Truly Dreadful Film

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

THE END OF INNOCENCE is the third and final WARLOCK movie, but even Julian Sands wouldn't come back for it, which says something. As such, he's replaced by generic bad guy Bruce Payne, who after playing a fun role in PASSENGER 57 seems to have been stuck in the B-movie doldrums ever since. I enjoyed ARMAGEDDON, the outrageously gruesome second film in the series, but the third time's a real dud. This feels more like a torture-based HELLRAISER sequel and the presence of HELLRAISER actress Ashley Laurence in the lead role only enhances the similarities. A bunch of characters hang around in an old house, there's a lot of sex and nudity, and the occasional gore sequence. The whole thing is quite the bore, and best forgotten.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to find this was a script for a totally different film that with a few clips and revisions was turned into a 'Warlock' pic. In fact for much of the running time I was reminded frequently of The Prophecy films, even the music was pretty much a rip of the early Prophecy stuff.The short version has a young woman with no immediate family inheriting a large run down home in the middle of nowhere. Initially she goes alone to sift through the home hoping for clues regarding her family heritage, but her boyfriend and boneheaded friends – among whom is a part-time witch and an S&M fetishist couple – show up unannounced to join in the fun.Imagine our surprise when around half way through the film a pasty guy in a big black coat shows up to talk just like Julian Sands (but is really some guy named Bruce Payne, even Sands didn't need the cash this bad) and to look at people through his eyebrows in menacing fashion for a while. That surprise is short lived of course, and once the paint by numbers plot is mechanically laid out and we realise what the Warlock is intent on doing the film becomes nothing more than a serial killer flick where vacuous teens are outmatched by a calm killing machine with supernatural powers.Why the Warlock is really there is irrelevant – it's about Chris's bloodline and a certain amount of human sacrifice is involved – in reality it is an excuse to throw every el-cheapo horror film cliché against the wall and see what sticks.Not much this time.We have mirrors that provide a distinctly more eerie reflection, banging shutters and whispered voices, visions and dreams with Hollywood production values (!) and of course the turn, turn, turn, there he is 2 inches away from you scare.It's all very perfunctory and altogether unnecessary. I must admit thought that even though this was san-Sands I kinda enjoyed this more than the lazier W2, perhaps it was the Prophecy allusions? Warlock 3 is a better effort than Warlock 2, which was in itself a pale imitation of the only so-so original. When considered by themselves they are little more than dodgy B movies and a dated reminder of what direct to VHS horror once represented: a couple scares, some nudity and gore (come to think of it things ain't that different). But when considered as an overall work they are a prime example of how one mediocre movie can be converted into three – with the sequels both lousy – and yet still be extracting money and over 4 hours from this bozo almost two full decades on.I am sad.Final Rating – 4.5 / 10. Another lousy sequel, though this is slightly less lousy than the last.

It's hard to keep a movie interesting for 90 minutes, especially when you fill it with stock characters and an episodic plot that goes nowhere but in circles.I was really hyped for this movie when it began. The cinematography, acting and editing was above the standard direct to video tripe that's out there. I thought that someone actually cared enough to try and make Warlock 3 a good movie, and I felt relieved in knowing that the next hour and a half would be an entertaining one. And it is for the first 35 minutes, as we see our heroine arrive at a spooky old house that she has inherited. That night, weird voices drift through the hallways, freaking her out until she tries to flee the house.Her friends all show up and convince her to stay, and after this point the movie becomes just another ten little Indians. Kill and repeat. The maniac this time is a Warlock that kills people with magic. The victims are the slut, the basket case, the goth dude, the pothead, and the bland boyfriend guy. We learn nothing about them, they're tissue thin, and as they are killed off, the plot just runs around in circles until the inevitable conflict between heroine and Warlock. Yawn.There is a nice psychological aspect involving the friends having to give the Warlock permission to kill the lead, I liked that. But still I became restless after the stylish and atmospheric opening.It is of note that Ashley Lawrence plays the lead. The Hellraiser girl has grown into a fine naturalistic actress and is too good for this movie. Bruce Payne is back, and I normally dislike him, but this time he had a sinister charisma that worked well for the character.I must say that I did enjoy this one more then part two, but only marginally so. While part two was a total goof, this one tried to build suspense, and did until dissolving into slasher formula, and ended in an insulting manor, complete with magic daggers and a porcelain doll that scares our Warlock out of his wits. What kind of evil being is afraid of a doll, even if it's a magic doll, it doesn't play well in a movie. The ending lacks all the style and craftsmanship of the first half of the movie.I commend the Warlock series for always having flashier visuals then your typical horror flick, but with exception of the original which was fast, funny, and intelligent, the sequels have all been handicapped with screenplays that wallow in beaten to death clichés and hollow characterizations.

Warlock III was a very good horror movie and it stands out in the crowd very well.Bruce Payne is very good as Warlock. He's good because he plays one of those sinister types who comes over as all benevolent and harmless when in fact he is an evil warlock.The film is one of those good movies which doesn't shock us right from the beginning but chooses to be subtle and gradually scare us. The finale itself is very good and quite scary and unlike some horror films it doesn't feature the bad guy keep getting up from blow after blow.Well done to the people behind Warlock III.