Cast a Deadly Spell



Talk about a movie that's overdue for a release on DVD. I DVRed it off of HBO. The gist of it is that H. Philip Lovecraft (Fred Ward) is a private eye in a 1940s Hollywood where magic has become everyday. He is hired by a warlock (David Warner) to retrieve a book stolen from him by his chauffeur. As Lovecraft investigates he has to deal with all kinds of mystical assassination attempts (casting of runes, gargoyle attacks) while discovering what the warlock's true agenda is. As the name of protagonist suggests, there is quite a bit if the Cthulhu mythos on display, and a Great Old One even shows up for the finale. Being low budget the monsters are really cheesy, but Cast A Deadly Spell (1991) makes up for whatever flaws it may have in the technical departments with some great dialogue in the Raymond Chandler mode.

Olivia: That's quite a tie.
Philip: Oh, thanks.
Olivia: Put up much of a fight?
Philip: No, I snuck up behind it.

There was a sequel called Witch Hunt (with Dennis Hopper replacing Fred Ward as Lovecraft!), which I haven't seen yet. But I should be getting to it soon.

Posted: Thu - January 8, 2004 at      

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