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WARLOCK: THE END OF INNOCENCE
Rating:  ½
USA/Ireland. 1999.
Director – Eric Freiser, Screenplay – Eric Freiser & Bruce David Eisen, Producer – Bruce David Eisen, Photography – Andrew Turman, Music – David Reynolds, Digital Effects – Look! Effects Inc (Supervisor – Kevin Mullican), Mechanical Effects Supervisor – Mike Regan, Makeup Effects – Almost Human (Supervisors – Anthony Gaillard, Robert Hall & Pierre-Oliver Thevenin), Porcelain Shatter Effects – Hammerhead Productions (Supervisors – Constance Bracewell & Jamie Dixon), Production Design – Ian Bailie. Production Company – Trimark Pictures.
Cast:
Ashley Laurence (Kris Miller), Bruce Payne (The Warlock/Philip Covington), Paul Francis (Michael), Jan Schweiterman (Jerry), Boti Ann Bliss (Robin), Angel Boris (Lisa), Richard C. Hearst (Scott), Eamon Draper (Mr Butterfield)
Plot: Art student Kris Miller receives a phone call informing her that a family home she never knew about is about to be demolished. Seeking answers to her past, she goes there, later being joined by several of her schoolfriends. They are also joined by the mysterious Philip Covington, who claims to be an architect. But Covington is really an agent of The Devil who wants Kris as a sacrifice. And to do so he must exploit the wants and weaknesses of each of her friends to get them to willingly give her up as a sacrifice.
The End of Innocence is the third film in the series begun with the quite good Warlock (1989) and was followed by the lame Warlock: The Armageddon (1993). The only real point of connection in each film is the central character, but with each film the character seems to change in nature – in the first film he’s a time-traveling black sorcerer, by the second film he’s The Devil’s son, and here he’s demoted to an unspecified demonic envoy. The tone of the films also changes somewhat – this one is almost a haunted house film in its contained setting. The End of Innocence is even less related to its predecessors – most obvious is that it dispenses with Julian Sands in the title role and casts Bruce Payne, the villain from films like Passenger 57 (1992), Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Dungeons & Dragons (2000). Moreover it is no longer even an American film – while American financed, this one has been made wholly in Ireland with an Irish cast and production crew.
The good news is that Warlock 3 is a halfway good film, certainly a lot better than the second one. It is rather flatly lit, but director Eric Freiser generates some often quite unusual atmosphere – like scenes where Ashley Laurence turns away from a mirror and unseen by her her reflection starts screaming; one victim being transformed into glass and then shattered; and a scene where Ashley Laurence thinks she has broken through a wall and runs away to freedom, only to become caught in a loop where she is not only running over and over but also watching herself run. The victimology is standard slasher movie complement – this copies the second film in creating a series of set-pieces giving victims bizarre fates, but it does add a more interesting psychological undertow where each of the victims must betray the heroine in order to relieve suffering. The end is rather generic – it leaves us with no explanation of why the Warlock wants Ashley Laurence in particular as a sacrificial victim, and why the knife she suddenly uses at the end has particular power over him. As the Warlock, Bruce Payne, an actor who has magnificently theatrical charisma and presence, is actually better in the part than the perpetually overwrought Julian Sands.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2012
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