John Carpenter had just come off of Big Trouble in Little China which was a huge box office bomb. Like many of his films in the 80s, they were not appreciated until home video release. Carpenter himself has stated time and time again his displeasure with big studio pictures and how much studios interfere with his projects. He's always been a rebel filmmaker doing whatever the hell he wants. Finally he got a three picture deal with Alive Films to deliver films under a three million dollar budget with complete creative control. Carpenter was always one to go against the norm and one of the things that displeased him in current Hollywood was the bland routine ideas in horror. Constant retellings of the same formula of horror but with different characters. He wanted to create a new mythos and took his ideas of religion and combined them with his newfound love of theoretical physics. This birthed a film that gives us the basic science of Satan. 
A priest dies on the morning of his meeting with the arch bishop and with his body lies a journal of his life and a key to a secret as old as the church. Father Loomis who was a friend of the Priest discovers the key and journal unlocking the door within the church that holds the secret. What he discovers is beyond anything he could comprehend alone. He asks for the aid of Professor Birack who teaches theoretical physics at the local college who agrees to study what Father Loomis has discovered with the aid of his students and other professionals in the school. A team is assembled and introduced to a canister which contains a swirling green mass in the basement of the church. The basement is filled with lit candles and next to the container is a book that contains many languages telling the story of the liquid. Over a two day period a linguist translates the text and the container is carbon dated giving them strange new information about what we thought was religion which seems to be a cover up for the true evil that parallels our world through the ideas of anti matter. This evil controls hordes of minions which surround the church in the guise of the homeless, it infects members of the group exposed to the swirling green liquid as it takes shape forming our idea of Satan whom is the son of the true evil that wishes to cross into our world, the Anti God. 
This film is pure science fiction at its finest with an ensemble cast that comes together to piece the mysteries of the Anti God very slowly but very mysteriously and eerily. This is probably the closest film in tone to the original Halloween, focusing on slow burn and lingering on tension building shots that let you take in the situation. The funniest thing about that comparison is at one point this was to be the fourth Halloween film, back when Carpenter wanted the Halloween franchise to be an Anthology. It has one of the longest opening credits sequences in any Carpenter film, setting up the characters in their daily lives while Carpenter's score evokes feelings of the horrors to come into their lives all set to the discoveries of Donald Pleasance as Father Loomis, obviously a throwback to Pleasance's character in Halloween. While very much like Halloween most of the film is a slow build of dread accompanied by Carpenter score, but once the third act hits and the film's version of Satan appears it descends into a siege film akin to Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 but with a higher level of blood. 
The effects in the film harken back to the simplicity of Carpenter's beginnings but even with how cheaply they are done they are still more effective than even some of today's effects. Simple shots of shooting something upside down to make the green swirl appear to be falling to the ceiling or shooting something in reverse to make it seem like the swirl is entering a body look so much better than using costly CGI. One of my favorite effects which is such great slight of hand was Father Loomis cuts off the arm of the Satan character and it grows back in a quick trick of the camera, but is so effective. The funniest thing about the FX work in this movie is it is done by Robert Grasmere who also plays one of the scientists in the film and dismisses the whole ideas of their discoveries. The irony being the man whose character calls all of their discoveries on evil fake and unreal is the one killing off people in fantastical ways to the point of his own fantastical death as his body is disintegrated into a pile of insects! 
Alice Cooper has to be discussed. Shep Gordon who had been Alice's manager for many years also produced films including John Carpenter's They Live. Shep managed to get Alice to write a song for the film, which one of the characters can be heard listening to, and in exchange Alice simply wished to visit the set and check out some of the FX and filming being a man whom was famous for his own stage FX. While on set Carpenter realized there was no real leader to the army of homeless killers in the film and on the spot made up Alice as their leader on the condition that Alice bring his impaling act into the movie. This of course brings us one of the most famous scenes from the film where Alice, designed and brought his own prop, impaling one of the scientists on a bicycle! 
You honestly can't get this low budget family made team effort of a horror film anymore. This ensemble is a best of cast for Carpenter films bringing in Victor Wong and Dennis Dunn from Big Trouble in Little China, Donald Pleasance who had last worked with Carpenter on Escape From New York and brought in long time acting collaborator Peter Jason whom worked with Carpenter on all his subsequent films. Each actor was given a chance to bring their own interpretations to their characters from Carpenter's script and while at times the dialogue can be a little clunky, the actors all make it work on their own levels. The true champion of the script is Carpenter's idea of the Anti God turning faith into a science that we can't completely understand much like theoretical physics. This idea was never attempted before and to my knowledge never thought about since making this film very unique and untouchable in its story and furthered by Carpenter's mastery in its execution. Carpenter set out to make a low budget effective movie and that's honestly where he really shines as a filmmaker making the impossible so simple to do and that simplicity combined with his score makes this a horror everlasting.
27 Days til' Halloween! Halloween!
27 Days til Halloween! Silver Shamrock!
