He Came From The Past, To Destroy The Future

WARLOCK (DVD)
Second Sight 

Release date: April 18th 2011
Certificate (UK): 12
Running time: 99 minutes
Year of production: 1988

Director: Steve Miner

Cast: Julian Sands, Richard E. Grant, Lori Singer

Julian Sands has had his fair share of villainous roles over the years.

The notorious Boxing Helena (1993) and more recent Season 5 of 24 (2006) come to mind, but perhaps he is best known as the malevolent time travelling 17th-century warlock in this 1988 cult film.

Directed by Steve Miner, who also directed Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) and Friday the 13th Part III (1982) before moving on to Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) and Lake Placid (1999), Warlock is a fantasy horror adventure which begins in Boston, 1691 with Sands in the title role as the evil warlock who escapes execution by travelling via thunderbolt to modern-day Los Angeles.

Once there, he sets about finding the missing pages of a book called The Grand Grimoire. In those pages are believed to be written the true name of God and spoken backwards, they have the power to uncreate all of creation.

Thankfully, his arch enemy, the witchfinder Redferne (Richard E. Grant), has also travelled forward in time to find him and stop him. With the help of a street-wise modern-day girl, Kassandra (Lori Singer), they should be able to do just that, but Kassandra is slowed down by a hex the warlock has put on her which makes her age 20 years each day.

This release from Second Sight doesn’t contain any special features. There are no deleted scenes, trailers or picture galleries. This is a shame because it would have been great to finally see the original death scene of the medium which was cut as it was deemed too violent and another scene with the warlock using a rooster as a compass.

Although the effects sometimes are a bit kooky, especially with the flying sequences, there are some great moments such as when Sands befriends a young boy. Warlock remains enjoyable, fun and at times hilariously camp with Sands in top form in one of his more memorable and dastardly roles.