas there will be... Misery.
Memorable Movie Quote: "You want it? You want it? Eat it! Eat it till ya choke, you sick, twisted fuck!"
Theatrical Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: November 30, 1990
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: October 12, 2021.
Synopsis: After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.