| Warlock III: The End of Innocence | |
|---|---|
DVD cover. |
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| Directed by | Eric Freiser |
| Produced by | Bruce David Eisen |
| Written by | Eric Freiser Bruce David Eisen |
| Starring | Bruce Payne Angel Boris Ashley Laurence |
| Music by | David Reynolds |
| Cinematography | Andrew Turman |
| Editing by | Greg Finton |
| Distributed by | Trimark Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 12, 1999 |
| Running time | 94 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$2,000,000 |
Warlock III: The End of Innocence is a 1999 direct-to-video horror film written by Bruce David Eisen and Eric Freiser and also directed by the latter. It is the third film in a series that started with the 1989 Warlock. The first two films starred Julian Sands as the Warlock but this one stars Bruce Payne in the titular role of The Warlock. Warlock III is distributed by Trimark Pictures.
Contents |
The only connection the previous warlock movies is that there is a warlock in it, the story tells us of a young girl called Chris who has no knowledge of her family, so when a historian tells her of her family home, she goes to see it. We also meet her boyfriend desperate not to follow a dream like his father and find a solid job after his college education (Micheal), we meet Scott and Lisa: a couple into brutal forms of S&M, as well as stoned musician Jerry who has an unrequited love for Chris and finally her best friend Robin who is a Witch.
Chris is haunted by visions and dreams of her past life and of a doll from her past life, we learn that a warlock wanted her as a sacrirfice until her mother used her own magic to trap him in the Catacombs of his home. Chris's night in the house is full of strange events; she looks in the mirror and feels the urge to show her large breasts and when she turns her reflection screams at her, only to go back to normal when she looks. She also sees an apparition of a child and sensibly decides to leave only to be joined by friends.
Jerry then attempts to fix the pipes and only breaks it instead, releasing the warlock who escapes in the form of some kind of fluid, which Jerry puts down to being high.
Christ meets the historian the next day and a stranger—the warlock Philip Covington posing as an architect. He kills Mr Butterfield the historian strangling him with a gesture of magic and then tearing his thorat out with his bare hands. He takes the letters from Chris's mother and blows on them setting them alight.
He plays psychological games with Chris and her friends, the only one not buying is the Robin, so the warlock gets Jerry to steal her talisman and a lock of her hair. The warlock fights Robin with magic, Robin is surprised that her words of power actually work in the way they do. The Warlock being more experienced wins throwing a glass ornament at her, which she seems to absorb and become like glass with his words: 'be still young witch'.
It is made clear that the warlock needs Chris's friends to give permission, which he tortures them into getting. Lisa and Scott get an S&M treatment from hell, Jerry gets to see what Chris thinks of him with a slight twist, and Micheal is turning into his father.
Naturally, Chris escapes his sacrifice, as he intends to exchange her soul with a consort from hell to mother a race of evil. This is because Chris is a Child of the Caul born on a blue moon, the blood of a witch coursing through her. Chris fights the warlock who looks more and more demonic until he is holding the doll from her visions, and she is stabbing him with his sacrificial blade. However, he is unaffected by the knife saying 'you think you can defeat me with my own weapon?' to which Chris reples 'no with mine' and rips open the doll taking out a knife and stabbing him, successfully killing him.
Chris leaves with a book of magic and reading the tarot card on strength and walks into a new life.
Mythology
A child of the Caul refers to a membrane some children are born with, this superstitiously was a sign of magical power. The Blue moon is a rare moon considered very auspicious.
The movie focuses on sympathetic magic, the warlock using things the other characters have touched. As a warlock, he is a male witch but he is also in this case demonic as we see at the end of the movie when he dies convering to his true form—unless this was meant to reflect his evil soul.
The film has a rating of 46% on the Lovefilm website[1]. One reviewer said that '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' [2].