I agree with this review for the most part. As someone who doesn't watch very many horror movies, mostly because I hate jump scares, I did like this as a horror movie because there weren't to many jump scares, and the atmosphere it creates is generally creepy, even if the hand looks a bit cheese, it still gives me the chills. My biggest problem with the movies was how the technobabble didn't really do much, just sets up the dream and that this is the present, where rational thinking occurs. Now if they had used this information to defeat Satan it would have been cool, instead they just beat up Satans minons, which also felt a bit out of place, since up to that point it was just technobabble. But if this move taught me anything, it is to not have gape in horror or wonderment in a horror movie.
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A Noble Failure
Prince of Darkness is not a bad movie by any means, there was a lot I liked, and it kept my attention, but I still didn't really "feel" it.
The premise was very interesting, though the execution didn't really convince me. I think it was a very good Lovecraftian horror story dolled up as Religious Horror - despite the Satanic window dressing, it's more Call of Cthulhu than Rosemarys Baby. Which is why giving "Satan" a big red scaly claw made of foam rubber kind of undercut the tone, in my opinion.
The atmosphere created by the film was top-notch. I can't fault it. I was strongly reminded of The Thing... but that's not a bad thing.
I think it relied too heavily on Infodumps of technobabbly exposition early on (towards which few of the characters show any skepticism), and for the rest of the movie it feels like things happen because the plot demands it, not because prior events set them up. I also didn't feel any sympathy for any of the characters, except for Dennis Dun (aka Wang from Big Trouble In Little China—in both movies, he's my favorite part). I like Victor Wong (RIP) very much as a character actor, but in this, his only purpose is to look incredulous (easy to do when you have a lazy eye), so I think he was underutilized.
And besides all that, two minor quibbles: Demonic Possession via spritz bottle is not an impressive visual, and if you're going to get Alice Cooper to be in your horror movie, you should give him more than five minutes of screen time.
I'm told that Prince of Darkness was John Carpenter's love letter to Nigel Kneale. I believe it—Wong's character is basically an Asian-American Bernard Quatermass.
So, in summary: Prince of Darkness is a solid movie, and it was not a waste of my time, but I still feel let down. That said, John Carpenter tried, and I give him credit. It was a failure, but a noble failure, and I'm glad I saw it.