Lord of Illusions
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Lord of Illusions |
| Original title | Lord of Illusions |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1995 |
| length | 116 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 (re-examination 2011) |
| Rod | |
| Director | Clive Barker |
| script | Clive Barker |
| production | Clive Barker, Steve Gollin, Anna C. Miller, JoAnne Sellar, Sigurjon Sighvatsson |
| music | Simon Boswell |
| camera | Ronn Schmidt |
| cut | Alan Baumgarten |
| occupation | |
| |
Lord of Illusions is an American horror film by producer , director and screenwriter Clive Barker . Barker also provided the literary template.
action
Nothing, a magician and illusionist founded a sect in the Mojave Desert . The renegade sect members, led by Philip Swann, try to free a girl named Dorothea from his clutches. Nothing enters Swann's mind, but can then be "killed" and buried.
13 years later, the private detective Harry D'Amour is commissioned by Dorothea Swann to protect her husband. During a demonstration, however, Swann "dies". However, death is only faked to fool Nix's followers. Meanwhile Butterfield tries to revive his old master. D'Amour penetrates deeper and deeper into the circles of the illusionists and visits the Magic Castle of Hollywood , where the magicians hide their secrets. There he discovers references to the Puritan Nix, who used real magic and has been buried for 13 years. Dorothea finally tells him about the confrontation between Swann and Nix. Later, Dorothea and Swann's servant Valentin are kidnapped. Nothing is excavated and brought to its old place of work. There Butterfield tries to wake him up.
Nothing returns from the dead and destroys his followers because they are unworthy. He is now trying to get Swann on his side to destroy the world with him. In the end there is a showdown between Nix and Butterfield on the one hand and Dorothea, Swann and D'Amour on the other. Nothing is overwhelmed and falls into the interior of the earth, from there it rises and explodes. D'Amour and Dorothea leave the site together.
production
The literary model is Clive Barker's short story The Last Illusion from the Books of Blood . In his adaptation, Barker tried to couple elements of film noir with those of modern horror films. It is Clive Barker's first attempt at directing since the 1990s Cabal - The Brut of the Night and his third and final directorial work.
The film is very harsh and contains some splatter sequences that were made by the KNB FX Group . The German release appeared uncut in the cinema, on VHS and as DVD. An abridged R-rated version was released in America, a director's cut was later released on DVD.
Reviews
The film largely failed the critics. Above all, the opaque, often exaggerated and illogical story was criticized. The poorly acting actors also gave cause for criticism. On the other hand, the atmospheric staging and the powerful visual language of Clive Barker's directorial style were praised. The film was much better received by the Gene Republicum.
“ A visually stunning, stylishly staged combination of horror and detective stories with borrowings from" film noir ". The solid design cannot cover up the weaknesses of the book, which lacks expressiveness. In this way, the film stays on the surface of the genre pattern and entrusts itself to the skill of the technicians and make-up artists who try to cover up the holey plot. "
“[…] Even if Scott Bakula is by no means a Humphrey Bogart and Clive Barker is not a Raymond Chandler - and from this point of view the mixture of Manson and Marlowe doesn't really work - Bakula does his best to preserve the somewhat thin character of the private eye to gain something. "
“ The very successful special effects that can be seen throughout the film are particularly striking. A lot of illusions are offered, but there is also a not inconsiderable amount of splatter. However, as in the old Barker films, there is no aimless splashing, but the effects are beautifully written into the story and therefore necessary to reproduce them correctly. "
Web links
- Lord of Illusions in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Comparison of the cut versions R-Rated - Director's Cut by Lord of Illusions at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Description of the film in TVGuide.com
- ↑ Lord of Illusions. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 20, 2017 .
- ↑ Criticism on follow-me-now.de
- ↑ Criticism on Horror-Page.de ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
