Chris Jordan reviews cult film Cast a Deadly Spell.
An homage with a sense of humor that manages to stop just
short of satire, the HBO-produced Cast a Deadly Spell mashes up literary
tropes of H. P. Lovecraft and Raymond Chandler, and creates a very unique and
strangely believable world in the process. The film is set in a sort of
parallel-universe 1940s Hollywood in which everyone uses magic, for things as
simple as lighting cigarettes with fire from their fingertips, or as nasty as
mob hits done with voodoo dolls. Gangsters have zombie bodyguards, the cops
find themselves arresting werewolves every full moon, and everybody in the
city's criminal underworld seems to be after a stolen book called the
Necronomicon. Which is exactly why hard-boiled private eye Philip Lovecraft
(Fred Ward) is determined to find the book first.
What is most impressive about Cast a Deadly Spell is
how well-developed its world feels: the script works magic into the everyday
activities of Hollywood life in such casual, matter-of-fact ways that from the
very first scene you immediately buy into its reality. The key to this is that
magic isn't portrayed as some wonderful, fantastical thing in the film's world;
it has been there for long enough that everyone takes it for granted and
primarily uses it for easy shortcuts, the way we think of wi-fi or delivery
food. Like any good private eye, Phil Lovecraft just rolls his eyes and treats
it all with a jaded cynicism. The other key aspect of the movie's world is the
film-noir atmosphere, which is crafted perfectly. Deep shadows, moody period
sets filled with cigarette smoke, stylized color-tinted lighting that
accentuates the pulp-magazine art design... it hits all the right visual notes,
with just the cool attitude it needs.
And then there's the script by Joseph Dougherty, with its
perfect ear for hard-boiled noir dialogue. Everybody talks in cool, snappy,
vintage one-liners that sound straight out of a Chandler or Hammett novel, or a
movie with Humphrey Bogart or Robert Mitchum. But crucially, the script knows
how over-the-top and borderline-camp that dialogue is, and the whole thing is
laced with just enough genre-skewering sarcasm to make it work in a modern
movie. It doesn't go so far as to parody of film-noir dialogue, but it isn't
quite serious either; more Brick in intent than Dead Men Don't Wear
Plaid, if you will. Of course, dialogue like this only works if the actors
can handle it well, and walk that fine line between homage and satire while
always playing it straight. Deadly Spell's excellent cast is right
on, working well with time-honored character archetypes of the detective genre.
The supernatural elements of the story are written equally
well, with just as much familiarity with the material from which they
originate. While there are tropes from all over classic horror cinema and
literature, that aspect of the film is first and foremost an homage to H. P.
Lovecraft, and a very knowledgeable one at that. There are loads of references
to his stories, and a whole lot is directly pulled from his mythology, right
down to the language used in the Necronomicon's passages related to the Great Old
Ones. In a script that clearly takes itself with a grain of salt, the Cthulhu
Mythos elements are what give the story dramatic weight as horror.
However, as highly as I may speak of the film for all these
reasons, it isn't without some flaws. While the script is very well-written in
terms of how it interacts with its root genres, the story itself has some weak
points. As a mystery, all the plot threads don't quite come together in as
satisfying a way as they perhaps could, and the resolutions of certain threads
aren't as strong as the set-ups. Narratively it doesn't quite manage to live up
to the noir classics that it pays tribute to, but that doesn't stop it from
being a great time along the way. The film also has a pretty low budget, and
occasionally it really shows – especially in the horror elements. While it
easily creates great film-noir atmosphere that looks a lot more expensive than
it probably was, it suffers from some very cheesy low-budget creature effects;
particularly in the case of one major monster that looks approximately Power
Rangers quality. Effects like that can sometimes pull the viewer out of the
story, and they really haven't aged well, but generally it's pretty forgivable;
just remember that these are the visual effects of an early HBO original movie
with a budget of just $6 million.
Even with the budgetary problems and occasional narrative
weak-points, Cast a Deadly Spell is a seriously entertaining film, with
a refreshingly original and clever take on the genre-mash-up concept. It's a
great homage to classic film-noir, a great homage to H. P. Lovecraft's writing,
and those two elements manage to enhance each other in very cool ways. What a
shame that it has been allowed to fade into out-of-print obscurity like this.
That HBO never released the film on DVD is baffling; by now we should have a
special edition blu-ray by a company like Scream Factory. Given that it was
made for TV, I have no idea if a widescreen version exists, or if 4x3 is its
intended aspect ratio, but it certainly was shot on 35mm film, so we should be
able to at least get a remastered upgrade from the laserdisc transfer that's
the best currently available. Still, great long-lost films like this are the
reason why it's essential for cult film fans to keep a VCR around, or a
laserdisc player if you are lucky enough to have one. In whatever format you're
able to find it, Cast a Deadly Spell is definitely worth digging up.
7/10 - Christopher S. Jordan