Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

lemon_magic In spite of its poverty row feel, there's a lot to like about "Warlock Moon". Unfortunately, there's not *enough* to like, and the results are mediocre at best.In its favor: For a movie with such a tiny budget, the crew does a fine job of making every dollar count. The "Old Dark House" that serves as background for 80% of the story was a good choice. It provided a lot of atmosphere and gravitas to the proceedings (which I am sure was part of the director's overall plan.) Also in its favor: the cast does a fair job within the limits of their collective talent. No one stinks on ice as often happens when something like this hits the screen. The lead actress who carries the film is blandly pretty and not especially charismatic. But she's a real actress; you can see what the character is thinking most of the time (as opposed to just emitting an attitude, which is much easier). So I give her credit for a nuanced performance of a 2 dimensional role. There are echoes of "The Old Dark House", "Don't Look In The Basement",and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in the story. But all those stories have a lot more going on than this movie does. "Warlock Moon" is threadbare by comparison to those classics. This was odd, because there were all kinds of plot elements (the "ghost bride", the echoes of "Deja Vu",inexplicable blooming of the dead flowers, etc.) that could have been expanded in an entertaining way. So the real problem is that the movie drags in too many spots because the screenplay is trying to pad out the minimalist story elements long enough to set things up for the climax for a movie length story. Nothing happens...a *lot*; there is too much dead air between lines of dialog, and too much of the dialog is nothing more than serviceable. This is the other problem with really low budget movies - they often don't have the time or ability to come up with alternate or better takes of scenes; the directors tend to fall in love with their shots and compositions because there's nobody around to say, "Nope, this can be done better". So there's no time (or budget) to go back and punch things up with snappier takes and more plot points, etc. You get the feeling that with a little more professional story telling and editing, this movie would have impressive, if still not a classic. Also I didn't care for the double twist "downer" ending, which seemed to be thrown in just for meanness' sake. I would have rated the movie higher if they'd left well enough alone with the first "twist". I found this on YouTube on a forum member's recommendation, and it was worth watching once. That's more than I can say for a lot of movies of this caliber.

VinnieRattolle I'll try to keep this spoiler-lite.When they get lost on their way back from a picnic, young lovers Laurie and John stumble upon a decrepit, closed-down spa and its sole tenant, the equally aged Mrs. Abercrombi. Soon Jenny's being haunted by a ghost bride and other strange goings-on are happening in this oddball variation of "Hansel and Gretel."Although thoroughly obscure due to poor distribution, I can't praise this little b-movie enough. There's four inherent problems with no-name '70s schlockers (horrible acting, bad continuity, abysmal effects, ridiculous plot reveals) and this movie suffers from none of them. The cast is populated by actors from the stage, many of whom give nuanced performances which might seem a little over-the-top at times, but it works. The casting might also account for the overall good continuity -- once a stage actor makes an acting decision, they tend to stick with it. The film relies more on scares than effects, and they achieved them better with the camera, the foreboding sanatorium labyrinth setting and editing than many of the era's filmmakers did with effects -- though the few effects shots are equally well executed. The plot reveal could easily have been hokey, but they sidestepped that issue entirely by refusing to explain much of anything. Aside from a few pacing issues and Jenny's sometimes-illogical actions (she drives her own VW back to the spa, so she could really leave at any time!), I've got no complaints.Perhaps it's BECAUSE there's not much explanation that the movie's memorable (much like the next year's "Black Christmas"). All of the answers aren't spelled out for the audience, so it leaves one thinking. Even a moment that another filmmaker would draw hefty attention to (Jenny discovers living flowers where dead ones had been a few moments earlier) is played fairly subtly. Without giving too much away, there's also an element that has an entirely different meaning upon second viewing. Plus the filmmakers pitched several curve-balls, and the story involves a bizarre mixture of witchcraft, Satanism, cannibalism, hillbillies and hauntings. Those aren't themes that one finds interwoven too often. And I have to mention that there's one endearing mid-movie sequence where our would-be Hansel and Gretel play make-believe which initially seems completely random but the scene absolutely oozes charm. It's really a shame that the movie got saddled with a bad title (no discernible warlocks nor a single shot of the moon), worse marketing (the poster featured a vampire bat, the VHS a shrouded warlock) and distribution (Tucson, Arizona and Alaska for a few weeks in 1974 and infrequently on late-night TV), a screwed-up first DVD release (which is edited and skips a hunk of the movie during a layer transition), the filmmakers went on to get 9 to 5 jobs, and the picture has virtually been forgotten outside of the community where it was made. It's a quirky little '70s horror flick that should have been a drive-in classic.

