Lord of Illusions (1995)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Opening Caption:"There are two worlds of magic. One is the glittering domain of the illusionist. The other is a secret place where Magic is a terrifying reality. Here men have the power of demons. And death itself is an illusion."So, powerful men may cheat death. In the Mohave Desert in 1982, a diabolical religious cult leader who levitates and juggles flame balls rules a seedy compound of slovenly fanatics in a deteriorated building. This practitioner of black magic, Nix (Daniel von Bargen), has kidnapped young Dorothea (Ashley Lyn Cafagna) in order to entice a former disciple, Philip Swann (Kevin J. O'Conner) to come back after Swann had turned against Nix and left the compound. When Swann does return with several adherents, though, it is to dispatch Nix and rescue Dorothea. Swann is successful.The movie then cuts briefly to the present day in New York City of 1995, where intense and ultra-masculine detective Harry D'Amour (Scott Bakula), who has just dealt with an exorcism case, is given an assignment to follow Talpert (Johnny Venocur), who was involved in insurance fraud. While on this routine case in LA, the grown up and very attractive Dorothea (Famke Janssen), now the wife of the platonic Swann, approaches him. She is concerned about the safety of her husband. Cult members – ruthless, demonic, fiendish brutes – are murdering anyone who had been involved in the death of Nix. Now the investigator is drawn into the realm of professional theater magicians and the dark forces they operate in. On the night of the grand illusionist show, everything goes wrong for Swann, who is impaled and killed by a series of suspended and revolving swords as he is tied down on a revolving wheel. Harry decides to stick around. His trail leads to the Magic Castle, where behind a securely locked door lies a repository of every magic secret known to mankind. Harry gets involved in a round table, a magic circle discussion with conjurers. It is obvious that they, including Vinovich (Vincent Schiavelli), did not take kindly to Swann. They think he was tainted. But one of them, Billy Who (Lorin Stewart), gives Harry a tip. Later when Dorothea calls Harry, he asks her if she ever heard of Nix. "No, I don't know the name," she lies. After, Valentin (Joel Swetow), Swann's assistant, offers Harry $30,000 to return home to NY, but Harry refuses.At St. Ignatius sanitarium, Harry meets the fearful patient Jennifer Desiderio (Sheila Tousey), who was with Swann's group when Nix was eradicated. She says Swann was a liar, because he promised that no harm would happen to the hit men. When Jennifer spots a ditch being dug, she gets panicky and says Nix is coming for her. She throws herself in front of a moving car and gets killed. As Harry wants to break into the Magic Castle repository, he enlists the aid of Billy. Avoiding booby traps and strange images, he locates magicians' files, from which he gathers information about Swann. When Harry later confronts Dorothea, he tells her straightforwardly that Swann was doing magic, not performing illusions. Dorothea finally tells Harry about the events of 13 years' earlier when Nix abducted her to get to Swann. Can Nix still be alive? Swann still is, as he has somehow faked his own death. This action was probably done to get the Nix goons off his trail. Black artist Butterfield (Barry Del Sherman), a disciple of Nix, kidnaps and tortures Valentin to make him locate Nix's burial site. Harry follows with Swann and finds Valentin mortally wounded. Butterfield has taken Dorothea and Nix's body to a cult compound and eventually resurrects the vengeful and egocentric Nix. The denouement will not be disclosed. Suffice it to say that most of the characters will not be alive at movie's end. This occult horror film sometimes loses its focus, and scenes sometimes have no resolution, as when Harry beaks into the repository without any apparent consequences. There are flashes of gore. Then again, the creepy atmosphere factor is high enough. The visual effects impress, along with the cinematography. So it's a mixed bag that fans of director/writer Clive Barker may like.

Finally it's out there the full uncut or director's cut of Clive Barker's Lord Of Illusion. I remember have seen the theatrical cut years ago but now that it finally has it's Blu Ray release (so far only US region) I picked it up again to see the 121 minute version, the longest release, it even includes 3 minutes of deleted scene's so this release shows it all.Of course made in an era where horror was not done and horror was almost death this flick was overlooked and hated by a lot of geeks out there but have seen it in full glory I liked it somehow. You can easily spot that it was made by Barker just see the way men were dressed on stage, clearly a gay dressing. But what people made to turn their face away was the use of CGI. Back then when horror was outdated the effects used were laughable. And they still are if you look to this flick but luckily their are also on-camera tricks and effects. It never bored me and I did like the performances. Naturally, Nix (Daniel von Bargen) will remind you somehow to pinhead from the Hellraiser saga. The way he spoke and stands will ring a bell but hey, it's Clive Barker what do you expect?For the Kleenex boys there's also something to catch here and there but Famke Janssen who became famous shortly after as Jean Grey in the X-men franchise do go naked here and for so far i know it's her only flick you can spot her walking bear breasted. Worth picking up if you are a Clive Barker geek only watch out that the Blu Ray is coded to Region A as they did with Nightbreed (1990) which makes it even more collectible.Gore 1/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Hired to protect a widow, a private detective learns of her husband's work in the supernatural when his instructor, the leader of a black-magic cult awakens and seeks his vengeance upon them for their past work against him.This turned out to be a massive disappointment due to the fact that there's just not a whole lot here to like. One of the few good elements is the traditional use of an obscure atmosphere and occult imaginings that are just really creepy and chilling as they tamper with themes they have no business doing so with. As well, the search for the leader's writings and hiding place make for some pretty interesting times and the finale in the decrepit halls of his sanctuary and the full use of the black magic is a lot of fun. The main problem here with the film is the fact that it's just far too long and really takes far too much to get going as there's just so many useless scenes that add unnecessary time to the proceedings that there's no real use in featuring them, which include the scenes of them in the magic club, the following home from the funeral and the numerous failed attempts on his life that make the cult seem wholly incompetent to risk that kind of exposure that often with so many failed attempts. As well, the special effects are wholly terrible with primitive CGI that looks laughable and totally unconvincing, a villain with a changing conquest plan that makes no sense and a really thin story that's never fleshed out. These here drag it down quite a bit.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.

Scott Bakula plays tough New York private eye Harry D'Amour who is hired to catch an insurance fraudster in L.A. and becomes entangled in a dangerous web of murder, mystery, and magic, both real and illusion.Clive Barker is best known among movie fans for the Hellraiser series, adaptations of his other books receiving far less attention than those featuring Pinhead and his pals. It's a shame, because those who haven't yet delved into the other dark recesses of the author's twisted mind are doing themselves a great disservice, missing out on some really freaky fare.Lord of lllusions, for example, rarely seems to get a mention, and yet it offers enough exquisitely strange and thoroughly warped delights to keep even the most picky of Hellraiser fans happy. Barker once again proves that he just as good at realising fantastical horror on film as on paper, displaying visual acuity, an impressive knack for atmosphere, and an uncanny ability to depict the stuff of nightmares.