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Warlock (1989 film)
Encyclopedia
Warlock is a 1989 American cult
horror film
directed by Steve Miner
, written by David Twohy
and produced by Roger Corman
. It was also produced by New World Pictures and distributed by Trimark Pictures. The cast includes Julian Sands
, Lori Singer
, and Richard E. Grant
. The soundtrack was by Jerry Goldsmith
.
er Giles Redferne (Grant). He is sentenced to death for his activities, including the bewitching of Redferne's bride-to-be, but before the execution Satan
appears and propels the Warlock forward in time to 20th century Los Angeles
. Redferne follows through the portal.
The Warlock is tasked with assembling the three separated sets of pages of The Grand Grimoire
, a Satanic book that will reveal the "true" name of God (the backwards utterance of which will lead to the uncreation of the world). Arriving in late 1980s Los Angeles, The Warlock is innocently taken in by Kassandra (Singer) and her roommate, Chas (Kevin O'Brien). After killing Chas, the Warlock also murders a fraudulent psychic
woman, whose eyes are controlled by Satan and will be used to guide him to the ancient book. Redferne arrives soon after the murder of the psychic. He tries to track the Warlock, using the Warlock's blood on a Witch Compass. Kassandra calls the police on Redferne and he is taken away. When Kassandra sees the needle on the Witch Compass move, she realizes that Redferne was telling the truth. She sees that the Warlock has returned and he finds the first part of the Grimoire in her dining room table. He then inflicts on Kassandra a curse of rapid aging.
The next morning, Kassandra finds that she has aged 20 years, making her 40 years old. She gets Redferne out of jail to help her. Redferne advises her that she needs to get her charm bracelet back from the Warlock to break the spell or else she will die in three days of old age. She decides to join forces with Redferne to hunt down the Warlock. The Warlock then encounters a young boy playing football in a trailer park. Redferne and Kassandra, later come across the same trailer park. Redferne realizes that the boy was killed for his fat (the fat of a male child who has not been baptized can be used to make a flying potion). The Warlock is seen late flying off to find the second part of the book. Kassandra feels herself getting ill as another day passes. She has aged another 20 years, making her 60 years old.
Morning comes and the Warlock has found the second half of the book. An elderly Mennonite
man notices the signs of bewitchment when the cream has curdled overnight and his horse sweats in the morning. He then proceeds to paint a hex sign
on his barn. Redferne sees the hex sign and asks Kassandra to stop the car. They meet with the Mennonite and urge his family to leave the farm at once. The Mennonite shows Redferne the attic door, which is ajar. Redferne nails the door shut, give Kassandra and the Mennonite pennies to hold in their mouths so the Warlock cannot hex them. Redferne finds a page of the Grimoire in the attic and realizes what the Warlock is planning to do. Kassandra points out that if the Grimoire is so sought after, why would he leave one page behind. Redferne realizes this and ends up battling the Warlock in the attic. The battle ends up outside with the Warlock being stabbed with a weathervane. Redferne tries to trap the Warlock in his thumb and toe locks while he is weakened, but the Mennonite locks eyes with the Warlock, enabling the Warlock to hex him, making the Mennonite's eyes bleed. As Redferne tries to cure the Mennonite, Kassandra chases off after the Warlock and ends up retrieving her charm bracelet, which succeeds in breaking the aging curse and restoring her age to 20. Redferne helps the Mennonite and asks Kassandra to help him stop the Warlock from undoing all of creation, promising to protect her.
Kassandra comes up with a plan; instead of them chasing the Warlock all over the place, they would better off finding the third part of the Grimoire. They end up going to Boston to find the church that had the Grimoire (with the Warlock not too far behind them). They find out from the pastor that the pages were buried in three places: one part was placed within the hollow of a table used in taking communion (the table in Chas and Kassandra's dining room). The second part was given to a vicar who had founded a ministry west of the Carolinas, placed within an armoire (which was in the Mennonite's attic) and a Boston cemetery that Redferne remembers from his day. When they arrive, he shows Kassandra that the ground is consecrated and the Warlock will not be able to enter. Meanwhile, the pastor arrive home to find his wife and unborn twins under threat from the Warlock. The paster has no choice but to tell him where Redferne and Kassandra went.