Coventry "Warlock Moon" is a very strange and unique movie. Certainly not David Lynch strange or Alexandro Jodorowsky unique, mind you, but the plot enfolds itself so extremely unusual! Yet for some reason you unconsciously accept what's going on, even though it makes little sense, because you're somewhat curious and intrigued. The two main characters make each their acquaintance rather … exceptionally, to say the least. She's a student and he's a tacky newspaper reporter who sneaks up on her, wearing a fake mustache and ridiculous goggles, and insists that she goes picnicking with him. Odd … but effective apparently, because the naive girl falls for it and a couple of days later they head out to the countryside together. They end up in a ramshackle old spa where they get a tour from an uncanny albeit friendly lady. Yet another few days later, the spa is totally abandoned and a hunter tells the girl about the morbid past of the place. But then when the boy pops up, the old lady returns as well. And so does a guy wielding an axe. What the hell? Following the good old clichés of the horror genre, one thing's for sure: the girl just learned about deviant patterns in school, like incest and cannibalism, so they sure as hell going to encounter some of that! "Warlock Moon" isn't a very good occult horror film, but I inexplicably appreciated it, and there are still a few things to recommend to fans of low-budget drive-in movies. The film features that typically 70's atmosphere, you know? Anything can happen, even the most absurd plot twists appear to be very normal and the most likable characters can get killed off at any second. The plot is mysterious enough and even a bit compelling, but the film is unfortunately also very slow-moving and uneventful. And then I'm not even mentioning the awfully redundant and head-scratching empty swimming pool sequence. That was the second "what the hell" moment already! Around the hour, the whole thing just gets too weird and you'll wonder where the hell they're going with it, but still I'd encourage people to see it, as there are a few neat twists in the end. "Warlock Moon" is the only film (at least, that I've seen) that uses freeze-frame shots during the actual film. We've seen a lot of movies end in a freeze-frame, but this crazy flick has several throughout the film and for no apparent reason other than the lack of budgetary means. Well, those are the 70's for you, any weirdo with a typewriter and a demented idea for a horror movie could raise a handful of dollars to actually make it. And there are plenty of punks, myself included, that make it their life's mission to hunt all this obscure junk down.

Woodyanders Spunky college student Jenny (a breezy and engaging performance by the pretty Laurie Walters, who also popped up in "The Harrad Experiment" around the same time and later became a regular on the fluffy 70's sitcom "Eight Is Enough") and goofy aspiring newspaper reporter John (winningly played by Joe Spano, who went on to become a prominent cast member of the gritty 80's police TV drama "Hill Street Blues) take a road trip across the California countryside and discover an old, abandoned and decrepit health spa during their travels. They also meet and befriend nice elderly lady Agnes Abercrombie (a pleasingly lively turn by wizened old crone Edna Macafee). Moreover, our young couple discover much to their dismay that rumors of the old spa being a front for a crazed cannibal cult aren't nearly as far-fetched as they initially thought.Director William Herbert elicits uniformly solid acting from the entire cast (Walters and Spano in particular are very likable and impressive), keeps the pace bumping along at a steady clip, stages the shock scenes with a reasonable amount of flair, and effectively creates an eerie, mysterious and unnerving creeped-out atmosphere that's both strangely compelling and oddly unsettling in comparable measure. Charles R. Blaker's funky score neatly alternates between groovy'n'jazzy lounge tunes and more typically shivery'n'shuddery "scary" music. Larry Secrest's grainy, unpolished cinematography gives the film an appealingly rough'n'ragged look while making artful use of such fancy flourishes as dissolves, freeze frames and slow motion. John Sykes' well-plotted script offers an intriguing set-up, a few dandy surprise twists, and a truly horrific climax. Excellent quintessentially 70's downbeat nihilistic ending, too. A bit slow, static and talky in spots, but overall a genuinely spooky and satisfying little fright film sleeper.