I believe this is a part of what director John Carpenter described as the "apocalypse trilogy," where three of his films had something to do with the world ending in one form or another -- the other two being In the Mouth of Madness and The Thing remake. I actually remember seeing this movie when I was younger and liking it despite the fact not much really went on. I hadn't seen the movie again until recently and after viewing it a second time it wasn't as good as I remembered, but I still liked it none-the-less.

The story is about a group of young researchers who are sent to study a weird capsule that was found under an old church. Shortly after starting the project each one gets "infected" in one form or another by the capsule and eventually they come to realize the capsule holds what could be the answer to the end of the world and the beginning of eternal darkness.

Although the whole anti-christ theme isn't anything new, this movie manages to be original in many aspects. One being the whole story basically takes place within the old church-turned building and we really don't leave that environment with the exception of a few scenes outside and the beginning when the characters are introduced. This movie may bore some with the lack of action going on and the fact nothing really "big" happens until towards the very end, but for the most part I was never bored.

Despite not much going on, the movie still manages to "freak out" the audience in terms of suspense or eerie-ness. The mood for the movie is very slow and dark, which I liked a lot and the directing by Carpenter (one of my fav directors) is well done as usual. This is a good movie with a very interesting story and good performances, especially by horror-veteran Donald Pleasence. In the end I settled with a 7-rating, because it's a good movie, but it's a little too slow in parts. Otherwise it's a good watch.

A good underrated John Carpenter movie, but I only recommended if you're not afraid of films that are a little slow and have a lot of story.