WARLOCK is a cheesy and derivative horror movie from director Steve Miner, the man who brought us the similar-in-style HOUSE. The story is of a 17th century warlock who is captured by irate locals but manages to escape to the then-present day, pursued by a vengeful witch hunter. The warlock's plan is to gather together three parts of an ancient grimoire which will allow him to destroy the world.
The first thought upon watching this movie? Derivative. There are bits of THE TERMINATOR, HIGHLANDER, and THE ICEMAN COMETH in this one, and it's not as good as any of those movies. In fact, it's completely cheesy, with Julian Sands going into complete ham mode as the baddie of the piece and Richard E. Grant struggling throughout with his Scottish accent. The film's budgetary constraints are also more than apparent as this looks and feels more like a B-movie than an A-list picture.
My biggest complaint, however, is with the casting of non-actress Lori Singer, whose attempts at humour fall flat time and time again. She's awful, it has to be said, and really drags the film down so much that I was laughing at it rather than with it. That's a pity, because WARLOCK remains an oddly enjoyable outing. It's not as gory as you'd expect but there are some imaginative death scenes. The special effects have dated badly but are pretty fun to watch, particularly the ones involving the warlock flying around. I liked the mythology in the film including the witch-finding apparatus and the seeing eyes. Cult actress Mary Woronov has a good cameo. WARLOCK remains predictable from beginning to end, but as a bit of cult fun it remains enjoyable.
The first thought upon watching this movie? Derivative. There are bits of THE TERMINATOR, HIGHLANDER, and THE ICEMAN COMETH in this one, and it's not as good as any of those movies. In fact, it's completely cheesy, with Julian Sands going into complete ham mode as the baddie of the piece and Richard E. Grant struggling throughout with his Scottish accent. The film's budgetary constraints are also more than apparent as this looks and feels more like a B-movie than an A-list picture.
My biggest complaint, however, is with the casting of non-actress Lori Singer, whose attempts at humour fall flat time and time again. She's awful, it has to be said, and really drags the film down so much that I was laughing at it rather than with it. That's a pity, because WARLOCK remains an oddly enjoyable outing. It's not as gory as you'd expect but there are some imaginative death scenes. The special effects have dated badly but are pretty fun to watch, particularly the ones involving the warlock flying around. I liked the mythology in the film including the witch-finding apparatus and the seeing eyes. Cult actress Mary Woronov has a good cameo. WARLOCK remains predictable from beginning to end, but as a bit of cult fun it remains enjoyable.