Warlock: The Armageddon

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.

Warlock: The Armageddon (1993) would be a total waste of space if it wasn't for Julian Sands as the Warlock, his scenes are great fun to watch, all the other characters in this film are awful and boring.

Julian Sands is the Warlock who is on a mission to get hold of 6 magical runestones that will enable Satan to raise hell on earth, Only 2 people have the power to stop him, 2 teenagers who have inherited druid warrior power!!! The boy who plays the main "hero" is such a geeky wimp, it's an insult that this dweeb would have this power to stop the mighty Warlock!!! Like i said before, this film is a one man show, the scenes with Julian Sands are funny, entertaining and the way he kills off various people with lots of clever special effects makes it great fun to watch.

But overall i give this movie 5/10, coz all the other scenes were so dull.

Julian Sands returns here, but I don't know if he is supposed to be the same guy are not. The rules are all changed around here and in many ways it is almost an entirely different movie. The Warlock in this movie seems nearly indestructible than in the first, and instead of the puritan types that were the ones to try and stop him in the first one, here he must be stopped by druids. This time the Warlock makes a most memorable first appearance, and then he goes after these magic stones so he can release Satan into the world. This makes the druid angle seem rather dumb as I don't think they believe in such things. However, it still is a rather good movie, just not as good as the first...in fact this movie might have seemed better if the first one never happened. The movie though does follow a certain pattern. You see scenes of this kids coming into terms with their special powers to stop the Warlock, then a scene of the Warlock finding one of the stones, finally whoever has the stone is killed in an unusual way, and then repeat. This happens till the end and the big showdown occurs. I do so enjoy the shotgun scene. That is about all there is too it, but then the Warlock does kill people in vastly different and interesting ways. Not a great movie, but it is okay and worth checking out, though it is rather gruesome at times.

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.

This film upon first glance was a one of a string of films i have recently seen, that looks, in the TV guide, like it could be pathetic to the point that it is funny to watch due to the year it was made and by the description. The words used "horror sequel", "son of devil" and made in 1993, simply branded it a must see film between me and my mate Mark.

This film turned into one of the funniest films I have ever seen and to say it is a horror would be a mockery to all horror films. However place it within the genre of comedy, and it is up there challenging with the best of comedy films.

The basic storyline made it easy to understand i.e. did not have to concentrate, which is good because i was crying with laughter too much.

It follows the old theme of the evil being lead back to the main characters at the end, via the collection of 6 stones, randomly placed around the world, from Circuses to museums.

Excellent acting from the son of the devil, made me believe that he actually was the son of the devil and his ways of murdering the stone holders was humorous to say the least, except for the one in the circus where that brought genuine fear to my mind.

A well written script with such instances as rabbits being run over and hair being pulled off makes for an exciting and humorous viewing of one of my favouritist films of all time.

Simply an 8.5/10 due to effective blood ridden moments, great acting and funny moments.

Hail the guy that created this masterpiece