AT THE DEVIL’S DOOR: Prince of Darkness (1987) + The Sentinel (1977)

“Prince of Darkness is a real tour de force.” — Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune

“[The Sentinel is] a disturbing, sick, often campy and occasionally unspeakably horrifying theological mystery ripe with cheap, visceral thrills.” — Chris Alexander

PRINCE OF DARKNESS (dir. John Carpenter, 1987)

John Carpenter’s apocalyptic nightmare applies his signature “social unit under siege” template to one of the most ambitious premises of his career. When a group of scientists and graduate students gathers at a deserted Los Angeles church to investigate a mysterious cylinder hidden beneath its basement, they uncover evidence suggesting that science, religion, and the nature of evil itself may be far stranger than anyone imagined. Blending cosmic horror, end-times dread, and unsettling dream imagery, Prince of Darkness reframes Satan not as a mythological figure but as a force that can be studied, measured, and ultimately unleashed. Drawing equally from Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass serials, Italian horror, and the surrealism of Jean Cocteau, Carpenter crafts a relentlessly doomy vision of a universe governed by inexorable laws and terrifying truths. Bleak, visionary, and perhaps the director’s scariest film, it plays like a warning transmitted from a future where salvation has already failed.

Format: 16mm

Print Note: Prince of Darkness will be projected in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio on a gorgeous low-fade 16mm print. Print courtesy of Exhumed Films.

THE SENTINEL (dir. Michael Winner, 1977)

Among the strangest studio horror films of the 1970s, bad-taste auteur Michael Winner’s The Sentinel refracts Catholic guilt, apocalyptic theology, and crass exploitation through the lingering influence of Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant. When troubled fashion model Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) moves into a Brooklyn brownstone occupied by an increasingly bizarre collection of tenants, she discovers that the building stands at the threshold of Hell itself. Reviled by Robin Wood as “the worst—most offensive and repressive—horror film of the ’70s,” Winner’s outrageous shocker piles on demonic visions, grotesque imagery, and end-of-days hysteria with reckless abandon. Boasting one of the most improbable casts ever assembled for a horror movie, including Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, and John Carradine, The Sentinel also somehow finds room for the surreal spectacle of a birthday party for Meredith’s malevolently adorable cat. Equal parts prestige horror and exploitation carnival, The Sentinel is the sort of movie they simply don’t make anymore…and maybe that’s a good thing.

Format: 16mm

Print Note: The Sentinel will be projected on a rare Eastman print, still boasting nice color with some fade. Print courtesy of Dan Santelli.

SCHEDULE

Introduction / Trailers: 7:30 PM

Prince of Darkness (1987): 7:45 PM

Intermission (15 minutes): 9:30 PM

The Sentinel (1977): 9:45 PM

End of Show: 11:20 PM

TICKETS

Adults: $20

Senior/Student/Military/Veteran: $18

Members: $16

Designer/Director/Visionary Members: Free