Warlock Review

• 11th Apr 2011

Nothing like an old cult classic for a trip down movie memory lane. I remember when Warlock hit the video shelves in my local village, It took a couple of weeks before the damn thing became free to me (or should that be my dad, he was forced to rent it as I was a few years under the age of its then 15 rating, now a 12). Being a youngster still I had had my fill of child fantasies in the 80s from the dark seeded second Indiana Jones, to the fancy free The Goonies and the bordering on sci-fi Ghostbusters. It was time for something a bit more adult and Warlock looked like it could provide the right balance of thrills and spills along with a bit of horror. And, back then, I was not let down.

This fantasy started centuries ago where a male witch (this film taught me that witches could be male too) transports himself and his captor (Richard E Grant) to present day America, thus beginning a journey and a hunt in modern times.

I was not familiar with Julian Sands, other than having heard that he appeared in something called a Merchant Ivory picture. Richard E Grant had, of course, been in Withnail And I, but this was something I was not familiar with.

Sands hams it up a bit, but even today looks pretty good in his black outfit – something goths would pay hard cash to get their hands on. Even Grant looks fairly fetching in his fur-skins. He still looks like the Withnail character, perhaps if he had got lost in the countryside drunk and then had to kill a deer to make clothing for himself, but here he also sports a fairly welcome Scottish accent.

Back then, the film (directed by Friday the 13^th Parts 2 and 3, Critters and House helmer, Steve Miner) was fairly daring in some of the decisions made. The mere fact that a young boy is slaughtered (off screen) so that the warlock can drink his fat and get an energy rush from it is not quite what you’d expect. This is a time when pets and children were very safe but that isn’t quite the case here. Children, pets, religious minorities and gay people are all targets, making it quite the achievement.

The make-up does pay homage in places to The Exorcist, but over-all is a fairly good job for 80s effects. The special effects are terribly dated but there are so few of them you couldn’t care less. The action itself is kept running by keeping what they are doing relevant (hammering nail into foot prints) which sustains tension; but the overall camera shots and editing are blissfully unaware of how quickly they would go out of fashion.

Watched for the first time today, Warlock has a few treats. The fish out of water angle is used, but not milked for all it is worth.  The film is going to have more of an impact with those that have seen it already and liked it back then. Time has aged the film, but the ideas and onscreen antics help it sustain its dignity.

Steven Hurst