Prince of Darkness is a 1987 American supernatural horror film, written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter, and starring Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong, Jameson Parker, and Lisa Blount.

Centuries ago, in the Middle East, The Brotherhood of Sleep—a secret order of the Catholic church—recover a large cylinder of swirling green liquid.

A Catholic priest recovers a key from his possessions, which leads him to the cylinder’s hiding place beneath Saint Goddard monastery.

Birack invites his best students to assist—wise-cracking Walter Fong, demure Kelly, the highly-strung Susan Cabot, laid-back Mullins, and lovers Brian Marsh and Catherine Danforth—and fellow scientists Calder, Lisa, Etchinson, Lomax, Wyndham, and Dr. Paul Leahy.

The priest tells Birack that he can sense the growing influence of the liquid, and needs him to scientifically evidence its true nature to the wider populace as he fears it will soon escape.

Lisa's translations, meanwhile, claim that the cylinder contains Satan, who was buried by his father, an ancient god who was banished to the dark side.

The possessed bring the cylinder to a sleeping Kelly, where the remaining liquid forces itself into her body, transforming her into the physical vessel of Satan: a gruesomely disfigured being, with powers of telekinesis and regeneration.

The possessed attack the survivors, while Satan locates a larger mirror and reaches through, grasping the Anti-God's large, clawed hand.

[7] The song Cooper wrote for the film, also titled "Prince of Darkness", can be heard briefly in the same scene playing through Etchinson's headphones.

In an interview with Michael Doyle in the November 2012 issue of Rue Morgue, John Carpenter revealed how he created the eerie dream sequences in Prince of Darkness that feature a shadowy figure emerging from a church doorway.

Carpenter first shot the action of the figure (played by actor Jessie Ferguson) with a video camera and then "re-photographed it on a television set" in order to give the image a peculiar, dislocated feeling that also appeared as if it was being filmed live.

Its consensus reads, "Prince of Darkness has a handful of chillingly clever ideas, but they aren't enough to put John Carpenter's return to horror at the same level as his classic earlier outings.

"[13] Nigel Floyd in Time Out gave a positive review of the film, calling Prince of Darkness "engrossing" and adding "the claustrophobic terror generated by fluid camerawork and striking angles" leads "to a heart-racing climax".

[16] The dream sequence narrations have been sampled by a variety of musicians and producers over the years, including DJ Shadow on his debut Endtroducing..... LP and Marilyn Manson on the track "Down in the Park" from his "Lunchbox" CD single.