In the cemetery, Kassandra and Redfern search for a hex sign to show where the pages are buried. Kassandra finds them in Redferne's grave. They start to leave believing the pages to be safe. Then Kassandra spots a billboard showing that the graveyard is being moved for a new condominium project, which means the ground where Redferne's grave is at is not on consecrated land. Kassandra spares Redferne the agony of seeing his own corpse by opening his coffin and retrieving the pages. The Warlock then arrives, demanding the pages. Redferne splits up the pages and they run off with them. But the Warlock catches and tortures Kassandra and Redferne surrenders the pages to him. But before he can unite the pages, Redferne pushes the Warlock head onto consecrated ground, burning him. The Warlock responded by putting "witch fire" in Redferne's mouth and tossing Kassandra into the river. The Warlock then restores the Grimoire and the name is revealed (either Rokisha or Roaisha). Before he can utter it in reverse, Kassandra injects him with salt water, killing the Warlock.
Redferne is then returned to his own time, and Kassandra sees an inscription from Redferne, to her, on his tombstone ("I will remember you always 'til time and times are done."). In the end, Kassandra is seen amongst the vast Salt Lake Flats, where she has buried the book in the hopes that no other Warlock will ever be able to get it.
- Warlock
Lori Singer
- Kassandra
Richard E. Grant
- Giles Redferne
Mary Woronov
- Channeler
Kevin O'Brien - Chas
Richard Kuss - Mennonite
ripped open her blouse to reveal the "Eyes of Satan" in place of her nipples. The Warlock freezes her and pushes her to the floor, making her body shatter. Then the Warlock stomps on her chest to retrieve the eyes. This shot was cut after test screenings resulted in laughter at the prosthetic breasts and disapproval over the violent nature of the channeler's death.
It is doubtful Julian Sands returned for the re-shoot and that could explain the change in Mary Woronov's hair from the beginning of the shot to the moment when she collapses on the table. The filmmakers also used a shot of the Warlock kneeling down over the channeler's broken body instead of a new shot of Sands. The film was far enough in production and a quick glimpse of the frozen body with the Warlock beside it was included in the trailer. There are videos on Internet that feature the scene, but only as a reconstruction based on the remains of the original footage.
when New World Pictures suffered financial difficulties. The film was eventually picked up by Trimark Pictures and given a limited release
beginning in January 1991. The film turned into a modest success for Trimark, grossing $9,094,451 and becoming the company's biggest grosser until Eve's Bayou
.
, starring again Julian Sands, but whether he is the same Warlock or a in-name-only sequel is unclear. A direct-to-video
third film called Warlock III: The End of Innocence came in 1999, this time with Bruce Payne
in the title role. Acclaim Entertainment
released a video game based on the films
for the Super NES
and Sega Genesis
in 1995. Bluewater Productions
also began a Warlock comic book series in 2009.
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Steve Miner
Steve Miner
Stephen C. "Steve" Miner is an American film and television director who is also a film producer.Miner was born in Westport, Connecticut. Television programs Miner has directed include The Wonder Years, Jake 2.0, Felicity, Dawson's Creek , and Diagnosis: Murder...
, written by David Twohy
David Twohy
David Neil Twohy is an American film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Twohy was born in Los Angeles County, California...
and produced by Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
. It was also produced by New World Pictures and distributed by Trimark Pictures. The cast includes Julian Sands
Julian Sands
Julian M. Sands is an English actor, known for his roles in the Best Picture nominee The Killing Fields, the cult film Warlock, A Room with a View, Arachnophobia, Vatel, the television series 24 and as Jor-El in the television series Smallville.-Career:Sands began his film career appearing in...
, Lori Singer
Lori Singer
Lori Singer is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Ariel Moore, the female lead in the 1984 feature film Footloose, and as Julie Miller in the television series Fame.-Film and television career:...
, and Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
. The soundtrack was by Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
.
Plot
The Warlock (Sands) is taken captive in 1691 Boston by the witch-huntWitch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
er Giles Redferne (Grant). He is sentenced to death for his activities, including the bewitching of Redferne's bride-to-be, but before the execution Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
appears and propels the Warlock forward in time to 20th century Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Redferne follows through the portal.
The Warlock is tasked with assembling the three separated sets of pages of The Grand Grimoire
The Grand Grimoire
The Grand Grimoire is a black magic grimoire that claims to date to 1522. It is possibly written some point after the 18th century but also possibly it represented the translation of The Sworn Book of Honorius, a 13th-century text. It was ostensibly published in Cairo by a person known as Alibek...
