Score of the week

Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, 1987)

I've made this one score of the week because I received in the mail today the new 2 disc edition of the soundtrack album. The film was the first cab off the rank in John Carpenter's deal with Alive Films, in which he was given small budgets ($3m) and complete creative control. It didn't get a release here until the Valhalla cinema in Westgarth ran a brief season in late 1988, so we got to see it after the second film Carpenter made for Alive Films - They Live (1988) - had come and gone. I must mention that the Valhalla was also responsible for bringing films such as Miracle Mile, Akira, and Koyaanisqatsi to Australian screens, for which I will be forever grateful.

Anyway, I was bitterly disappointed when I finally got to see Prince of Darkness. Of course, I was eighteen years old and took everything so god-damn seriously back then. The film has aged well for me - it's a John Carpenter film through and through, with slick production values belying the small budget. Apart fom the el-cheapo make-up effects, anyway - but anything was going to be a step down from previous (and more costly) vfx collaborators such as Rob Bottin and Richard Edlund.

As always Carpenter's strong visual style is an asset. Shooting in anamorphic panavision as usual but without his regular cinematographer Dean Cundey, Carpenter's penchant for prowling steadicam and frames dominated by blackness is well realised by his new DP Gary B. Kibbe. And Carpenter's collaboration with co-composer Alan Howarth was working well, the two of them expanding upon the minimalist style Carpenter had employed in his pre-Howarth scores.

The film, to be sure, is second (maybe even third) rate Carpenter, but I'd watch third rate John Carpenter over first rate Ron Howard any day of the week. And I've come to appreciate it more after seeking out some of the earlier works it is influenced by - particularly the extraordinary 1972 telemovie The Stone Tape. Prince of Darkness is short on character, emotion, or plot (despite being full of terrific ideas), and long on atmosphere.

A lot of this atmosphere comes from the score. It is not musically complex, but that was not the mode Carpenter and Howarth worked in. Instead, they were always using state of the art synths and samplers to create their own unique sound, more often than not consisting of sustained string lines and driving percussion. It was a style that was adapted to the bluesy rhythms of They Live or the Eastern flavour of Big Trouble in Little China but was most effective when used in straighter action (Escape From New York) or horror (Christine) contexts. Prince of Darkness is full of choir samples and howling electric winds, and is effective both in the film and as a listening experience, especially if you have it on whilst reading some Lovecraft by candlelight.

The new 2 disc album contains the complete score followed - as is becoming common with new expanded editions of scores - by a presentation of the original album which was released along with the film. It's a good listen, but only worth the re-purchase if you're a hardcore Carpenter fan. I'm sure you've picked up by now that I'm a pretty hardcore fan. For others, the old album is a fine representation of the score and there's no major thematic material or action set pieces that aren't on there. I do enjoy having the music unfold over a longer running time, though, and those vocal snippets from the film which open both discs are wonderfully creepy.