I remember Cast A Deadly Spell (1991) being advertised in a comic book as a kid and getting it confused in my memories with CD-rom PC games with film noir/movie elements like Under A Killing Moon. Cast A Deadly Spell has been written about as a horror neo-noir, a post-war detective story in a parallel world where magic is common place and being used more and more. Fred Ward plays a detective named Harry P. Lovecraft (yes, the police chief is called Bradbury) who is hired by a wealthy chap in a mansion (David Warner playing to Hammer Horror era levels of perfection) with a virginal daughter. Lovecraft is tasked to find a missing book, the Necronomican, and as he trawls around the big city, the only principled hold-out who doesn’t use magic, he finds himself crossing the paths of past associates, a former partner turned shady kingpin (Clancy Brown, great) and an old flame turned lounge singer (Julianne Moore, great). Old school make-up and puppetry effects are used for the creatures that co-exist with the humans. Despite the blood and gore, there’s nothing really horrifying in its horror genre tropes – it’s almost cartoony at points (a gargoyle giving a shrug to his imperviousness to human punches). Produced by Gale Anne Hurd and directed by Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale), it’s a movie for HBO, which at once means there’s clear televisual aspects but it also has a sense of old-school cinema craft that contemporary streaming productions can’t touch. I loved Ward in the lead, perfect as the square jawed PI with a wry charm, and he has great dialogue scenes with Moore and Brown in particular. Available to stream on Binge in Australia; thanks to Celluloid and Whiskey for the heads up. Entertaining and goes down smoothly at 90 minutes. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 