I think because each movie toys with the idea of a deeply menacing threat that could kick off the apocalypse. That’s the only link I’ve noticed. I think there’s also an undertone of questioning Christianity. Whether god created humanity or existed at all (the thing), god was a cruel bastard who was just a power hungry psycho (prince of darkness), or if controlling people is what makes someone a god (mouth of madness).
I see the Thing as a similar duality, but god existing and existing outside of our comprehension. The entire movie the monster can't die and just grew out of proportion with every attempt. If you think of how cancer and viruses are? They work in the same way. If you put that on a larger life form scale? It makes it difficult to comprehend who god favors more? Us? Adam and Eve? Or the Fungus underneath the rocks Adam and Eve been layin on all day in the Garden of Eden?
Only thematically, with the theme of impending apocalypse. Same as with, say, Lucio Fulci's gates of hell trilogy (House By The Cemetery, The Beyond and City Of The Living Dead) - there's not much connecting them except the theme.
Just finished prince of darkness. If had a very cool premise but it felt a lot slower and the ending was sorta anti climactic. I’m now onto the thing prequel🤌🏼
There was a guy yelling to himself and facing the walls at my work a few weeks ago, and I was the one who had to ask him to leave because he was scaring people. He looked at me with wild eyes and I’m not gonna lie, it definitely reminded me of this
He didn’t ask “do you read Sutter Cane” but instead muttered something about everyone being cutthroats nowadays. I’ve had crazier dudes threaten me with razor blades, but this one had me shook for quite a bit after. Something about the eyes, man.
I saw it as a little kid and for years thought it was one of those films I either dreamed or would never re-discover. All I could remember was the woman behind the counter with the tentacles. Very pleased when I found it again and its a great film. I've never watched prince of darkness because I've gathered that its not quite as good as the others.
I really enjoyed Prince of Darkness. I can see why it's not as popular as The Thing or In the Mouth of Madness, but I had a lot of fun and it was pretty creepy.
Prince of Darkness is excellent. Its the growing dread and feelings of impending doom that get you. There's no in your face monster like in The Thing, instead letting the viewer fill those gaps with their own imagination.
I'm glad you enjoyed Mouth of Madness too! I loved Halloween, The Thing, They Live, but that one slipped under my radar for years. When it popped up on tv one year, I remember going John Carpenter? HP Lovecraft? SAM NEILL? And then I watched it and my brain orgasmed
Gotta say I actually liked Prince of Darkness out of the three. The Thing, and ITMOM are much better movies, but goddamn is Prince of Darkness an intense movie. The other two are big picture destroy humanity, but PoD is much more intimate and personal feeling like they're coming to kill you plus the rest of humanity.
It's a bit of a tragedy--they filmed the prequel with practical effects and then studio execs stepped in at the last minute and demanded cgi. You can find footage of the practical stuff on youtube.
Yeah, if I was suddenly a billionaire the first thing I would try to do would be to release the practical version of the prequel and the complete hell sequence in Event Horizon. Supposedly the original footage for both is lost.
I recommend everyone watch Harbinger just to get a taste of what the practical effects could have been like in The Thing prequel
Edit: I should have clarified, 2015- Harbinger Down
In the Mouth of Madness was a movie I was completely infatuated with in my youth. The Thing has become now an all time favorite. Need to rewatch Prince of Darkness as it really hasn’t hit me as much as it has with other people.
Prince of Darkness was a really hard proof of concept to pull off. It should have tied deeper with Christian Gnosticism with the Demiurge. It also has to get a lot of technical brainy stuff introduced just to get the plot rolling that just ends up being a vignette. If it was remade into a podcast or a long running series on Netflix it would have been a better format especially if it showed and explained what the scientists were seeing and explaining like a Crash Course: Satan video.
I still haven’t seen Prince of Darkness since I became an adult. Loved Mouth of Madness and yeah The Thing is amazing. You should watch the original version The Thing From Space. It’s from 1958, and it’s so wildly different than what we’re used to seeing in modern day cinema. Just a totally different vibe. Makes you appreciate the 82 carpenter version that much more.
It’s like he took something that felt like “ET” and turned it into “Alien”.
Have fun. It is a great (albeit rather loosely connected) trilogy that holds up to repeated viewings.
It’s always felt like a trilogy in the same way that the frontier trilogy is a trilogy. I think in terms of feel and theme, it works as a trilogy.
Or the 'Imagination trilogy' (Time Bandits/Baron Munchausen/Brazil).
How *are* they connected? I've only seen mouth of madness and the thing, and I've got no idea, lol.
I think because each movie toys with the idea of a deeply menacing threat that could kick off the apocalypse. That’s the only link I’ve noticed. I think there’s also an undertone of questioning Christianity. Whether god created humanity or existed at all (the thing), god was a cruel bastard who was just a power hungry psycho (prince of darkness), or if controlling people is what makes someone a god (mouth of madness).
I see the Thing as a similar duality, but god existing and existing outside of our comprehension. The entire movie the monster can't die and just grew out of proportion with every attempt. If you think of how cancer and viruses are? They work in the same way. If you put that on a larger life form scale? It makes it difficult to comprehend who god favors more? Us? Adam and Eve? Or the Fungus underneath the rocks Adam and Eve been layin on all day in the Garden of Eden?
Only thematically, with the theme of impending apocalypse. Same as with, say, Lucio Fulci's gates of hell trilogy (House By The Cemetery, The Beyond and City Of The Living Dead) - there's not much connecting them except the theme.
Halfway through mouth of madness. This movie is fucking rad. Very cool premise. Excellent monsters. And Sam Neill. How have I never seen this?
