John Carpenter's Films - Ranked From Worst To Best

8. Prince Of Darkness (1987)

Pros: Surrealist imagery. Cool Alice Cooper cameo. 'Gotcha' scare ending

Cons: Goofy premise. Lack of character development. Seemingly set to remain underrated

Overall: The middle film in Carpenter's unofficial 'apocalypse trilogy' (with The Thing and In the Mouth of Madness), Prince of Darkness was Carpenter's first independently made film for six years. Unhappy working with the big studios who constantly interfered in his work, Carpenter signed on for this $3 million movie under the proviso that he retain complete creative control.

The resulting film was an effective little chiller, which has somehow managed to fall by the wayside. It is one off the least-celebrated of Carpenter's eighties films which is a shame, because it's much better than the critics of the time would have you believe. Carpenter uses wide angle lenses and anamorphic widescreen photography to great effect and the film has some very genuinely creepy moments (particularly the cliffhanger ending).