Review of Warlock (1959) by Frédéric H — 21 Aug 2011

What a terrific bad movie! If you're going to go in with a ridiculous premise for a film, you can't do it half-cocked; You have to run with it with furious gusto and and hysterical glee, which is exactly what happened here. This movie is actually pretty well-made: the effects are quite admirable (well, except for the flying warlock) and the writing is actually pretty tight. The dialogue is a little cheesy, but the characters are really well crafted. I think this film should get extra points for not falling into the trap of making their characters (especially the heroine) lunkheads for the sake of advancing the plot. Redferne and Kassandra actually make a pretty adept witch-hunting team and formidable adversaries for the devilishly slimy Warlock.

Oh man. Julian Sands is great in this movie. You can just tell that he's having fun being evil, and that sense of delicious fun is infectious. The Warlock is one of my new favorite cinema villains. I was really impressed with the fire effects, even moreso considering this movie was made in the late 80s. This movie is wonderful trash. I think I might have enjoyed it even more since I was a huge fan of Hocus Pocus as a child. The parallels are unmistakable. This is like Hocus Pocus for grownups, and Sands is as wicked in this movie as Bette Midler was in that one.