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Prince of Darkness

Prince of Darkness
Film 3003: The Cinema of John Carpenter with introductions by Professor Sabrina Negri of C.U.'s Cinema Studies.
Maybe the director’s most underrated film, Prince of Darkness fashions something original from the hoary satanic panic setup. Carpenter’s go-to harbinger, Donald Pleasance, is the priest who summons a troupe of academics to monitor a giant canister of swirling green matter in the basement of a derelict Los Angeles church. The novelty is the scientific subtext with which Carpenter, writing as “Martin Quatermass”, infuses the story; the film occasionally gets bogged down raving about quantum physics and the uncertainty principle, but it all largely adds an intriguing alien sheen. It’s impressive how much Carpenter produces from so little: the absences and reappearances in the church’s hallways of another trademark ensemble; a creepy astral transmission unsurpassed until Ringu; Alice Cooper; a couple of mirrors. Close to a decade’s experience in horror pays off, with Carpenter working the audience with jump-scares and revolting demises like an old pro. But the true achievement is a sense of ecstatic entropy and corruption that seeps out of every pore. — Phil Hoad, The Guardian

Prince of Darkness

Wed March 13, 2019, 7:30 PM, Muenzinger Auditorium

USA, 1987, in English, Color, 102 min, 2.35 : 1 • official site

Director: John Carpenter, Screenplay: John Carpenter, Cast: Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Victor Wong, Jameson Parker, Dennis Dun

recommend

Tickets

10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission. $7 w/UCB student ID, $7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

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Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

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Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

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First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

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