Cast A Deadly Spell (1991) Fantasy P.I. Noir

"I've seen her whole spread!" 
                                         (Harry Bordon's double entendre)

A dash of Noir, and of films Hammett, Sin City, Alien, Gremlins, Big Trouble in Little China, Dick Tracy, Angel Heart, Marlowe, I Walked With A Zombie, and the "Leviathan" Storyline from the old Dark Shadows TV Soap.

Directed by Martin Campbell. Written by Joseph Dougherty. Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski and Music by Curt Sorbel. An HBO cable TV film.

Fred Ward (Carny (1980), Miami Blues (1990),  ) as Harry Philip Lovecraft (same initials as Howard Phillips Lovecraft author), Julianne Moore (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998)) as Connie Stone, David Warner (Tom Jones (1963), Morgan! (1966), Straw Dogs (1971)), as Amos Hackshaw, Alexandra Powers ( Dead Poets Society (1989)) as Olivia Hackshaw, Clancy Brown (from a billion TV show) as Harry Bordon, Charles Hallahan (The Thing (1982)) as  Detective Morris Bradbury, Arnetia Walker (Love Crimes (1992)) as Hypolite Kropotkin, Raymond O'Connor as Tugwell, Peter Allas as Detective Otto Grimaldi, Ken Thorley as Mickey Locksteader, Lee Tergesen as Larry Willis/Lilly Sirwar, Jaime Cardriche as The Zombie, John De Bello as Crooner, and Curt Sobel as the Band Leader.

Fred Ward  as Harry Philip Lovecraft 

Julianne Moore as Connie Stone

David Warner as Amos Hackshaw

Alexandra Powers as Olivia Hackshaw

Clancy Brown as Harry Bordon

Raymond O'Connor as Tugwell

Jaime Cardriche as The Zombie

 Lee Tergesen as Larry Willis/Lilly Sirwar

Ken Thorley as Mickey Locksteader

Charles Hallahan as Detective Morris Bradbury

Its 1948, Los Angeles in a parallel time (another Dark Shadows storyline BTW). Magic is the "new thing,"  everybody practices it, everyone except Phil. Phil is Harry Philip Lovecraft a City Of Angels P.I. and ex LAPD detective. Phil rents office space from a dance studio instructor and practicing white magic witch Hypolite Kropotkin, this was a running joke (without the magic of course) in James Garner's Marlowe.

Phil is hired by billionaire Amos Hackshaw who thinks his ex-chauffeur Larry Willis stole a book after he was fired. The book is not just any book it's the Necronomicon a textbook of magic its infamous author, Abdul Alhazred the "Mad Arab."

Hackshaw Mansion

Besides the occult Hacksaw's other mission in life is his obsession with protecting the virginity of his 16 year old daughter Olivia who spends her days on horseback hunting unicorns. Harry's first clue sends him to the nightclub of his ex LAPD partner Harry Bordon who is now a bit bent as they say.

Magic is used nonchalantly throughout the film. At Union Station suitcases trail through the air after passengers, waiters pour drinks by levitation, cigarettes are lit without matches, spell are used by hitmen. etc., etc. When Phil questions Harry Bordon, Dunwich nightclub owner, about the new help....

Lovecraft: Hey, what happened to your regular leg breakers?
Harry: Progress.
Tugwell: Zombies don't eat, don't complain...
Harry: ...don't get ideas.

Zombies are not only used for muscle but also as cheap disposable labor. Harry explains to Phil that the zombies are cheap, come six to a box, shipped up direct from Caribbean. They work until they rot.

Phil's femme fatale is Connie played by Julianne Moore. Connie is a redhead hottie torch singer. She is Phil's ex gal pal. It's three years before Julianne proved the carpet really matches the drapes in Short Cuts.

Connie: I heard something about you at the club.
Lovecraft: Such as?
Connie: You don't use magic.
Lovecraft: You heard right.
Connie: How do you expect to get out of dumps like this if you don't start playing the game?
Lovecraft: Seems to me we've already had this discussion.
Connie: Everybody uses magic.
Lovecraft: I don't.
Connie: What have you got to show for it? Fly-specked office, a broken-down car and a ugly necktie, that's what all this integrity buys you. Damn it, everybody's got to compromise.
Lovecraft: That's what I keep hearing.
Connie Stone: And what makes you so special?
Lovecraft: What makes me special is that I'm my own man. When I started out, I said there were things I would do and things I wouldn't do. Lot of guys start like that and a lot of them sell out along the way, but the more who fall, the easier it gets. See, look... everybody compromises, everybody cheats, everybody uses magic. So they empty ideals out of their pockets and get on with the job of sticking it to their neighbor before they stick it to them. That's the way it's done. To which I say "nuts." My collar may be a little frayed, maybe I need a shoeshine, but nobody's got a mortgage on my soul. I own it, free and clear.

Hackshaw: You don't believe in magic?
Lovecraft:  I believe it, just don't use it.
Hackshaw:Why?
Lovecraft: Personal reasons.
Hackshaw: And they are?
Lovecraft: Personal.

Noirsville 

 

 

gremlin

This film is a light amusement. The more Noir/Neo Noir and other popular films you have under your belt the more references/homages to other films and styles you'll notice. It is at times reminiscent of the color pallet of Dick Tracy combined with the magic realism of recreated 1948 studio sets, which are shot with the noir stylistics of Sin City, Hammett, and Angel Heart. For the kids it's got cutsie muppet like gremlins and animated gargoyles. This is a film for the whole family 7/10.