, a Satanic book that will reveal the "true" name of God (the backwards utterance of which will lead to the uncreation of the world). Arriving in late 1980s Los Angeles, The Warlock is innocently taken in by Kassandra (Singer) and her roommate, Chas (Kevin O'Brien). After killing Chas, the Warlock also murders a fraudulent psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
woman, whose eyes are controlled by Satan and will be used to guide him to the ancient book. Redferne arrives soon after the murder of the psychic. He tries to track the Warlock, using the Warlock's blood on a Witch Compass. Kassandra calls the police on Redferne and he is taken away. When Kassandra sees the needle on the Witch Compass move, she realizes that Redferne was telling the truth. She sees that the Warlock has returned and he finds the first part of the Grimoire in her dining room table. He then inflicts on Kassandra a curse of rapid aging.
The next morning, Kassandra finds that she has aged 20 years, making her 40 years old. She gets Redferne out of jail to help her. Redferne advises her that she needs to get her charm bracelet back from the Warlock to break the spell or else she will die in three days of old age. She decides to join forces with Redferne to hunt down the Warlock. The Warlock then encounters a young boy playing football in a trailer park. Redferne and Kassandra, later come across the same trailer park. Redferne realizes that the boy was killed for his fat (the fat of a male child who has not been baptized can be used to make a flying potion). The Warlock is seen late flying off to find the second part of the book. Kassandra feels herself getting ill as another day passes. She has aged another 20 years, making her 60 years old.
Morning comes and the Warlock has found the second half of the book. An elderly Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
man notices the signs of bewitchment when the cream has curdled overnight and his horse sweats in the morning. He then proceeds to paint a hex sign
Hex sign
Hex signs are a form of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, related to fraktur, found in the Fancy Dutch tradition in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Barn paintings, usually in the form of "stars in circles," grew out of the fraktur and folk art traditions about 1850 when barns first started to be painted in...
on his barn. Redferne sees the hex sign and asks Kassandra to stop the car. They meet with the Mennonite and urge his family to leave the farm at once. The Mennonite shows Redferne the attic door, which is ajar. Redferne nails the door shut, give Kassandra and the Mennonite pennies to hold in their mouths so the Warlock cannot hex them. Redferne finds a page of the Grimoire in the attic and realizes what the Warlock is planning to do. Kassandra points out that if the Grimoire is so sought after, why would he leave one page behind. Redferne realizes this and ends up battling the Warlock in the attic. The battle ends up outside with the Warlock being stabbed with a weathervane. Redferne tries to trap the Warlock in his thumb and toe locks while he is weakened, but the Mennonite locks eyes with the Warlock, enabling the Warlock to hex him, making the Mennonite's eyes bleed. As Redferne tries to cure the Mennonite, Kassandra chases off after the Warlock and ends up retrieving her charm bracelet, which succeeds in breaking the aging curse and restoring her age to 20. Redferne helps the Mennonite and asks Kassandra to help him stop the Warlock from undoing all of creation, promising to protect her.
Kassandra comes up with a plan; instead of them chasing the Warlock all over the place, they would better off finding the third part of the Grimoire. They end up going to Boston to find the church that had the Grimoire (with the Warlock not too far behind them). They find out from the pastor that the pages were buried in three places: one part was placed within the hollow of a table used in taking communion (the table in Chas and Kassandra's dining room). The second part was given to a vicar who had founded a ministry west of the Carolinas, placed within an armoire (which was in the Mennonite's attic) and a Boston cemetery that Redferne remembers from his day. When they arrive, he shows Kassandra that the ground is consecrated and the Warlock will not be able to enter. Meanwhile, the pastor arrive home to find his wife and unborn twins under threat from the Warlock. The paster has no choice but to tell him where Redferne and Kassandra went.
