John Carpenter’sPrince of Darknesswas an homage to the legendary sci-fi screenwriter Nigel Kneale - who then openly bashed the film.Prince of Darknesscame towards the end ofJohn Carpenter’s movierun of the 1980s, which yielded classics likeEscape from New YorkandThe Thing.
Carpenter’sPrince of Darknessis something of a spiritual sequeltoQuatermass and the Pit, a 1968 Hammer Horror film where an alien spacecraft is uncovered in the London Underground. Carpenter made the movie on a low budget so he could retain final cut, following a bad experience working with Fox onBig Trouble in Little China.
The result isCarpenter’s most underrated film, withPrince of Darknessbeing one of his most dread-inducing and unnerving works. The director made no secret of his Nigel Kneale influences either;Carpenter wrote under the pseudonym “Martin Quatermass,“a character wears a “Kneale University” t-shirt and there are even visual nods to Kneale’sThe Stone Tape.
Carpenter was heavily inspired by Kneale throughout his career, withPrince of Darknessplaying like a mashup of Kneale’sQuatermass and the PitandThe Stone Tape. Kneale was a famously salty, blunt fellow, however, and didn’t take kindly to being linked toPrince of Darkness.
Nigel Kneale Didn’t Appreciate John Carpenter’s Homages In Prince Of Darkness
Kneale felt Prince of Darkness was more “insult” than homage
From the originalQuatermassserials on the BBC to his bone-chilling adaptation ofThe Woman in Black,Kneale was known for blending great characters and dialogue with unique, high-concept stories. Kneale wasalsoknown for his biting wit and making blunt statements about the filmmakers who brought his work to life.
Carpenter and Kneale had worked together years prior toPrince of Darknesstoo. Despite their professional relationship ending on a sour note when Carpenter had one of Kneale’s screenplays reworked,Carpenter still madePrince of Darknessas a love letter to the British screenwriter. Kneale wasn’t impressed, tellingThe Observer(viaVice).
For the record I have had nothing to do with the film and I have not seen it. It sounds pretty bad. With an homage like this, one might say, who needs insults? I can only imagine that it is a whimsical riposte for my having my name removed from a film I wrote a few years ago and which Mr. Carpenter carpentered into sawdust.
It’s unknown if Kneale ever got around to givingPrince of Darknessa try, but even if he did, it’s doubtful he would have liked it much.The movie was ultimately a modest success, grossing over $14 million worldwide(viaThe Numbers), more than recouping its $3 million budget.
Kneale refused to rewrite Season of the Witch
Despite writing and directing the originalHalloween, Carpenter had zero interest in cashing in and making sequels. Ultimately, legal pressure forced him into producingHalloween 2, where he made sure to kill Michael Myers off for good (or so he thought at the time).
When Universal asked for a third entry,Carpenter decided to makeHalloweenan anthology seriesfocusing on a new story each time. Joe Dante (Gremlins) was originally attached to direct the sequel, and suggested Kneale would be a great choice to pen it. Carpenter agreed, and Kneale came up with a unique angle combining witchcraft with modern technology.
Carpenter and eventualHalloween 3: Season of the Witchhelmer Tommy Lee Wallace agreed that Kneale’s work was intriguing, but the script he delivered needed a lot of work.Kneale refused to do any tweaking and departed the project, and later had his name removed fromSeason of the Witchentirely. Carpenter reflected on this collaboration withVulturein 2014.
But Nigel Kneale didn’t want to change anything of his precious writing. And it wasn’t up to what we needed it to be. So we worked on it, Tommy Lee and I. Nigel Kneale is a brilliant writer, but by the time I met him, he was pretty irascible, and mean. He was a mean character. He started making fun of Jack Arnold, the director of the original Creature From the Black Lagoon. At that point, Jack Arnold had lost a leg. And Nigel made fun of him for that. Terrible. [Nigel] thought he was above us, us horror filmmakers.
Halloween 3received a very mixed reception upon release, largely because the marketing campaign hadn’t made it clear that Michael Myers wasn’t part of the story.Season of the Witchreceived a very mixed reception back in 1982and was labeled as a franchise killer. The series eventually returned with Myers front and center in 1988.
Regardless,Halloween 3has earned a loyal cult following in the years since.Despite his name being taken off the credits, Kneale’s influence can still very much be feltin the final product.
Nigel Kneale Is A Towering Figure In British Sci-Fi
Kneale influence on sci-fi and horror is still felt to this day
Sadly, it feels like Kneale has become something of an obscure figure, despite the oversized influence he has had on countless filmmakers and writers. Kneale’s first serialThe Quatermass Experimentwas said to have emptied pubs across the UK in 1953, making it one of the original examples of appointment television.
Kneale was known for weaving social commentary with sci-fi and horror, producing screenplays that were both thoughtful and terrifying.WithThe Stone Tape, Kneale pioneered the idea that ghosts are actually recordings of traumatic events captured within a building, which is still one of the most innovative takes on the classic British ghost story.
Traces of Night Kneale’s influence can also be found in the likes of The Thing, Poltergeist and Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers…
Kneale’sThe Years of the Sex Olympicswas a 1968 TV special starring Brian Cox (Succession) that predicted the rise of reality TV andBig Brotherby a good 30 years. Outside ofPrince of Darkness,Kneale is an acknowledged influence on early seasons ofDoctor Who- despite Kneale’s professed hatred of the show - and 1992’sGhostwatch.
Traces of Kneale’s influence can also be found in Carpenter’sThe Thing,Poltergeist, Stephen King’sThe Tommyknockersand even theAlienfranchise.Kneale also has many admirers, including Mark Gatiss, Joe Dante, Stephen King and even Ringo Starr.
Kneale was even instrumental in Hammer Horror’s early success, as the originalQuatermassmovies - which adapted his BBC serials - were so successful they pushed the company towards horror. Basically,much of modern horror or sci-fi could trace some of its DNA back to Kneale.
Carpenter Remained A Nigel Kneale Fan Despite His Stinging Comments On Prince Of Darkness
Carpenter still loves Kneale’s work
Having madePrince of Darknessto honor his work,it can’t have felt good for Carpenter to hear Kneale’s wittering take on his homage. It didn’t affect the filmmaker’s feelings towards eitherPrince of DarknessorHalloween 3, which are both movies he felt were underrated. According to the above Vulture chat, the director still admires Kneale as a creator.
I really loved his original stuff. I just think he’s groundbreaking … but unpleasant to work with!
In what must be a prime example of separating the art from the artist, Carpenter expressed his love for Kneale - while acknowledging the man himself was a spiky character. Maybe Kneale himself was irritated byPrince of Darkness' existence, knowing it was likely the closest to an American take onQuatermassthat was going to happen.
