Cast a Deadly Spell

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Cast a Deadly Spell (1991) is a Horror/Detective HBO movie with Fred Ward, Julianne Moore and Clancy Brown. Ward stars as 1940's hardboiled private detective Phillip Lovecraft, in fictional universe in which 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.

The movie is very much an homage to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. 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. Frequent references are made to the Necronomicon, the Old Ones, and Yog Sothoth throughout the film.

There are also references to other authors in the genre. One of the police detectives is named Bradbury. The nightclub is called Harry Bordon's Dunwich Room.

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 being that in Cast a Deadly Spell, magic is omnipresent - everybody uses it. In Lovecraft's stories magic is almost unknown, except to a select few.

As to its being horror, while it contains many of the elements one would expect in a horror - the mere presence of monsters and magic does not a horror make. It could probably be better classed as a fusion of urban fantasy and film noir.

[edit] Sequel

A quasi-sequel by the name Witch Hunt was later produced by HBO, taking place in the 1950's, during the Red Scare and substituting magic for Communism. Fred Ward did not reprise his role as Lovecraft, the character instead being played by Dennis Hopper. The movie is not a direct sequel. While characters with many of the same names, their background stories are different. For example, in Cast a Deadly Spell, Lovecraft's refusal to use magic is on principle, but in Witch Hunt it is because he once used a spell that led to the death of an innocent person.