Occult neo-noir is a sub-sub genre that has few big screen entries and Clive Barker’s Lord Of Illusions (1995) has always intrigued me, even though it has a mixed reputation with some defenders. Much like the loopy people in the Mojave desert, where this film opens, who pledge their sanity to a man named Nix (Daniel Van Bargen) whose belly is peeking out under his dirty shirt, sometimes you give love to things that are not all that perfect. So it was with this film, which I enjoyed despite of and maybe because of its imperfections. The film follows the fall-out when one of Nix’s acolytes, Swann (Kevin J O’Connor) believes this cruddy messiah has gone too far kidnapping a young girl for a sacrifice and a showdown ensues where magic is real, powers are wielded, yet a shotgun and a metal mask ensure that Nix is defeated, buried deep in the desert. We time jump to the 1990s where Swann is a wealthy magician with David Copperfield level fame, billboards promoting his shows on the LA streets and a mansion with a glamorous wife, Dorothea (Famke Janssen). Our actual hero is Scott Bakula as Harry D’Amour, a private detective who has a history with the supernatural and finds himself caught up in strange, dark matters while on an insurance fraud case. D’Amour has a great taste in maroon trousers and brown patterned shirts/jackets, yet also spends a lot of the movie shirtless with Barker’s signature horniness balanced for both his hunky PI and his femme fatale, when Dorothea hires D’Amour to investigate Swann’s past. Bakula has a low-key, likeable charm as he wields a revolver against early CGI special effects that seem like they’re from a CDROM PC game like The Seventh Guest. There’s great chemistry as well between Bakula and Jannsen, which alongside Connor’s trademark nervous energy as a character actor of choice, kept me hooked through all this hokum. Also features: grotesque horror, a psychotic killer in gold spandex pants, a supernatural conspiracy, a visit to The Magic Castle and Vincent Schiavelli with an over the top accent. Even as the climax might ultimately underwhelm or the presence of Nix remains intentionally uncharismatic (and thus doesn’t quite compare to a Pinhead or Candyman), I was into Lord Of Illusions and slightly disappointed that the version on Stan wasn’t the director’s cut (which has a longer sex scene and more character stuff). Recommended.
VHS Tracking 