Smoreni Zmaj Legendary Clive Barker skillfully combines the elements of detective story and horror into a mystery thriller that, although of mediocre quality, remains carved into memory. This is not a typical horror that will upset your stomach and raise the hair on your head, nor a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, but a dark adventure that leaves an impression similar to reading Barker's books. The relatively well-known cast gives quite believable performances and there's just enough amount of demonic and gore scenes not to disappoint horror fans. I am satisfied.7/10

romanorum1 Opening Caption:"There are two worlds of magic. One is the glittering domain of the illusionist. The other is a secret place where Magic is a terrifying reality. Here men have the power of demons. And death itself is an illusion."So, powerful men may cheat death. In the Mohave Desert in 1982, a diabolical religious cult leader who levitates and juggles flame balls rules a seedy compound of slovenly fanatics in a deteriorated building. This practitioner of black magic, Nix (Daniel von Bargen), has kidnapped young Dorothea (Ashley Lyn Cafagna) in order to entice a former disciple, Philip Swann (Kevin J. O'Conner) to come back after Swann had turned against Nix and left the compound. When Swann does return with several adherents, though, it is to dispatch Nix and rescue Dorothea. Swann is successful.The movie then cuts briefly to the present day in New York City of 1995, where intense and ultra-masculine detective Harry D'Amour (Scott Bakula), who has just dealt with an exorcism case, is given an assignment to follow Talpert (Johnny Venocur), who was involved in insurance fraud. While on this routine case in LA, the grown up and very attractive Dorothea (Famke Janssen), now the wife of the platonic Swann, approaches him. She is concerned about the safety of her husband. Cult members – ruthless, demonic, fiendish brutes – are murdering anyone who had been involved in the death of Nix. Now the investigator is drawn into the realm of professional theater magicians and the dark forces they operate in. On the night of the grand illusionist show, everything goes wrong for Swann, who is impaled and killed by a series of suspended and revolving swords as he is tied down on a revolving wheel. Harry decides to stick around. His trail leads to the Magic Castle, where behind a securely locked door lies a repository of every magic secret known to mankind. Harry gets involved in a round table, a magic circle discussion with conjurers. It is obvious that they, including Vinovich (Vincent Schiavelli), did not take kindly to Swann. They think he was tainted. But one of them, Billy Who (Lorin Stewart), gives Harry a tip. Later when Dorothea calls Harry, he asks her if she ever heard of Nix. "No, I don't know the name," she lies. After, Valentin (Joel Swetow), Swann's assistant, offers Harry $30,000 to return home to NY, but Harry refuses.At St. Ignatius sanitarium, Harry meets the fearful patient Jennifer Desiderio (Sheila Tousey), who was with Swann's group when Nix was eradicated. She says Swann was a liar, because he promised that no harm would happen to the hit men. When Jennifer spots a ditch being dug, she gets panicky and says Nix is coming for her. She throws herself in front of a moving car and gets killed. As Harry wants to break into the Magic Castle repository, he enlists the aid of Billy. Avoiding booby traps and strange images, he locates magicians' files, from which he gathers information about Swann. When Harry later confronts Dorothea, he tells her straightforwardly that Swann was doing magic, not performing illusions. Dorothea finally tells Harry about the events of 13 years' earlier when Nix abducted her to get to Swann. Can Nix still be alive? Swann still is, as he has somehow faked his own death. This action was probably done to get the Nix goons off his trail. Black artist Butterfield (Barry Del Sherman), a disciple of Nix, kidnaps and tortures Valentin to make him locate Nix's burial site. Harry follows with Swann and finds Valentin mortally wounded. Butterfield has taken Dorothea and Nix's body to a cult compound and eventually resurrects the vengeful and egocentric Nix. The denouement will not be disclosed. Suffice it to say that most of the characters will not be alive at movie's end. This occult horror film sometimes loses its focus, and scenes sometimes have no resolution, as when Harry beaks into the repository without any apparent consequences. There are flashes of gore. Then again, the creepy atmosphere factor is high enough. The visual effects impress, along with the cinematography. So it's a mixed bag that fans of director/writer Clive Barker may like.

