Lord of Illusions
1995 Directed by Clive Barker
Synopsis
During a routine case in L.A., NY private investigator Harry D'Amour stumbles over members of a fanatic cult who are preparing for the resurrection of their leader Nix, a powerful magician who was killed 13 years earlier.
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“I was born to murder the world.”
-Nix (Daniel Von Bargen)Lord of Illusions is Clive Barker’s third and, so far, final directorial film. In my eyes, it’s the weakest of his trio (Yeah, even Nightbreed), but is by no means a bad film. In fact it’s actually rather good. One issue I find with most of Barker’s works is that unless you’re familiar with the source material, it can appear both bizarre and jumbled. The plot goes something like this.
13 years ago, the sorcerer Nix and his feverent sect of followers prepared some hellish ritual with a young girl, Dorothea. The ceremony was halted by one of Nix’s own students, Philip Swann, the leader was killed and the…
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Why Harry d'Amour didn't become a franchise character is beyond me.
I mean, a hard boiled detective who works in the occult? That's a fucking hook. I could watch that all day.
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Interesting horror/fantasy that delves into the realm of real magic and illusion. Written and directed by Clive Barker it certainly fits in with the style he developed with Hellraiser and Nightbreed but the plot tends to meander a little and interest can wane a little here and there. The early CGI use is good and in some places is better than a lot of today's visuals but overall it feels a little padded.
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Scott Bakula is awesome in this. The effects are pretty good, particularly at the end. It's a Clive Barker movie. That's really all that needs to be said.
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Some impressive practical and computer generated effects to be found here that really stand out during the opening scenes and the thrilling climax.
Unfortunately, Count Bakula doesn’t have the chops to carry the rest of this muddled no-frills film-noir-athon.
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Such a strange movie.
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The story may not work completely, but there is no mistaking the quality of Barkers strong visual sense and the effective practical effects.
It's a shame he wasn't given more freedom to make his films the way he wanted them
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Full confession: when I first saw this movie in the theater I HATED it. This was especially crushing to me, because I’ve been a huge Clive Barker fan for years, and was lucky enough to see him do a reading and talk about directing this film. Barker did say at the time that he was disappointed with the number of edits the studio made, because most of the key scenes were gone, and the film wouldn’t have as much impact.
Thus it makes sense that when I viewed the unrated director’s cut on DVD later on, I really liked it. There were SO many missing scenes, I don’t even know how the theatrical version was released. Despite Clive’s obvious love…
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Siempre veo esta película y siempre pienso lo mismo. A diferencia de otras películas que mejoran (o empeoran) con el tiempo, ésta parece estar estática. Y la verdad es que no es muy buena, pasado el primer acto se convierte básicamente en una tv-movie. Esto acentuado además por el modesto prespuesto que asumo tenía Barker cuando la hizo.
Sin embargo siempre vuelvo a verla porque tiene, eso si, muestras del ingenio macabro y perversamente original de Barker, que quizás no es un gran director, pero si es un gran escritor. Los primeros 15 minutos son lo mejor de la película, a la par de los grandes momentos de sus dos películas anteriores.
De allí todo se desinfla. Quizás me gusta por lo que podría haber sido y no por lo que es.
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A re-watch.. aaaaand.. Nah! I appreciated this horror-flick from my teens, but now it falls through on most levels, but must of all it's story.. It's, well, rather bad! So form 3 and a half star to two!
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Why Harry d'Amour didn't become a franchise character is beyond me.
I mean, a hard boiled detective who works in the occult? That's a fucking hook. I could watch that all day.
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Awesome imagery and effects work, but the story is never compelling.