The Lord Protector

With Olivia Hussey as the voice of the spirits and Charlton Heston doing the narration The Dark Mist is a hit or miss satire of a fantasy film. The trouble is that the players take it a bit too seriously at times and miss the points where they're supposed to mug for the cameras.

One of Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones's sons Patrick is in the lead and title role. He's giving out Cassandra like warnings about the current king Ronald Hale tapping into the dark forces for his power. When his warnings aren't heeded, Patrick goes off and gathers a group of followers as per an ancient prophecy to stop Hale.

The Dark Mist has a few good moments, but someone with a grounding in comedy was needed to get the maximum results. That was what they didn't have at the helm.

Kids should like it though.

When I saw this film, I assumed it had been made in the late seventies - the effects are almost drawn onto the screen; but then I spotted in was made in 1996 and my appreciation really slumped. The first thing you notice is that old Ben Hur himself is the narrator - but why? Did he need the cash? The story, not that it really matters - is a sort of "Conan" meets "Red Sonja" affair with the hero "Rennick" (Patrick Cassidy) and his trusty team of stalwarts setting off to engage the epitome of evil in a battle for the very survival of our planet. Oddly enough, the campy performances; the large-scale paper-maché sets and the merry accompanying score might be more passable if the dialogue hadn't been written by an eight year old with English as his/her fifth language. The sword and sandals fight scenes are all terribly theatrically staged, and the visual effects are similar to those on a game of "Asteroids". Not the worst, but you can see it from here...

The budget on this film was nearly nonexistent, so with this in mind, I think they did a terrific job with what they had. Patrick, who I think is the most attractive in a very attractive family is a great person and I think that comes across very well. All of the other players are appealing as well and proved to be good sports. None of these actors are or were porn stars as was suggested in another review. Artists are just that, dreamers always striving to express themselves in a way that can touch other lives and I can only cheer on these artists in their quest to lift the audience out of drab reality into fun fantasy. It is nice also to see a film that doesn't pander to the least common denominator.

The story is a fantasy tale about the possible destruction of this world and a fight between good and evil. I noticed some reviewers glow about this film and give it scores of 8, 9 or even 10. I have a seriously hard time understanding it, as the film was one of the most amateurish looking movies I've seen...especially when it comes to the acting. The actors look much more like some friends who got together to make a film, not a serious production.

The only reason I watched the film is because it was one of Charlton Heston's final movies. However, it turns out that he only narrates and if you are watching for Olivia Hussey, she only is used as a voice actor as well. The rest...well, I just hope that they worked hard and have improved their skills since making this movie.

Either this movie was a pretty funny camp film or the acting was pretty bad (way over the top especially for the male actors). Once I decided to consider it for its camp value, I ended up enjoying it.

The basic plot was okay; a pretty average sword and sorcery story, though the sorcery had elements of technology. Despite a narrator (Charlton Heston!) there was not enough back-story to understand the world but the characters' back-stories were explained as the movie went on. There were a couple of unexplained disconnects that were more or less confusing depending on how integral to the storyline they were.

I watched it free on Netflix. I might watch it again...but I wouldn't if I had to pay for it.