TheRedDeath30 There are quite a few things going for this movie that attracted me to it and should have added up to a movie that I loved. First, I'm a big fan of Clive Barker. I love his aesthetic. I love the mythology that he creates in his works. I feel like his vision pulls the curtain back on Hell's fiery gates, just a bit, and creates these wonderful, demonic fairy tales full of infernal imagery. The subject matter also intrigues me. Like all geeks with a penchant for the fantastic, I enjoy magic and illusion, but even more I like movies and books that explore that thin line between illusion and magic and the possibility that perhaps there is real magic. Of course, it's not a far stretch from that sort of magic into occult territory, either. As a horror movie lover, I have a natural affinity for things dealing with dark magic, as well. The combination of all of these could have created something that I would have put up there as an instant classic, but sadly this movie is completely forgettable.This is probably the least "Barker-ish" of any Barker adaptation I have seen. What I mean by that is that it is mostly devoid of any of that aesthetic that I was speaking of earlier. Movies like HELLRAISER, NIGHTBREED or CANDYMAN all feel like part of a large mythos, like all of them could have existed in the same world. There are very similar visual strands in those movies, even though one of them wasn't even directed by Barker. This movie is largely lacking any of that imagery. Except for the prologue and climax, we rarely get anything diabolical. It feels like it could have been the work of any old horror writer. While some may praise for deviating from his norm, this isn't what I come to the House of Barker for.Even the actual magic in the movie is somewhat of a letdown. I really enjoyed the centerpiece scene where Swann is killed during his magic show. I wanted to see more of that sort of thing. They spend a lot of time talking about how these characters had crossed the line from illusion to real magic, but they seemed to know two tricks, levitation and fire. I'd at least expect enough effects to give me a true sense of power. Hell, even Harry Potter had better tricks than this.Those were my expectations, though, so it's maybe not fair to judge this movie by how much it met those expectations. The real problem is that this movie just goes nowhere. It sets us up with a great opening scene, full of action and effects that seemed like this could turn into something memorable, but it dies quickly, mired down in a half-baked detective noir that is as predictable as it is uninteresting. Some part of that blame lies in Scott Bakula who's just not believable in this role, at all. He's supposed to be a hardened PI with one foot in the world of the occult, almost a John Constantine (comic books) type figure. Instead, Bakula just can't shake his wholesome image. Even when he swears it feels like elementary school kids trying out a word for the first time. Then, they inject a phony romance angle that just feels crammed in an insincere.There are some great effects shots that still work very well and then there are some real doozys, like the CGI polygons that look so very dated 20 years later. What I saw is the Director's cut, which was probably more of a mistake because it was just too long and in need of editing.If you've never seen anything by Barker before, do yourself a favor and go watch HELLRAISER. If you want a great movie about pushing magic to its' edge, watch Christopher Nolan's THE PRESTIGE.

p-stepien A far cry away from the classic The Warlock.Decent horror flick with some under-written script issues. Generally fine with some eerie moments, but the plot is all around the place with no real focus on the who, what and where. Nonetheless a blast from the past from the 90s is a welcome breather for the gorno crapfest we are dished out nowadays.Nix (Daniel von Bargen) is the leader of a cult. Due to dark dealings he has amassed incredible power, which he hopes to share with Philip Swann (Kevin J. O'Connor). Disgusted with the evil and destruction that Nix represents Swann with a group of friends decide to end his terrible reign and save the young Dorothea. They manage to capture the magician and bury him deep underground.13 years later Philip Swann is a world renowned illusionist and is married to the grown up Dorothea (Famke Jannsen). The cult following of Nix has never revoked their beliefs and are still intent on freeing their master. Dorothea hires a PI with a knack for the occult, Harry D'Amour (Scott Bakula) to look after her husband. Swann however mysteriously dies during his latest illusion...There is a lot to like about this movie together with its retro feel from the great days of the 80s/90s horrors. Plus Clive Barker always supplies eerie occult atmosphere even if he is a bit iffy on the plot side of things. A couple of great and relatively scary scenes make this a worthwhile watch, even if the lack of direction to the story is frustrating.The Scott Bakula character feels superfluous and unnecessary, albeit Bakula does a good acting job and is a standout character. Nonetheless the movie seems to introduce characters and situations just so that we get gore and occult magic here and there, but there really is no purpose to the plot.Could be better, but still a decent 5.