Witch Hunt (1994 film)
Encyclopedia
Witch Hunt is a horror
/detective
HBO movie starring Dennis Hopper
. It was directed by Paul Schrader
and written by Joseph Dougherty
.
where magic
is real, monsters and mythical beasts stalk the back alleys, zombies are used as cheap labor, and everyone — except Lovecraft — uses magic every day. Yet, cars, telephones and other modern technology also exist in this world.
Witch Hunt takes place in the 1950s during the red scare
, in which magic is substituted for communism
.
It is a sequel to the HBO-produced film Cast a Deadly Spell
. Hopper plays Lovecraft in place of Fred Ward
. Additionally, many characters have different background stories then Cast a Deadly Spell. For example, Lovecraft refuses to use magic in Cast a Deadly Spell on principle, and because of a bad experience in Witch Hunt.
. Though not based on any one particular story by Lovecraft, the film features many Lovecraftian tropes, and can be considered to take place against the unified backdrop which has come to be known as the Cthulhu Mythos
.
While the film clearly does not take place in Lovecraft's world, it does reference Lovecraft extensively (including the name of the main character), though there are many obvious differences. The most obvious difference is that in Witch Hunt, magic is omnipresent – everybody uses it. In Lovecraft's stories magic is almost unknown, except to a select few.
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...
/detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
HBO movie starring Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
. It was directed by Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
and written by Joseph Dougherty
Joseph Dougherty
Joseph Dougherty is an American television producer, writer and director. He won an Emmy Award and a Humanitas Prize for his writing on Thirtysomething...
.
Plot
Hopper stars as 1950s hard-boiled private detective Phillip Lovecraft, in a fictional universeFictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
where magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
is real, monsters and mythical beasts stalk the back alleys, zombies are used as cheap labor, and everyone — except Lovecraft — uses magic every day. Yet, cars, telephones and other modern technology also exist in this world.
Witch Hunt takes place in the 1950s during the red scare
Red Scare
Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...
, in which magic is substituted for communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
.
It is a sequel to the HBO-produced film Cast a Deadly Spell
Cast a Deadly Spell
Cast a Deadly Spell is a Horror/Detective HBO movie with Fred Ward, Julianne Moore, David Warner and Clancy Brown. It was directed by Martin Campbell and written by Joseph Dougherty.-Plot:...
. Hopper plays Lovecraft in place of Fred Ward
Fred Ward
Freddie Joe "Fred" Ward is an American actor. He began his career in 1979 alongside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz. He is best known for his starring roles in the motion pictures Remo Williams, Tremors, Henry & June, Short Cuts, The Right Stuff and Exit Speed...
. Additionally, many characters have different background stories then Cast a Deadly Spell. For example, Lovecraft refuses to use magic in Cast a Deadly Spell on principle, and because of a bad experience in Witch Hunt.
H. P. Lovecraft influence
The movie is very much an homage to the works of H. P. LovecraftH. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
. Though not based on any one particular story by Lovecraft, the film features many Lovecraftian tropes, and can be considered to take place against the unified backdrop which has come to be known as the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
.
While the film clearly does not take place in Lovecraft's world, it does reference Lovecraft extensively (including the name of the main character), though there are many obvious differences. The most obvious difference is that in Witch Hunt, magic is omnipresent – everybody uses it. In Lovecraft's stories magic is almost unknown, except to a select few.
Cast
- Dennis HopperDennis HopperDennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
- H. Phillip Lovecraft - Penelope Ann MillerPenelope Ann MillerPenelope Ann Miller , sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress...
- Kim Hudson - Eric BogosianEric BogosianEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
- Sen. Larson Crockett - Sheryl Lee RalphSheryl Lee RalphSheryl Lee Ralph is an American actress, singer, and activist.-Personal life:Raised between Mandeville, Jamaica, and Long Island, New York, Sheryl Lee Ralph was born in Waterbury, Connecticut to an African American father and a Jamaican mother. Sheryl attended Uniondale High School in Uniondale, NY...
- Hypolyta Kropotkin - Julian SandsJulian SandsJulian 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...
- Finn Macha - Valerie Mahaffey - Trudy
- John EppersonJohn EppersonJohn Epperson is an American drag artist, actor, pianist, vocalist and writer who is mainly known for creating his stage character Lypsinka. As Lypsinka he is lip-synching to meticulously edited show-length soundtracks culled from snippets of outrageous 20th-century female performances in movies...
- Vivian Dart (as Lypsinka) - Debi MazarDebi MazarDeborah "Debi" Mazar is an American actress, perhaps best known for her Jersey Girl-type roles; as sharp-tongued women in independent films; and for her recurring role as press agent Shauna Roberts on the HBO series Entourage.-Early life:...
- The Manicurist - Alan RosenbergAlan RosenbergAlan Rosenberg is an American actor of both stage and screen. From 2005 to 2009, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, the principal motion picture industry on-screen performers' union.-Early life:...
- N.J. Gottlieb