This 1989 fantasy-horror film stars Julian Sands, Richard E. Grant and Lori Singer. This begins in the year 1691 where a warlock (Sands) awaits execution and is magically sent through time to the late 1980's along with a witch hunter, Redferne (Grant) on his trail. Singer (Footloose) plays waitress, Kassandra who helps Redferne stop the warlock from bringing evil to the world. This is an average flick that's sort of a mix of "Highlander" and "The Terminator" with a decent cast, good score & some neat effects. The film is also not scary, but it has supernatural and a bit of humorous elements. I'd still give it a try at least once.

Warlock (1989) *** (out of 4)An evil warlock (Julian Sands) from the 17th Century is about to be put to death when a Satanic storm saves him and sends him to the 20th Century. Also dragged along is a hunter (Richard E. Grant) who with the help of a young woman (Lori Singer) tries to track down and destroy the warlock before all of human kind is destroyed.I still remember when WARLOCK came out and even though I was a big fan of horror movies, for some reason I just never got around to watching it until now and I must admit that I'm really kicking myself for that. I really wasn't expecting too much from this film but it turned out to be quite good on many levels and it really did have a nice little story as well as some fun performances. Yes, the story itself is basically THE TERMINATOR but with a warlock but it was still a lot of fun.There are a lot of good things going on here but the majority of the success of the picture has to go to the performances. The three leads are a lot of fun together and there's no question that they help keep the viewer entertained in what's going on. Sands is simply marvelous as the warlock and that laid back, calm and collective approach just makes you feel as if you're really watching some sadistic warlock. Yes, I've never really met a warlock to know what one is like but Sands just makes you feel as if you're watching something real. The adventure of the story is brought to life thanks to the chemistry between Grant and Singer. The two of them work very well off one another and the three actors together really make the film work.Director Steve Miner also deserves a lot of credit because he keeps the film moving at a very nice pace. There's a lot of horror elements here but there's also some comedy as well as an adventure story and I thought the director handled it all quite well. The cinematography was very good as were the special effects. There are some horror special effects that work extremely well but there are also some great things done with the one female character growing in age over a short period of time.WARLOCK could have ran about ten-minutes shorter but at the same time there's very little to be said in a negative way. I was really shocked at how entertaining the film was and it's certainly a lot different than the slasher films that were all the craze during this era.

Warlock is a rare gem, a greatly yet humbly filmed movie. It has all the aura of the 80's and also promotes a great take on witch hunting techniques that until I had seen the film never thought might have even existed, the acting is good if not great the plot is brilliant and although special effects were not so contemporary as they are now tries with a full heart to make something magical. Richard E Grant excels himself as does Julian Sands and Lorie singer makes the movie fun with Richard E Grants humorous yet slightly serious methods, Julian Sands brings a cruel crisp darkness to the mix and all falls perfectly in place with the plot, it's really in my personal view a little masterpiece of the time and really tries to keep you in suspense at every new scene. There are but a few movies I see fit for the royal remake treatment and sincerely believe this movie could definitely benefit from a remake, maybe casting Jude Law as the Warlock and may sound funny but possibly Hugh Lorrie as the witch hunter provided he takes a more darker humor style on-board for the role might be a another gem. Sounds funny for me to say Hugh Lorrie but take a pinch of the negative House Md mixed with a witch hunter that is darkly eccentric and may be a match made in heaven Jude Law has a way with the English accent that may just be in alignment with a Julian Sands replacement as the Warlock?

'Warlock' was released over twenty years ago and I've only just got round to watching it. And, I have to say, better late than never. It really is a fun movie.No, it never tries to be particularly serious. It doesn't have the budget for that. It's about a warlock (or 'male witch' as we learn they are) who, upon being captured in the seventeenth century, only goes and pulls one of his disappearing tricks and ends up in modern day L.A. And, if that wasn't bad enough, he's only figured out a way of 'uncreating' the whole of God's great existence. Lucky for the rest of us that Richard E Grant and his (interesting) Scottish accent have also time travelled to stop him. So, he teams up with 'average Joette' Kassandra (with a K) and we have our movie.And, 'our movie' happens to be in the same ball park as other great chases through Los Angeles. Due to the film's L.A. setting and the fact that we have two superhuman leads squaring off against one another, I couldn't help but think of Terminator. However, due to budget constraints, it's not quite as slick as the cyborg epic and falls more into those lower budget versions, such as Dark Angel and The Hidden. But then I also loved Dark Angel and The Hidden, so I didn't mind.Warlock's special effects certainly aren't that special, but, by the time you find yourself laughing at how they portray someone 'flying' (I'm sure if you look closely you can see the wires) you should already be enjoying the whole film too much to really care.Take the whole thing with a big pinch of salt. It certainly does. The dialogue is nice as our 'out of time' hero struggles to adapt to modern day living and women who wear make-up. All in all, it's nothing new, but it certainly is fun (you may need an appreciation of low budget 'so-bad-they're-good' type movies to really enjoy it).