I always loved this movie, there's lots of action, numerous colourful and inventive grisly deaths, the script is blackly funny and very mean-spirited, it's a romp! I tend to feel a bit nostalgic whenever I watch it, it's very 90s and to me is just a very easy and fun horror movie to follow and get into. The only other picture I've seen that was closest to it in tone was Wishmaster, which this had to have inspired in some significant ways, although this is the more scary and better made movie out of the two. So anyway this is a lot more unintentionally comic than I remembered..but I still love it. I'm really not buying or into the part of the story with the old men training the goofy kid to be a druid warrior and everything, just Sands being a devilish badass is enough to satisfy me thank you very much! Not one bit of this movie would've worked were it not for his outstandingly wicked performance. Unlike the first movie which I didn't like half as much as this, it's definitely lacking in the protagonist department. I love the beautiful raven-haired Paula Marshall, and the weird-looking dorky Chris Young is likable if not completely useless in a battle - but they're both kinda weak characters, everyone except for Sands is, this is completely his show and he shines in his rather terrifying role as he positively glides through the proceedings. This is one of those movies where one actor is absolutely responsible for why a flick works, and he really does carry the whole thing and steals every scene that he's in and his presence elevates it above average horror fare to me. Watching it now I'm still blown away by how fantastic and just how scary as f**k he is. He's so charming and perhaps even angelic looking, but at the same time he conveys such an enormous malevolence and a sense of barely restrained vicious malice. He's such a ruthless bastard as he unleashes terror and death on anyone who gets in his way, and makes one-sided bargains with the unfortunate holders of the stones that he locates with a flesh-map taken from the corpse of his 'mother' to aid him in his relentless quest to bring about the apocalypse. There's a lot of ghastly fun to be had in those suspenseful scenes just waiting to see what the gruesome punchline will be, particularly the excellently tense elevator scene and when he warps the art collector into a cute little work of living art! The real standout to me though is the carnival hall of mirrors where the poor dumb carny is duped into being trapped in the dark side of reality forever. It's shot so well and feels so nightmarish, with the scene just before where the helpless screaming midget is shoved into the iron maiden after trying to warn the carny being downright disturbing. The whole sequence should be better recognised as a great scene in horror cinema as far as I'm concerned. I dig the grim humour put into it as well, like when the Warlock runs out of gas and is wrecked by the spell, unbeknownst to them, and when he runs over the bunny, shuts up the annoying secretary, and horrifically gives the hooker a closer look at her hair! Also that is a rather pitiful bit part for Zach Galligan but hey, you can't say he isn't integral to the plot, he gives the Warlock his trademark black garb! I don't adore every last thing about it, the CGI on the baseball looks total caca. And then there's the two cheeseball cringeworthy lines that Chris Young delivers: "Welcome to the majors" and "Welcome to the 20th century, asshole!" I mean my god, shudder! Also it really takes the punch right out of the climax when the ascension of Satan, the fallen one, the red hot demon himself, is halted by a pair of common truck headlights! Seeing the Warlock get his spectacularly gross comeuppance makes up for it though. Whatever other people may think of it, this will always be a dear favourite of mine, I still find it a horrific blast after all these years. Definitely Picasso where I'm looking from!
