Monthly Archives: January 2021

Prince of Darkness (1987) | John Carpenter



The diary of a reclusive priest named Father Carlton reveals a centuries-old secret sect in the Church called the Brotherhood of Sleep.  Carlton was on the verge of revealing their existence to the Archbishop that Brotherhood is guarding an ancient cylinder filled green fluid hidden in the basement of an abandoned 16th Century-built chapel in Los Angeles. The dormant entity inside the cylinder has been awakened by the force of a distant supernova that exploded long ago, a chaotic chain reaction disrupting order on Earth.

Another priest discovers the diary and key to the basement, encountering the cylinder and a mysterious book written in ancient languages containing mathematical and physics references. The priest contacts his former TV debate sparring partner, advanced physics professor Howard Birack, to decipher what it all means. Birack brings a research team of graduate students to investigate, who collectively experience tachyon transmissions in their dreams from the future warning about the re-emergence of an ancient evil.

The book reveals the truth: Jesus was a descendant of a human-like extraterrestrial race killed for delivering scientific warnings that no one understood. His disciples hid these warnings until such a time when science could catch up and decode the truth. The church lied publicly, telling followers that evil lies within them and could be controlled through faith.

Meanwhile, the Prince of Darkness, aka the Devil, has remained dormant in the cylinder there for two-thousand years, placed there by his father, the Anti-God. The anti-God once roamed the Earth before humankind’s existence but now resides within subatomic antimatter awaiting a time for his son to reemerge to help him cross from the mirror dimension into the material world.

Something’s growing in the prebiotic fluid, leaking up toward the ceiling, squirting into the mouths of the students, using psychokinetic energy to turn them evil. Satan’s searching for a host to bring himself into the world to help the father escape.

John Carpenter writes and directs.


The Stuff (1985) | Larry Cohen



Larry Cohen concocts this comedic horror-thriller involving an ex-FBI agent turned industrial spy hired by a desperate ice cream industry, trying to steal the secret formula from a corporation pushing a newly marketed yogurt-like food substance called The Stuff. He discovers the substance, which is found bubbling up from seemingly unlimited deposits underground, is deadly and humanity hangs in the balance. The Stuff is a delicious, no-calorie dessert that is highly addictive to all who eat it. So addictive that all people want to do it continue eating it, while the living parasite inside controls their minds as it eats them from the inside until it reproduces and the human host expires. Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Scott Bloom, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino, Danny Aiello appear.


The Blob (1988) | Chuck Russell



The Blob suddenly appears after crashlanding in a rural area outside of the fictional ski resort town of Arborville, CA. It attaches itself to the hand of a vagrant, Star high school wide receiver Paul Taylor (Donovan Leitch) and his cheerleader crush Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith) are out on their first date when they come across the man, taking him to the hospital, along with the town’s juvenile delinquent, Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon), who they think is responsible. They soon discover that the blob has eaten the man alive, and is growing larger. As it heads to town to feed the Blob is revealed to be a runaway bio-weapon experiment invented by the US military. Secret government operatives quarantine the town. They want the Blob back alive; the town’s residents are expendable. It’s up to the teens to save the day. Chuck Russell directs from a script written by Russell and Frank Darabont.


The Thing (1982) | John Carpenter



The story starts out in Antarctica, where a group of scientists is bunkered until one day they are disturbed by the sounds of gunshots coming from a Norwegian helicopter, apparently trying to kill a runaway dog.  They miss their quarry, and the Norwegians end up getting offed, with no explanation as to what their problem is.  Fearing more violence, the American crew travels to the Norwegian camp, only to find some very odd occurrences, including a mangled humanoid body that has normal internal organs.  Then, the dog reveals that it is not really a dog, but some sort of alien organism with the power to mimic other life-forms and dominate until it takes over everything around it.  The men of the camp are its next intended victims, and soon, no one can trust the others. Kurt Russell, Keith David, and Wilford Brimley appear. Directed by John Carpenter.