Conference bookie::movies

925.0. "Lord of Illusions" by ONOFRE::SKELLY_JO () Tue Sep 05 1995 14:58

    Opening scenes: We find ourselves in the Mojave Desert at the Wacko
    compound. Surrounded by a lot of dead chickens, inexplicable fires and
    bizarre wall decorations, a filthy cult follows an equally filthy and fat
    leader, completely misnamed "The Puritan". He has mastered movie special
    effects to the point where he can juggle "fire". Meanwhile, his male
    Ariel-like servant with bleached eyebrows and one bright blue eye keeps a
    look-out for the enemy that inexorably bears down on them. Swann's coming!
    The leader is looking forward to confronting him. Threatening his chained
    young girl captive (bait for Swann) with his colorful pet baboon, he
    sadistically awaits Swann's arrival. Swann and his group of terrified
    helpers dutifully show up and just barely manage to escape ultimate doom.

    We find ourselves fifteen years later in rainy New York City.  Scott Bakula
    is a gun-toting PI named D'Amour, known for getting involved in occult
    situations. His boss wants to send him on an insurance fraud case to LA
    and, troubled by dark images of his last mysterious, but well-publicized
    demon possession case, he accepts. There he quickly finds himself in the
    middle of a murder, committed by none other than the strange male servant
    from the Mojave. 

    Soon persons connected with the aforementioned Swann, drag the PI into the
    situation. Subsequent involvement with Swann and his wife leads our hero to
    become the victim of several beatings and an interesting assortment of
    special effects. He's clever though! He figures things out! It's almost as
    if he knows he isn't involved in anything real nor occult, but merely in a
    highly contrived movie plot.

    This all leads to a "final confrontation" in the desert where the justice
    delivered upon some of the Puritan's followers, IMO, should had been
    visited upon this script.

    The special effects are apparently expensive, and sound, more than
    anything, is used effectively to shock the viewer into momentary adrenaline
    rushes, but otherwise this film was just as disappointing to me as both
    sequels to "Hellraiser" were. It's merely an exercise in discovering
    gruesome ways to kill people and a thrill for fans of fake blood.

    Thumbs down.

    John
    

    
    yep, I saw this about two weeks ago.
    about half way through it, I actually got bored.