Bonehead-XL Back in the late eighties/early nineties, when the horror genre was being fed consistent revenue from a still-growing home video market, just about any scare film could spawn a franchise. The original "Warlock" was only a modest success but that was still enough to justify a sequel two years later. "Warlock: The Armageddon" has a more ambitious story then the original, a more comedic tone, and is simultaneously more fun and less satisfying then the first.Only loosely connected to the first film, "Warlock II" builds a wildly different mythology around the titular villain. There's some typical nonsense about lunar and solar eclipse and how the wall between Earth and Hell is thin during this time. This is a opportune moment for the Warlock, upgraded from merely a powerful witch to the literal son of Satan, to reemerge. A sect of druids protect the five rune stones the villain needs to bring about Hell on Earth. A prophecy marks two of their children as the true warriors that will prevent the end of days. The film follows the druids training their youngest members for battle while the Warlock travels across the country, collecting the remaining stones and committing magically-assisted murders."Warlock: The Armageddon" is essentially two movies stapled together. One is campy but incredibly entertaining while the other is campy and boring. The Warlock's killing spree provides the trashy thrills horror-fans are likely looking for. The film beings with the evil witch being reborn, in a sick and twisted moment, and continues in similarly outrageous fashion. The Warlock comes across each owner of the stones, offing them in ways related to their personality. The death scenes are high-pitched and ridiculous. A gas station attendant has his eye torn out, a snooty art collector is bent into a piece of modern art, a hooker gets scalped, not to mention a lengthy stop at a carnival sideshow. Julian Sands is having a ball. He hams it up, digging into each cheesy one liner the script gives. Sands never winks, maintaining the seriousness of the Warlock character, while letting the audience know what a good time he's having. Gory, silly quasi-slasher thrills like this are probably what you'd expect from an underachieving sequel to a sorta-popular eighties horror movie.The other movie "Warlock 2" also is doesn't entertain in the same way. The tale of the druids raising two new warriors is snore-inducing. The audience certainly doesn't care about Chris Young's protagonist, a gee-shucks young kid named Kenny. His romance with Samantha, played by a wooden Paula Marshall, is of no interest at all. The storyline, involving rune stones and ancient prophecies, is horribly clichéd. It's the kind of mythological story we've heard hundreds of times before in horror and fantasy films. Any time the movie focuses on this plot line, the audience really wishes it would be back to the Warlock killing people.Director Anthony Hickox had previously directed the "Waxwork" films, "Sundown: The Vampires in Retreat," and, most pressingly, "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth." Like "Hellraiser III," Hickox has made a movie about a formally serious villain suddenly performing over-the-top kills and cracking wise about it. Luckily for us, the Warlock is a far better fit for this style then Pinhead. Hickox's direction is energetic, with multiple tracking shots of bodies flying through the air. His creativity, which has always been fun but undisciplined, is best displayed during the final fight. The Warlock explodes a building, walking back to Earth on an invisible staircase. He dismembers enemies with his hands and shoots them down with his finger. However, the climax proves a bit underwhelming. Not only is the bland hero pitted against the far more charismatic Sands, the way the villain is defeated comes out of nowhere.I've never gotten around to seeing "Warlock III" but the lack of Julian Sands doesn't make me quick to check it out. "Warlock: The Armageddon" probably wouldn't be half as much as it is without Sands' camping it up. It's a fairly undemanding flick for horror geeks and certainly would have prospered from a more balanced and creative script. But, then again, what can you expect from an in-name-only sequel to a sort-of obscure movie.

