Page "Parallel universe (fiction)" Paragraph 68

Another common use of the theme is as a prison for villains or demons.

The idea is used in the first two Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve where Kryptonian villains were sentenced to the Phantom Zone from where they eventually escaped.

An almost exactly parallel use of the idea is presented in the campy cult film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, where the " 8th dimension " is essentially a " phantom zone " used to imprison the villainous Red Lectroids.

Uses in horror films include the 1986 film From Beyond ( based on the H. P. Lovecraft story of the same name ) where a scientific experiment induces the experimenters to perceive aliens from a parallel universe, with bad results.

The 1987 John Carpenter film Prince of Darkness is based on the premise that the essence of a being described as Satan, trapped in a glass canister and found in an abandoned church in Los Angeles, is actually an alien being that is the ' son ' of something even more evil and powerful, trapped in another universe.

The protagonists accidentally free the creature, who then attempts to release his " father " by reaching in through a mirror.