Directed by Steve Miner. Starring Julian Sands, Richard E Grant, Lori Singer. Horror, US, 99 mins, cert 12.

It's Massachusetts in 1691 and the local witch hunter Redferne (Richard E Grant) has finally captured the evil Warlock (Julian Sands). On the eve of his execution, a demonic storm strikes the village and sweeps the Warlock across time, arriving in Los Angeles in 1988 to track down the scattered pages of the fabled Grand Grimoire, the witches' bible that contains the unspoken name of God, which if recited backwards will allow the Warlock to become the anti-Messiah and undo the entirety of Creation.

But also thrown across three hundred years is Redferne, his sworn duty to destroy the Warlock. His only ally: ditzy California waitress Kassandra (Lori Singer), whom the Warlock has cursed to age twenty years a day. Their only hope is to find the final section of the Grimoire before the Warlock: but the pages he already possesses have given him supernatural powers. While Kassandra basically just wants her youth back, ultimately the fight for the Universe's very existence must come down to a battle between the two men in a Boston cemetery...

Admittedly WARLOCK can sometimes become downright silly, for example the flying Warlock triggering a police speed trap. But it also gets a tad nasty at times, particularly the death of spiritualist Mary Woronov where the Warlock takes her eyes (incidentally not half as nasty as the scene was originally devised). The grue isn't very strong by today's standards (or even Miner's - his CV includes two FRIDAY THE 13THs and a HALLOWEEN sequel) and the BBFC have reduced the certificate from 15 to 12. They also say it's a re-edited version.

It's a film that hails from the days when all the effects work was either down to opticals or prosthetic makeup, and frankly I'll take the occasionally cheesy superimposition and latex any time over the shiny but empty digital trickery the film would be drenched in if it was made today. Back then, it was down to physical effects by Carl Fullerton and Neal Martz, and even if there are moments when they clearly look like rubber, they did at least exist in the real world, and weren't just strings of cold coding on a hard drive somewhere.

I enjoyed WARLOCK: it's fun, it's an efficient B-movie and it wastes no time. Julian Sands is often slagged off as an actor but I actually think his legendary lack of expressiveness is put to quite good use here. Richard E Grant is fine as the fearless hero in an unfathomable world of cars, planes and credit cards, yet I'm slightly baffled by his adopting a Scottish accent. And the film does boast a Jerry Goldsmith score: not one of his finest but certainly effective in the movie and I've even dug the CD out to play tonight.

Seeing this film again has triggered a little pang of nostalgia with me: I haven't watched it since its UK theatrical release in the spring of 1989 and I'd forgotten what a generally enjoyable and effective little movie it is. I don't think it's a lost classic or a film ripe for rediscovery and reappraisal, and there are certainly far better out there, but it's still a nicely written and performed occult horror romp.

There are no extras on the DVD.

Richard Street.

This web site is owned and published by London FrightFest Limited.
 © London FrightFest Ltd. 2000-2011
_____________________________________________