In the cemetery, Kassandra and Redfern search for a hex sign to show where the pages are buried. Kassandra finds them in Redferne's grave. They start to leave believing the pages to be safe. Then Kassandra spots a billboard showing that the graveyard is being moved for a new condominium project, which means the ground where Redferne's grave is at is not on consecrated land. Kassandra spares Redferne the agony of seeing his own corpse by opening his coffin and retrieving the pages. The Warlock then arrives, demanding the pages. Redferne splits up the pages and they run off with them. But the Warlock catches and tortures Kassandra and Redferne surrenders the pages to him. But before he can unite the pages, Redferne pushes the Warlock head onto consecrated ground, burning him. The Warlock responded by putting "witch fire" in Redferne's mouth and tossing Kassandra into the river. The Warlock then restores the Grimoire and the name is revealed (either Rokisha or Roaisha). Before he can utter it in reverse, Kassandra injects him with salt water, killing the Warlock.
Redferne is then returned to his own time, and Kassandra sees an inscription from Redferne, to her, on his tombstone ("I will remember you always 'til time and times are done."). In the end, Kassandra is seen amongst the vast Salt Lake Flats, where she has buried the book in the hopes that no other Warlock will ever be able to get it.
Cast
Julian SandsJulian Sands
Julian M. Sands is an English actor, known for his roles in the Best Picture nominee The Killing Fields, the cult film Warlock, A Room with a View, Arachnophobia, Vatel, the television series 24 and as Jor-El in the television series Smallville.-Career:Sands began his film career appearing in...
- Warlock
Lori Singer
Lori Singer
Lori Singer is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Ariel Moore, the female lead in the 1984 feature film Footloose, and as Julie Miller in the television series Fame.-Film and television career:...
- Kassandra
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
- Giles Redferne
Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...
- Channeler
Kevin O'Brien - Chas
Richard Kuss - Mennonite
The Channeler or Breaking Woman
In the original version of the channeling sequence, actress Mary WoronovMary Woronov
Mary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...
ripped open her blouse to reveal the "Eyes of Satan" in place of her nipples. The Warlock freezes her and pushes her to the floor, making her body shatter. Then the Warlock stomps on her chest to retrieve the eyes. This shot was cut after test screenings resulted in laughter at the prosthetic breasts and disapproval over the violent nature of the channeler's death.
It is doubtful Julian Sands returned for the re-shoot and that could explain the change in Mary Woronov's hair from the beginning of the shot to the moment when she collapses on the table. The filmmakers also used a shot of the Warlock kneeling down over the channeler's broken body instead of a new shot of Sands. The film was far enough in production and a quick glimpse of the frozen body with the Warlock beside it was included in the trailer. There are videos on Internet that feature the scene, but only as a reconstruction based on the remains of the original footage.
Rooster compass
One promotional shot showed the Warlock squatting down inside a circle with a rooster tied to the center. This was explained in the novelization as a compass that the Warlock uses to track down Redferne and Kassandra. The film omits any explanation as to how the Warlock found the two in the airport.Release
Although completed in 1988, Warlock fell into release limbo in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
when New World Pictures suffered financial difficulties. The film was eventually picked up by Trimark Pictures and given a limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
beginning in January 1991. The film turned into a modest success for Trimark, grossing $9,094,451 and becoming the company's biggest grosser until Eve's Bayou
Eve's Bayou
Eve's Bayou is a 1997 American drama film written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, who made her directorial debut with this feature. Samuel L...
.
Sequels
A sequel was made in 1993 and titled Warlock: The ArmageddonWarlock: The Armageddon
Warlock: The Armageddon, is a 1993 American horror film directed by Anthony Hickox, and produced by Peter Abrams. It is considered a sequel in-title-only to the 1989 film Warlock, and it stars Julian Sands returning in the title role....
, starring again Julian Sands, but whether he is the same Warlock or a in-name-only sequel is unclear. A direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
third film called Warlock III: The End of Innocence came in 1999, this time with Bruce Payne
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne is an award winning English character actor and producer and was a member of the 1980's Brit Pack. Although he is best known for his villainous roles, Bruce Payne has played characters across the spectrum...
in the title role. Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
released a video game based on the films
Warlock (video game)
Warlock is a platform video game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, released by Acclaim Entertainment. The game is based on a film series.-Story:...
for the Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
and Sega Genesis
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
in 1995. Bluewater Productions
Bluewater Productions
Bluewater Productions, Inc. is an independent production studio of comic books and graphic novels. Based in Vancouver, Washington, Bluewater publishes biographical comics, adaptations from films and original titles with self-created characters, most notably of publisher Darren G...
also began a Warlock comic book series in 2009.