1987’s Prince of Darkness is the second film in what some people have called John Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy”. The first was 1982’s The Thing while the third was 1995’s In the Mouth of Madness. Though each has no thematic relationship to the others, each is in ways a first look at the beginning of a way an apocalypse could happen, in a supernatural way. Prince of Darkness, though in no way the classic that The Thing has become, has grown a cult following in many ways.

A priest (played by Donald Pleasance) invites a renowned university scientist/professor to a nonfunctioning Roman Catholic church to investigate something within the basement. Very much intrigued, Professor Birack groups together a handful of graduate students and colleagues to set up camp within the church grounds to study this very bizarre object. Soon, his team begin to group together not just scientific facts but also the supernatural aspects that the priest seems so worried about.

Twenty-eight years later, has the film aged well? With its interesting plot points including quantum physics, humanity and religion having origins in outerspace, and mathematical computations forming into supposition, the film can be looked at in many ways, whether simply as a drive-in horror flick or a metaphysical theatrical play depends on the eye of the beholder. Dark Discussions takes a shot. Also author Patrick Lacey discusses the disc release of The Brood in a new Terror Tantrum.