Way of the Wicked

Like most viewers, I watched this because I'm a fan of Christian Slater and Vinnie Jones, both of whom are prominently advertised in connection with the movie. A word of warning: Jones only has a major supporting role, while Slater is in the film for about fifteen minutes. A bit of false advertising, then.

Plot-wise, this is pretty unoriginal stuff, coming across as a cross between THE OMEN and TWILIGHT. The storyline involves a kid who's supposed to be the son of the Devil, but instead of crafting a creepy, supernatural horror yarn what we get is a twee TWILIGHT copy full of teenage angst and high-school bullies getting what they deserve.

To be honest, whenever the seasoned actors aren't on screen, this is dull. Jones and Slater are both adequate but we needed a lot more of them to make this a decent film. The romantic stuff is extremely tiresome and seems to have been thrown in either for padding or to appeal to a teenage crowd. Either way it makes this hard to enjoy, even though it has been quite professionally put together. Watch out for one of the dumbest, most pointless twist endings ever.

I have very rarely seen such a ridiculous movie in my life. The twist was laughable, and made the movie worse. It was a teen angst drama disguised as horror pretending to be a movie. I want those two hours back.

"Everything that's been going on around us has all been foretold." After residents of a small town begin to die mysteriously the local cop John Elliott (Jones) is at a loss. When his daughter tells him of an old friend of hers as returned to her school he remembers events of the past. When Father Henry (Slater) shows up and tells Elliott what he thinks is going on he doesn't believe him, but when his daughter becomes a target he is only one who can stop him. If you were to judge this by the cover and cast (like I did originally) you would probably not expect much. Christian Slater has fallen into the Val Kilmer school of acting lately. He does a lot of movies without caring if they are good or not. Vinnie Jones is, well, Vinnie Jones. Armed with those expectations I was looking forward to a long boring movie. While the movie isn't amazing or something I would watch again I have to say that I did end up liking it. The movie is kind of like if Damien went to high school. There are enough horror aspects to appease horror fans and enough drama and intrigue to please non horror fans. This is a B movie and nothing amazing but I expected much worse. I do have to say that this is Slater's best movie in a while. Overall, it's not one of the best movies I have seen in a while but it was entertaining and I wasn't bored. I give this a B.

Father Henry (Christian Slater) investigates Robbie, a 12-year-old boy who seems to have supernatural powers. A bully was chocked to death by an invisible force. Five years later, Robbie Mueller (Jake Croker) returns to town focused on Heather Elliot (Emily Tennant) who tried to help during the childhood incident. Bully Greg wants her for homecoming. When Greg starts pushing Robbie, Greg is hospitalized by the invisible force. Father Henry has also returned. When Greg is killed, Heather's police detective widower-dad John Elliot (Vinnie Jones) investigates.

The production looks weak and is no more than cable TV level. There is way too much sunshine for a dark horror. The cinematography and editing are basic. Even the kill is simple blood splashes and random guts. There is no real energy. The presence of Christian Slater and Vinnie Jones attracted me to this movie but that's never a guarantee of anything. Jake Croker is not leading man material. His character should be darker and he doesn't have the screen presence. Emily Tennant shows a little potential and actually tries to do some acting. The obvious twist is good but not completely done well. The production is so weak that it doesn't have anything to offer cinematically.

This is a low budget straight to DVD film that mixes up The Omen with Carrie.

Christian Slater whose career hit the skids somewhere in the mid 1990s (who remembers that once he was regarded as the new Jack Nicholson?) plays a weird priest who believes that his book reveals the existence of an anti Christ.

Vinnie Jones plays a detective who hails from England but now migrated to a small American town. He loves his daughter who is going out with a high school jock who meets a nasty death. She is also attracted to a childhood friend Robbie who has returned after an incident some years ago. His return sets off a bizarre chain of events.

This is just a low budget, derivative B movie. One of the leads, Jake Croker must be the oldest high school student in town. His hairline is receding. Apart from guessing which film it knocks off you can guess that there will be a twist in the ending.