Lord Of Illusions was released by Scream Factory on December 16.
Scream Factory has been doing a bang-up job of getting all kinds of catalog horror titles out of purgatory and giving them deluxe releases. They turned their attention to Clive Barker with October’s release of Nightbreed, and have now followed with Lord Of Illusions, his third and final time directing a feature-length film, each of them from his own source material. (His best known film, Hellraiser, is available on Blu-ray in earlier editions from Anchor Bay and Image Entertainment.)
As he shares in the disc’s introduction, Barker agreed to certain concessions for the theatrical edition of the film on the agreement that a director’s cut would also be produced. This Blu-ray edition includes both cuts of the film, together for the first time.
The film, based on a short story by Barker, centers on detective Harry D’Amour (Scott Bakula), a man marked by darkness who has a reluctant connection to the spiritual world. Lured by a fat paycheck, D’Amour gets pulled into a strange case with ties to the occult. The film uniquely mixes horror, magic, and noir elements for a singularly unique tone.
Members of a cult attempt to resurrect their magically empowered founder, a powerful evil sorcerer who was defeated and magically bound by Philip Swann (Kevin J. O’Connor), a lesser magician, and his pals. In the time since, Swann has used (some might say “squandered”) his powers to carve out career as a popular celebrity magician, using real magic and dressing it up as trickery. Becoming aware of the cult’s resurgence of activity, his wife Dorothea (the incredibly gorgeous Famke Janssen in one of her earliest roles) hires D’Amour to investigate.
A great major setpiece follows in which Swann debuts a new escape act, freeing himself from restraints before a series of suspended swords can fall onto his ensnared limbs. He fails to do so, causing the audience to wonder if the violence is real or all part of the act. It’s a really standout scene and represents the kind of show-stopping sequences that Barker is capable of.
The evil cult succeeds in resurrecting their old master, pitting D’Amour and Dorothea against the Lord Of Illusions, who is capable of altering reality — or at least the perception of it — to confuse and outwit his enemies.
Like all of Barker’s films, Lord Of Illusions makes great use of impressive practical special effects, makeup, and monsters, in this case to accentuate the magical and mystical elements. There’s also a bit of dodgy 90’s CG, but it’s used so sparingly so it doesn’t become too much of a distraction. Believe me when I say you’ve seen far worse, and in much newer films. Also in keeping with the Barker aesthetic, the film has an unsettling tone derived in part from its surrealistic style. As with Nightbreed, this style can sometimes act at odds with the narrative, making things incomprehensible and even trying your patience. It took two viewings for me to really understand most of the story.
In the interest of full disclosure and I watched both cuts of the film, but to be honest, as a newbie viewer I noticed little difference between them. Some additional scenes help flesh out certain characters, but not in any ways which I’d consider critical to the story. Probably the most important difference is the chance to see D’Amour do a bit of character-appropriate detective work. Nevertheless, Barker clearly considers the director’s cut the version he wants to be judged by, and that makes sense. You can see a detailed list of differences at movie-censorship.com, a very informative site which I really dig and recommend, but should warn is totally NSFW.
THE PACKAGE
Lord Of Illusions was released by Scream Factory on December 16.
Like most Scream Factory titles, it features a reversible cover with both new and classic artwork. My copy included a slipcover with the newer art.
The Blu-ray package includes both the Theatrical and Director’s cuts of the film, on separate discs. The overall package isn’t as extensive as either release of Nightbreed, but is impressively featured nonetheless.
Special Features
A Note From Clive Barker (1:56)
This note briefly describes Barker’s philosophy on — and preference for — the Director’s Cut of the film, and his take on how the theatrical version came about.
Commentary by Director Clive Barker
Clive Barker’s Lord Of Illusions: The Illusion Of Reality (61:57)
Referred to as “Original Behind The Scenes Footage” in the disc menu, this very meaty hour-long documentary will definitely interest major fans, but is probably a bit much for casual viewers.
“A Gathering Of Magic” Featurette (17:52)
A pretty decent little “Making Of” with plenty of interviews and behind the scenes footage. A good alternative for anyone who wants a bit of BTS without sitting through the hour-long documentary.
Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Clive Barker (3:21)
Scenes which were included in neither version of the film. Note these are provided only with commentary, and not with “standard” audio. Nothing too impressive here; these scenes were rightly cut.
New Interview With Storyboard Artist Martin Mercer (11:56)
AKA “Drawing Boards With Martin Mercer”, this is a surprisingly detailed featurette which not only includes the usual side by side storyboard to film comparisons, but Mercer’s commentary on the art and craft of storyboarding, his experience working on the film, working with Clive, etc.
While I didn’t love the film, and it took a couple views for me to really unwrap, I appreciate what it was trying to do with mixing elements of magic, Lovecraftian horror, and film noir. Barker hasn’t directed another film since, and that’s really too bad because he has a very distinctive style. It’s also unfortunate that Scott Bakula hasn’t done a lot of horror films, by which I mean I’d pay good money to watch Bakula versus Blacula. But on a more serious note, I understand that D’Amour is a recurring character in the literary Barkerverse, and it’s a bit of a shame that he hasn’t returned to the screen as Lord Of Illusions seems to be designed as a possible franchise starter, and I’d definitely be down for seeing more of this world.
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
Lord Of Illusions — [Blu-Ray] | [DVD]