Warlock Moon (1973)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Must See Movie...

Great Film overall

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Warlock Moon (1973) * 1/2 (out of 4)Jenny (Laurie Walters) and John (Joe Spano) are in love with one another and decide to ride out into the country for some time alone. They end up at on old house and on the inside is the ultra creepy Agnes Abercrombi (Edna MacAfee) who seems to have a few secrets.William Herbert's WARLOCK MOON is a film that seems to have been forgotten by a lot of people except for the fans who probably saw it on VHS back in the day. That small group of fans have often talked about what a creepy movie it was but I'm going to guess a lot of this might have been due to the age they were when they first saw it.I say that because the film just isn't all that good for a number of reasons but I will say that I give Herbert credit for at least trying to do something different. During this era of the "drive-in" picture there were all sorts of films that dealt with young people getting lost in some sort of location where they meet "nice" people who turn out to be murderers. That's certainly nothing new but I give Herbert credit for at least trying to do something different with it.Here he slowly tries to build up the tension of what "horrors" this told woman is hiding but I think it just didn't work in the end. For this type of slow-burn horror you really need an atmosphere and you need to feel the terror but neither thing happens here. Another problem is that the slowness is really drawn out because the majority of the running time is nothing but dialogue. An even bigger problem is the fact that neither character is all that interesting and this means that you really don't care about them or anything they're chatting about.WARLOCK MOON was obviously done on a very low-budget and there are some decent things in it but sadly they just don't really come together and in the end we're left with something a bit too boring for its own good.

"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.

My friend Rand Herbert (Bill's brother) and I were in charge of special effects, make-up, sets and general grunt work for this movie, which Bill financed by scraping up the 25K from family and friends (like me) when Bill was at Cal, Berkeley. Considering the budget we had to work with - even in 1972 when most of the movie was shot, I'd say we did a reasonably good job. Rand and I use a variety of aliases for our jobs - as did Bill. My favorites were Jeff D. Dodat and Don U. Dodat ("did you have to do that?" and "Dont you do that" - shades of the Car Guys) We especially liked that we had a "false" ending (in 1972 - pre-Brian DePalma)- and that the movie continued through the credits. We were trying to get people to stay for the credits). We liked the scene where the axe-man looms behind the glass door then crashes through it. It's true that Edna McAfee played the role a little over-the-top, buts just what we wanted - this wasn't Shakespeare after all. Did anyone recognize the "Hunter"? Harry Bauerr was also in Woody Allen's "Take the Money and Run".We all had visions of eventually working in Hollywood, but after small company in LA "bought" the movie at interlock stage and invested another $75 grand to reshoot a few scenes, score it, blow it up to 35mm and (unfortunately) re title it, it went nowhere.For REAL trivia buffs - one of the titles we originally wanted was (for a movie that depended on cannibalism as a theme) "The Last Supper". This - of course - was vetoed by the folks in LA.As I understand it, the principal of that small company was murdered - there was talk of mob hits and all that. The company immediately went bankrupt and the negative for our film was held hostage as collateral for the company's debts by the film processing company.It took several years of negotiation to "free" our film by which time we were all so disgusted with the whole deal we had each gone our separate ways. Bill sold the now completed film to a film syndicator, which is why you only see the film on late night TV. Other than the "premier" in Livermore where it was shot, and a few test runs in drive-ins in Spokane and somewhere in Georgia, thats the only place its ever been seen. It was "designed" as a drive-in" movie actually - somewhat scary scenes to have your girlfriend want to snuggle - no complicated plot to interfere with the smooching.Bill went on to a career in real estate, I went to law school after having spent much of the 1970s in Africa and the Middle east and South Asia, some of it with Rand and his then girlfriend, now wife. Rand owns a historical research company in Davis.Glad to see this film got some sort of cult status eventually.My absolute favorite story about this film is, when i was working for Thelton Henderson at U.S. District Court in San Francisco, he pointed out a story in the SF Chronicle that two prisoners were suing a local TV station for cruel and unusual punishment for having switched their listed playing of "California Split" on late night TV for a showing of "Warlock Moon". I am conflicted about whether they should have won or lost that suit.Enjoy the film folks.

A young college girl in hideous red bell bottoms (Laurie Walters, who bears an odd resemblance to Gillian Anderson), agrees to accompany the creepy geekwho's been hitting on her to a picnic in the countryside. The two come upon the site of an abandoned spa with a tragic history - it seems that a young girl was murdered there years ago on her wedding day and served as the main courseto the unsuspecting guests. Ew. But wait! The spa isn't as abandoned as it seems! A creepy old woman with a penchant for tea parties lives there still, and she's very eager to have the young couple join her...forever. Will our young heroine escape before dawn? Who cares?Okay, so there's no warlock, and no moon, but there is a ghost in a bridal gown, a couple of axe-wielding hippies and a lot of drugged beverages. However, none of it is enough to make this very entertaining or interesting. The camera follows Laurie as she slooooooooooooooowly wanders around the spooky oldhouse in her nightgown, the plot seems to have been made up as the film wentalong and even after the end credits stop rolling, the film keeps right on going! It refuses to end! Admittedly, the acting of both Laurie and Joe Spano as her geeky love interest isn't really bad at all, but they weren't given much to work with. There's some great shots of the Northern California Bay Area, including the small town of Livermore, where much of this was filmed. (I used to live there, it really is beautiful.) But, for the most part, this film plods along for a very long time and keeps plodding on until I finally got irritated with the final extended freeze frame and turned off the TV. Once again, the comedy commentary byJoe Bob Briggs makes this snoozefest an enjoyable experience with someinteresting trivia and some much needed sarcasm. Released before "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" it's hard to believe that TobeHooper was ever worried about the competition. 1 star and a big yawn forWarlock Moon.