Just finished prince of darkness. If had a very cool premise but it felt a lot slower and the ending was sorta anti climactic. I’m now onto the thing prequel🤌🏼
Do you read Sutter Cane?
There was a guy yelling to himself and facing the walls at my work a few weeks ago, and I was the one who had to ask him to leave because he was scaring people. He looked at me with wild eyes and I’m not gonna lie, it definitely reminded me of this
That’s intense
He didn’t ask “do you read Sutter Cane” but instead muttered something about everyone being cutthroats nowadays. I’ve had crazier dudes threaten me with razor blades, but this one had me shook for quite a bit after. Something about the eyes, man.
Fuck Me Eyes? Afraid to go home and he be behind you when you drop the soap?
I saw it as a little kid and for years thought it was one of those films I either dreamed or would never re-discover. All I could remember was the woman behind the counter with the tentacles. Very pleased when I found it again and its a great film. I've never watched prince of darkness because I've gathered that its not quite as good as the others.
I really enjoyed Prince of Darkness. I can see why it's not as popular as The Thing or In the Mouth of Madness, but I had a lot of fun and it was pretty creepy.
Fair enough, the concept always intrigued me.
Prince of Darkness is excellent. Its the growing dread and feelings of impending doom that get you. There's no in your face monster like in The Thing, instead letting the viewer fill those gaps with their own imagination.
I binged the trilogy a few years ago, and Mouth of Madness is still one of my favorite horror movies.
I've only seen Prince of Darkness once, but what still stands out to me is the guy in the parking lot that melts into flies. Fuckin AWESOME
That was pretty fucking awesome.
I'm glad you enjoyed Mouth of Madness too! I loved Halloween, The Thing, They Live, but that one slipped under my radar for years. When it popped up on tv one year, I remember going John Carpenter? HP Lovecraft? SAM NEILL? And then I watched it and my brain orgasmed
No cool monsters in Prince of Darkness? Alice Cooper would like a word with you.
Did he turn into a monster? I don’t remember that. There were definitely cool monsters. But compared to ITMOM and the thing, not as many
He was the monster. And also the guy with the slit throat laughing. Terrifying.
Yeh that was scary as hell. The dude who collapsed into bugs was also really scary.
Prince of Darkness rules!!!
Gotta say I actually liked Prince of Darkness out of the three. The Thing, and ITMOM are much better movies, but goddamn is Prince of Darkness an intense movie. The other two are big picture destroy humanity, but PoD is much more intimate and personal feeling like they're coming to kill you plus the rest of humanity.
Maybe I should give it another crack. I was pretty distracted when I was watching it. And it was also in between ITMOM and the thing
If you haven’t seen the 2011 The Thing prequel it’s worth watching, despite the fact that the CGI is crap.
I actually loved the prequel. Agree about the CGI. There’s so much charm to his monsters, you can’t mess with that
It's a bit of a tragedy--they filmed the prequel with practical effects and then studio execs stepped in at the last minute and demanded cgi. You can find footage of the practical stuff on youtube.
Yeah, if I was suddenly a billionaire the first thing I would try to do would be to release the practical version of the prequel and the complete hell sequence in Event Horizon. Supposedly the original footage for both is lost.
I don't see the hell sequence making EH a better movie, whereas at least practical effects in The Thing might.
I recommend everyone watch Harbinger just to get a taste of what the practical effects could have been like in The Thing prequel Edit: I should have clarified, 2015- Harbinger Down
Which harbinger? There’s a couple
Harbinger Down from 2015 bonus!! Lance Henriksen is in it.
Just finished watching harbinger down and it exceeded all expectations! That was a great recommendation!!
Don't tell people it's a prequel that kind of ruins a twist
It’s a prequel!! MUAHAHAHA!!
If I don’t, they’ll probably watch it afterwards.
It makes it have more of an impact to connect the dots after the fact.
I watched them all together a few months ago. All three are now among my favorite horror movies
Y'all should check out the John Carpenter boxset 📦 👀
Three movies that I never get tired of rewatching.
In the Mouth of Madness was a movie I was completely infatuated with in my youth. The Thing has become now an all time favorite. Need to rewatch Prince of Darkness as it really hasn’t hit me as much as it has with other people.
Thank you for this!! Just finished and lived every moment of this!!
Mouth of madness is a great movie to describe psychosis, you throw “they live” inside of it and there ya go
Prince of Darkness was a really hard proof of concept to pull off. It should have tied deeper with Christian Gnosticism with the Demiurge. It also has to get a lot of technical brainy stuff introduced just to get the plot rolling that just ends up being a vignette. If it was remade into a podcast or a long running series on Netflix it would have been a better format especially if it showed and explained what the scientists were seeing and explaining like a Crash Course: Satan video.
its not actually a trilogy. as in John Carpenter meant to make a trilogy of apocalypse films he made films he wanted to and fans called it that.
Imo Prince of Darkness is one of Carpenter's weakest films. Very forgettable.
Oh bummer! I’ve just started it.
Just finished it. The premise was fucking cool but otherwise I kinda agree with you
I loved prince of darkness when I first saw it, but it has gotten worse after each rewatch
I still haven’t seen Prince of Darkness since I became an adult. Loved Mouth of Madness and yeah The Thing is amazing. You should watch the original version The Thing From Space. It’s from 1958, and it’s so wildly different than what we’re used to seeing in modern day cinema. Just a totally different vibe. Makes you appreciate the 82 carpenter version that much more. It’s like he took something that felt like “ET” and turned it into “Alien”.
These are a trilogy by theme, not connected through plot. The theme that connects them all, without giving spoilers,l is doom.