Warlock

Warlock

1989

Director-Steve Miner

Cast- Julian Sands, Lori Singer, Richard E. Grant, Mary Woronov, Kevin O’Brien

            A warlock (Julian Sands) travels through time from Puritan era Boston to the modern day. The warlock has been enlisted by Satan to find the pieces of the Grand Grimoire, an ancient text that can undo creation. A witch hunter (Richard E. Grant who played Dr. Seward in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula) chases the warlock and is aided by a girl from the modern day (Lori Singer) whom the warlock has placed a curse upon.

            Warlock was a popular movie amongst horror fans in its day. Julian Sands seemed omnipresent then, appearing in so many good genre movies in such a few years (appearing in double digit movies including Warlock and its sequel, Aracnaphobia, Boxing Helena and Naked Lunch between 1989 and 1993!) And why not? He was perfect for sinister and strange roles. Long before Johnny Depp cornered the market, Julian Sands was the dark fantasy of many a young goth girl. His charisma comes out in this movie. He is a pretty vile character with no redeeming qualities but you can’t help but like this character. That’s due entirely to Sands. He seems to be full of evil cheer, to borrow an expression from Stephen King, and lacks the overt menace of a super villain. There is a scene where he is chatting with a young boy (that he is about to kill) and it almost seems like a commercial for a big brother program.

          

  Ricahrd E. Grant and Lori Singers both turn in solid performances as his nemesis. They play the parts believably and seriously, though they don’t try to take themselves too seriously so the movie remains fun to watch.  There isn’t much of the tongue in cheek winking at the audience that is often found in B- movies (though to be fair this is probably a B+ in terms of production values). Playing it serious is the only way to go when your main villain kills a child just to use his boiled fat for a flying potion!

            There is also a lot of enjoyable occult lore. Rather than just confronting the Warlock with holy water and some prayers, the witch hunter uses esoteric things like hammering nails into the dirt, a salted leather whip, a weather vane etc. It adds to the weirdness of the movie and keeps it interesting.

            In the end, Warlock is just a basic good conquers evil movie. But it is done with enough style and art, that it movies beyond most other offerings of the genre. Two sequels followed. Neither of them had anything to with the original although one of them did star Julian Sands. Despite good casts, neither holds a candle to the first film. Stick to the original for a fun,unique  offering from the 80s.