Warlock
As the 80s were coming to an end, so were most of the major horror movie franchises starting to peter out as well even as these same movies were continuing to make money at the box office. Several NEW horror films had just started coming out at around this time, hoping to capitalize and strike pay dirt by featuring a brand new villain that could carry on in their own franchises. This particular entry (made in 1988 but due to the production company going bankrupt not released until 1991) remains one of the best “first chapters” to a potential series, a series that was really only undone because they had cast a major star (Julian Sands) as their villain, a role he would reprise for the second film before dropping out for the forgotten third entry and also because they included a “hero” character to act as a foil for the bad guy whom (as played by Richard E. Grant) was such a strong, likable good guy in his own right (think Dr. Loomis, Reggie or the rarely mentioned Tommy Jarvis of Friday The 13th fame) that when the series continued on without having him in the sequel but continuing to feature Sands as the bad guy, the amazing dynamic (and obvious history) between the two equally fascinating archnemeses was shattered completely, leaving Sands as The Warlock adrift in a sea of less than compelling protagonists. As directed by Steve Miner (who had already done two Friday The 13th sequels back to back), the film was obviously making an effort to be just as enjoyable for the popcorn moviegoing crowd as it was scary for the horror fans. The film opens in what is supposed to be Boston circa 1691 as the high elders of the Puritan community pass sentence on The Warlock (Sands) for consorting with the devil and unlike many who may have been innocent of such befoulments, this guy is the real deal, unnerving several of his jailors merely by just staring at them. Also in attendance is Giles Redferne (Grant), the full fledged professional witch hunter who had captured him and is really the one with the long personal history with Sands as The Warlock mocks him from within his shackles about how he won’t even be there the next morning to face execution. He would appear to be right about that, as a storm starts up that in and of itself creates a time portal that Sands escapes into with Redferne still right there on his trail. The portal takes them nearly 300 years into the future to Los Angeles in the year 1988, with Sands crashlanding in the home of a gay man and his female boarder (Lori Singer, at one point a hot 80s actress who faded quickly once the decade ended). While Singer goes off to work, her gay landlord looks at Sands with his ponytailed blonde hair, chiseled features and medieval black outfit and decides to see what he can get, only to have his finger chopped off and tongue bitten out at the very suggestion while Singer returns home to find him dead and have Sands cast a rapid aging spell on her. Redferne’s arrival turns out to be long overdue and greatly needed as he and Singer set out to track down Sands and discover exactly what his mission is to destroy mankind. Of course, one can already see elements of James Cameron’s Terminator at work here with the Warlock / Arnold and Redferne / Reese parallels in play, but the real joy is to see the 17th century witchhunter character of Redferne essentially carry the movie here (as Michael Biehn had done with his hero’s role in Cameron’s film) and as played by Grant (a guy best known in his long character acting career for playing mostly sniveling assholes and unrepentant pricks), Redferne retains a stoic, no nonsense demeanor in his mission while also displaying endearing little boy lost qualities at his displacement in time and space, but let no mistake be made, he is NOT a pussy. In fact, the refreshing thing about him as a hero is in the way that he knows his archenemy’s entire playbook both backwards and front, every possible spell or piece of magic that Sands is capable of, along with of course the knowledge and ability to counteract it. Teamed with Singer (who plays her role for comedic effect with her carefree personality becoming unhinged by her rapid aging process), the two possess a light hearted chemistry that keeps the movie engaging and fun in between bouts of having Sands doing terrible things to people that keep us reminded that this is still a horror movie (with the fate of one particular little boy being so unspeakable that it is rightly not even shown). Turns out that Sands has discovered the various locations of The Grand Grimoire, a “satanic bible” coveted by witches that when found, put together and used, can undo all Creation on the planet and bring about the end of the world. This mission brings our characters to an old fashioned Mennonite farm in Colorado (with the twist being that Redferne fits right in with them) and finally to modern day Boston where Redferne amazingly points out how he can still recognize various areas of the city even 300 years later. The overall lasting effect of the film is that of being an enjoyable romp that never becomes too overtly serious, with writer David Twohy (and Grant himself) remembering to be authentic with the dialogue for the Redferne character, not just with his thick accent (which causes some Clouseau like “misinterpretation” moments) but with his spouting of phrases like “Let us tarry not” instead of just simply “Let’s go”, successfully showing us the idea of how a time traveler from the past probably would not be fully understood by everybody he meets. The fact that Grant plays the character completely straight which allows Singer to play off of him for the comedic moments also emphasizes just how good a job SHE does here, getting most if not all of the laughs with her obnoxious, smartass attitude. But getting back to Sands here, it’s of little surprise that he as the villain adapts much better to modern times than the hero does (as is usually the case in these types of stories) and it’s also fun to see the mostly bemused reactions from him when dealing with the natives (usually before he kills them). Sands himself upon first receiving the script tossed it aside thinking that it was just another “slasher” type film but when he finally gave it a look became so excited at the concept and potential execution that he quickly signed on with the fact being that Sands was originally set to play Redferne and Grant was to be The Warlock before the two roles were switched turning out to be a smart move as Sands brings a certain look to the role of this supremely evil being whom with his looks and charisma could easily be mistaken in the 80s timeframe as a “rock star” type, something that could draw him both positive attention and even acceptance whereas Redferne (despite knowing every possible counter to what The Warlock is capable of) with his wide eyed trepidation to this strange new world that he’s in and unblinking determination in getting his mission accomplished to save the day as he stomps around carrying every known weapon from his time (including a bullwhip laced with salt which is something that witches are known to hate) while still being old fashioned and puritanical enough to chastise Singer for wearing makeup (as he feels that “only Satanists paint their faces”) makes himself out to be the one that sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the natives and draw stares and distrust from all sides, which again underscores the importance of Singer’s freewheeling approach to her character’s relationship with Redferne, mostly making a joke out of everything (even if he doesn’t agree) and successfully taking the potential lead weight out of their scenes, coupled with the chemistry that of course also teases at a possible romance. In essence, this is a very successfully entertaining franchise starting film that depends greatly on its three leads carrying it, something which led to there being a problem when the sequel was made and only Sands came back to reprise his role (and was easily the best thing about it) as this first film was so dependent on ALL THREE stars making it work that eliminating two thirds of the equation for the next film was clearly a bad idea (even just getting either Singer OR Grant to come back would have helped things greatly). In the end, (despite some outdated special effects), a film that knows just when to be scary, when to be tense or suspenseful and also knows just when to be funny or cool so that the popcorn munching multiplex crowds know that they’ve got a winner on their hands as this film clearly is when given the chance…
9/10