Paul Magne Haakonsen First off, let me say that you can watch "Warlock: The Armageddon" without having seen the first "Warlock" movie. Of course you will have more depth to the warlock character, if you have seen it, but you will not miss out on anything if you haven't.This sequel is as good as the first movie in the series.Again, the role of the sinister warlock is portrayed by the charismatic Julian Sands. And in this movie the character is much more dark and evil, far more twisted than the warlock portrayed in the first movie. Julian Sands is so perfect for the role of the warlock.The cast is good, and the roles of the druids are good, both for the young druids and the elderly druids.The movie has a bunch of cool effects and wicked magics, something that have to be seen. However, it is not all good though, the scene with the knife went horribly wrong. That knife is perhaps the worst CGI effect I have seen to date.For fans of adventure genres or for people who like to play D&D games, this movie provides good entertainment. And like the first "Warlock" movie, this also have enough entertainment for more than one watching. I never grow tired of it, at least!

Woodyanders A supremely wicked and powerful warlock (Julian Sands in peak sinister and sardonic form) gets reborn and plans on unleashing Satan's wrath upon the world. Two virtuous teenagers blessed with supernatural abilities have to stop the warlock before it's too late. Director Anthony Hickox, working from a grim and harsh script by Kevin Rock and Sam Bernard, handles the extremely macabre subject matter with real flair and style: Hickox relates the twisted story at a constant brisk pace, sustains a properly dark and ominous mood throughout, and tackles the grisly gore set pieces with lip-smacking nasty brio (gruesome highlights include the warlock's truly vile and revolting rebirth and the warlock ripping a woman's scalp off). Chris Young as the nice, reluctant Kenny Travis and the lovely Paula Marshall as the sweet Samantha Ellison make for engaging protagonists. The veteran cast of seasoned professional thespians helps a lot: R.G. Armstrong as the crusty Franks, Steve Kahan as Kenny's amiable dad Will, Bruce Glover as sensible priest Ted Ellison, Charles Hallahan as the foolhardy Ethan Larson, Joanna Pacula as snobby fashion designer Paula Dare, and David Gaines as obnoxious businessman Nathan Sinclair. Ferdy Mayne, Zach Gilligan, and George "Buck" Flower pop up in cool bit parts. The special effects are pretty gnarly, with the best moment occurring when the warlock turns Sinclair into a living piece of modern art. Another great scene happens when the warlock shoots two men with his fingers. The climactic battle between the forces of good and evil is lively and exciting. Mark McKenzie's spirited shuddery score hits the bull's eye. Ditto Gerry Lively's polished cinematography. An immensely enjoyable horror movie.

Coventry How the hell do they come up with this stuff? Dig this: Once every 600 years, for five days following the solar eclipse, God is actually powerless. During this short period of time, the Devil has the chance to take over the earth if – and only IF – his son, the Warlock, manages to bring together five magical stones and involve them in some sort of satanic ritual. The only individuals that are able to prevent the Warlock from raising the Armageddon are carefully selected druids; people that have to die in their human form and get reborn as Godly warriors. What the hell?!? The biggest advantage of low-brained cheese horror is that you never require seeing the original in order to enjoy the sequels. I recall seeing "Warlock" long time ago, but I don't remember much, except that the basic plot outline was entirely different than the events featuring in "Warlock: The Armageddon". Julian Sands (still a regretfully underrated actor) once again stars as the Warlock, and he emerges – fully-grown – from the womb of poor woman just because she disposes of the first stone. His journey starts in New York, and our anti-hero has to travel all across the USA for gathering all the stones before he's expected in sunny California for the actual showdown. "Warlock: Armageddon" is a surprisingly entertaining B-movie, mainly because it's fast-paced and featuring quite a large amount of gory killing sequences. Julian Sands' performance also contributes a lot to the fun-factor of this movie, as he portrays his Warlock character as a truly obnoxious bastard who walks up the catwalk in the middle of fashion shows and deliberately runs his fast car over cute innocent bunnies. Naturally the script contains a lot of stupid dialogs and absurdly grotesque situations, but still one particular sequence is effectively eerie and disturbing, namely when the Warlock enters the traveling freak show to collect his third stone. In the "House of Wonders" he encounters a creepy midget and some genuine medieval torture devices. The 'heroic' characters are pretty lame and their extended druid-trainings (reminiscent to the Jedi-Knight training) are the least interesting moments of the entire film. Okay entertainment for undemanding horror fans.