Warlock: L'armageddon

Although for me Julian Sands is now typecast as an evil, evil man, it is a role I think he will have no problem filling. I tend to gravitate towards the bad guy, and Julian is one I wouldn't mind meeting. The lack of any remorse through all the mutilations and sacrifices adds a great suspense to the character, because without a possibility of reason, anything can happen and probably will as does with Warlock II.

Handsome, charismatic Julian Sands reprises his role as the title character in this sequel that's pretty much just adequate all the way down the line. It has very little to do with the first movie, but has a basically similar plot, as The Warlock is reborn, and sets about uniting five precious gems in order to help his father Satan regain access to the world above. He is opposed by an order of druids; one of them is Will Travis (Steve Kahan), whose son Kenny (Chris Young) is destined to be one of two druid warriors that must battle the evildoer.

"Warlock: The Armageddon" has enough entertaining moments to make it passable, whether they're a great visual gag or otherwise amusing bit of business. We get an elevator FULL of blood, a human turned into a twisted Picasso-like statue, and the requisite rebirth of our antagonist. There is some juicy gore, but a lot of the visual effects only succeed in being ropey enough to induce laughter. There's nothing to make the movie particularly memorable, as the music, production design, cinematography, and the like are all competent without possessing any real pizzazz.

Young ("The Great Outdoors") and the lovely Paula Marshall ("Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth") are a likeable hero and heroine, if not all that interesting. Certainly the interest lies with other cast members: Sands ("Arachnophobia") is a standout as the sardonic Warlock, and Kahan (Captain Murphy in the "Lethal Weapon" feature films), Charles Hallahan (John Carpenters' "The Thing"), R.G. Armstrong ("Children of the Corn" '84), Bruce Glover ("Diamonds Are Forever"), and Ferdy Mayne ("The Horror Star") comprise an excellent bunch of character actors. Gorgeous Joanna Pacula ("Gorky Park") is rather wasted as a fashion designer in possession of one of the stones. George "Buck" Flower ("They Live") is seen fleetingly in a crowd. And Zach Galligan, who'd worked with director Anthony Hickox on his earlier film "Waxwork", has a funny cameo.

This shows the viewer a decent time, but is a little over extended at just over 98 minutes.

Six out of 10.

The first 'Warlock' film was a classic and I wish I could say the same about the sequel. Okay, it's not bad, but it's not a patch on the original.

First, the good. Julian Sands as the titular 'Warlock.' He's great and totally carries the film as he returns to our time in order to retrieve - what we'd probably call today - the 'Infinity-like Stones' in order to bring about the coming of a demon who will end our nice happy little planet. He's on top form as a villain who doesn't care who he kills along the way in order to get what he wants.

The film's troubles start with the heroes of the piece. A band of old druids know about the Warlock's arrival and have prepared a 'contingency plan.' This revolves around training up one of their young sons as the saviour of the world who will stop the evil at hand. The problem is... they never bothered to tell him about his destiny and now he only has six days to learn how to kill a - seemingly immortal and unstoppable - evil being.

I should point out that the special effects aren't that special. Any practical gore and make-up effects are actually quite good (as is the demon himself for his brief appearance), but anything filmed up against a green screen is truly awful.

Overall, I'd say the film is like if 'The Terminator' had the killer cyborg wandering around Los Angeles killing all the (wrong!) Sarah Conners and then finally tracking the right one down in the last fifteen minutes and facing off against Reece and Sarah. Then the film is over. It feels like the film is one long - very long, to be precise - setup for the final battle and, all along the way, the bad guy is a damn sight more interesting than any of those tasked with stopping him.

It had been years since I had watched this film, but watching it recently, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed this sequel to the original warlock. The characters weren't near as annoying as that girl who lost her bracelet in the original, and the Warlock was actually given some pretty cool lines and parts. I don't know, maybe it was the plot, but the Warlock just seemed so much more evil in the sequel. Is it cheesey? Yes, because the early nineties were a cheesey time, but sometimes it's fun to look back at the past and smile.

If you like cheap, cheesey horror films, this one might make you grin.

Julian Sands as the warlock (son of Satan) is back at it again, and his suave presence fitting as usual in a rather devilish sequel. This time around he makes much more of a bloody mess as he cruelly and imaginatively toys around with the owners of the scattered magical runestones, Druid Guardians and two meddling small-town teenagers who are the only ones that can stop him from opening the gateway to hell.

When we get Sands making people look foolish, it was a wicked blast - from the sardonic wit to the sexed-up vibes and the graphic shocks heavily reliant on practical make-up effects (like the insane birth sequence?!). However when it was just the cornball love struck teens getting together, or preparing for their epic encounter my interest sort of dipped, and pacing stuttered. Luckily when the two forces come together in the final half-hour there's all kinds of crazy excess, flourishing visuals and magic jousting. Makes the wait well worth it.

Genre journeyman director Anthony Hickok shows ticker and provides few deft, and offbeat touches to how he framed some of the set-pieces. I must admit there were moments when the visual effects are beyond hokey (floating baseball), but the sheer absurdity of it makes up for it. I'm just surprised this follow-up didn't get a theatrical release, as it a solid offering.