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LORD OF ILLUSIONS – Simon Boswell
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Lord of Illusions is an excellent, underrated film written and directed by horror legend Clive Barker, based on his own short story The Last Illusion. The story blends elements detective noir, supernatural horror, and dark fantasy, and was his third directorial effort following Hellraiser in 1987 and Nightbreed in 1990. Scott Bakula stars as Harry D’Amour, a hardboiled private investigator based in New York who specializes in cases involving the occult. After traveling to Los Angeles on a routine insurance case, D’Amour stumbles into a far more sinister world involving the remnants of a doomsday cult once led by the charismatic and sadistic sorcerer named Nix (Daniel von Bargen). Thirteen years earlier, Nix had attempted to unleash dark powers upon the world but was stopped by his former disciple Philip Swann (Kevin J. O’Connor) and a group of fellow magicians. Swann has since become a world-famous illusionist, having buried the truth of his real supernatural powers beneath a layer of stage trickery. As D’Amour investigates further, he becomes entangled in a deadly conspiracy when Swann is killed during a stage performance gone wrong, and Swann’s widow Dorothea (Famke Janssen) enlists D’Amour’s help to uncover the truth behind her husband’s death. Read more…
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