“He comes from the past to destroy the future.”  Never has a movie tagline been so apt.  

This film comes from the land before effects were special, a time perhaps best described as using “very ordinary effects.”  We have some really weird super-imposed flying, and actual cartoon-worthy *animation* of fire painted on to our live-action.  

As if the ordinary-effects weren’t enough, this also comes from the land before acting, and more tragically, the land before film-makers realised that audiences have visual literacy.  The editing is so, so slow – nearly every shot has just one actor in it.  So it shows that person, cut to this person, now back to that person for a reaction, now on this person speaking, and back to that person for their raised eyebrows….

I never managed to care about this witchy-poo story about a satanic spell-bible, nor about why the Warlock (Julian Sands) and the other dude (Richard E Grant) had travelled in time to the future.  I never cared why Lori Singer was ageing decades at a time.  It was all some kind of dull low-fi pile of mess.  

Although I do now know that if you have some curdled cream and a sweaty horse, you’re probably with witch, and your best shot is to paint a great big pentagram on your shed in the hopes you attract a witch-hunter from the past.

J* gives it 1 star.

PS.  Apologies to everyone who fell in love with this in the time that these effects were special, but speaking from the future, this is just a no from me.  

<review written in 2018>