BAD MOVIE REVIEW: Lord of Illusions (1995)

Clive Barker is one twisted SOB. I LOVE IT!! I was never much into Clive Barker in my younger years, until I viewed Hellraiser again a couple years back and now I am an all out fan. This one fits right in line with the wonderful work he has done. First with Hellraiser...with its pain is pleasure, then Candyman...with its revenge of a slave, and here we have Lord of Illusions...which is Barker's take on Illusionists.

I really enjoyed this movie. It isn't as good as his other works, but it does NOT suck in anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's creepy, it's weird, and it is nasty. My main motivation for first watching this movie was the actors. It has Kevin J. O'Connor (The Mummy), Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap), AND Famke Janssen (X-Men). I thought they all did wonderfully and it was awesome to see them all in a different kind of setting. I've always like Scott in that lead role, and he does a wonderful job as the private detective. Famke is HOT in everything she does, but its cool to see her in a more risque role...what with the sexy scenes and casual swearing. And Kevin...I have been a fan of this guy since I first saw Deep Rising. I like his range from serious to funny. It gets me every time.

The special effects in this movie are well done. Whoever was doing them took their time. It still is fake at times, but it was still awesome to see people's skin tear apart from their bones in multiple ways. That's right...there's more than one. The gore alone is enough to keep an average viewer interested. It really doesn't let up in any given point. It seems to get grosser and grosser as the movie progresses.

The thing that bothered me was how parts felt like other movies. First one really doesn't count and I'll tell you why. The ending setting felt like From Dusk Til Dawn. But that movie came out a year later...so it doesn't count. But the thing that really bothered me is that in the end I felt they were ripping off From Beyond a bit with that hole in the evil guy's forehead. Only in this movie the little thing didn't come out...it was more of pulsating sphincter. At least in From Beyond a little thing came out. And talking about sphincters...there was more than one time I felt they were metaphorically showing one on screen. A little weird, don't you think?

Well anyways...if you're a fan of Hellraiser or Candyman...check out Lord of Illusions. It wasn't torture to watch, and it does have great quotes you can rattle off later. If you haven't seen any other of Barker's works...check them out, they're scary as hell. All-in-all Lord of Illusions was entertaining.