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Lord of Illusions | Year: 1995 Classification: Horror Directed: - Clive Barker Actors/Actresses: - Famke Janssen - Scott Bakula - Kevin J. O'Connor Not the BEST of Clive Barker, but still pretty much worth it Clive Barker made history in horror film-making in 1986, with the release of his debut film "Hellraiser". "Lord of Illusions" tries to live up to the legend of its big brother by touching a very interesting subject: magic and the fact that it may be more than just an illusion portrayed by phony Las Vegas performers. However, a hole-invaded plot and some sins of excess end up crashing a wonderful idea, turning it into just another horror flick. The film's prologue, set 13 years before the main story, actually gets you hooked up right away. It sets the pace for this dark and insane background that we see the rest of the movie. The whole cult idea is a good example of the lack of spirituality and "magic" of modern life, and in this climate the character of Nix (brilliantly played by Von Burgen) comes up as an evil prophet who promises to cleanse the world by showing people the power of magic. Only his dearest disciple, a young man known as Swann, suspects his real intentions and rises up against him, binding him inside an magical iron mask. Nix returns 13 years later in search for vengeance, and detective Harry D'Amour (a regular figure in Clive Barker's literary works) finds himself deep into the plot of magic, evil, and revenge. From then on, the movie's coherence suffers heavy losses. Barker tries to submerge the spectator in a surrealistic nightmare, but fails in delivering the real gusto that we acquired the first 10 minutes. For our surprise, Swann is no longer the lead, and his actions are shadowed by a superficial love affair between D'Amour and Dorothea, a woman that Swann saved from Nix 13 years ago, when she was still a child. Despite what other people may think, Scott Bakula is not miscast as Harry D'Amour. The real problem is that we, as spectators, never really care about this detective character that comes out of nowhere in order to solve a so-called mystery, whose solution is already known to us. In fact, I believe that the real protagonist of the whole story should not have been D'Amour, but Swann. His fragility and occasional lack of courage made him a much more interesting character. The fact that he fears Nix so much adds up to the credibility of his persona. Once again, as a spectator, I wanted to know more about Swann's gang, his relationship with Nix, and the love that he felt towards Dorothea, whose presence in the story is not completely justified. The ending, predictable to the bone, doesn't leave a good taste in our mouths either. For this edition, director Clive Barker includes some deleted scenes now integrated in the film. Most of them are superfluous, but others add a little more punch to the story. The best ones are an extended tour through the Castle of Magic and the sequence where we see all of Nix's followers, 13 years later, gathering for the return of his master. There is also a scene including a weird nightmare that Dorothea has, but this is a failed attempt to give her character more parti "I was born to murder the world..." Based on his short story "The Last Illusion", Clive Barker helmed this adaption entitled Lord of Illusions, and offers up a good amount of shocks, scares, gore, and a near excellent plot; a combination that made one of Barker's previous films, the original and classic Hellraiser, such a great horror film. Scott Bakula (TV's Quantum Leap, now he's famous for TV's Enterprise) stars as private detective Harry D'amour, and he gets involved with a bizarre case involving a magician (Kevin J. O'Connor) who years before had killed prophet and mentor Nix (played to perfection by Daniel Von Bargen). However, Nix has seemingly been resurrected, and he and his followers have plans on the destruction of the world. Just about everything about Lord of Illusions is great: the visual effects and Barker's direction and storytelling are great, but there are some plot holes and now and then some crummy acting (courtesy of the beautiful Famke Janssen), but for the most part Lord of Illusions is a great horror film from one of the great masters of horror. The film has gained quite a cult following over the years, and MGM realized this and packed the DVD with some great extras including a commentary by Barker, an isolated music score (most of the music is absolutely creepy and sets a perfect tone), and some never before seen scenes as well. Buy Lord Of Illusions at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Lord Of Illusions Search with the Priority Search Engine on Lord Of Illusions This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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