Rating: NR
Genre:
Horror
Release Date: 08/17/2004
Dubbed: English/Espanol
Sound: DD
Run Time: 84 min
Flags: Violence, Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Shriek Show
College student
Jenny (
Laurie Walters) meets aspiring journalist
John (
Joe Spano), who convinces her to go on a picnic with him. While lost in the countryside, the pair stumble upon a sprawling, rickety estate that years ago had been the Soda Spring Health Spa. A kindly old woman (
Edna Macafee) who lives in a restored section of the main house offers them tea and a tour, but
Jenny feels strangely dizzy and is sure that she saw a strange apparition in a wedding dress float by in the hall. Though the place gives her the creeps,
John talks her into returning a few days later so he can write a feature story about the history of the spa.
Jenny arrives early and is shocked to find no sign of the old woman at all, and a kindly hunter who passes by confirms that the decrepit spa has long been abandoned, ever since a sinister cannibalistic episode forced it to close down 50 years before. When
John finally shows up, the old woman and her clean, orderly living quarters are suddenly back, and
Jenny starts to realize that something evil and supernatural is afoot. A padlocked meat locker holds enough evidence to prove without doubt that
Jenny is intended to be the focus of a hideous Satanic rite.
~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
This forgotten ghost/cannibal story doesn't feature a warlock or a moon, meaning that the name it was eventually released to television with (
Bloody Spa) is a bit more appropriate, though sillier.
Warlock Moon starts off with an extremely weak foundation, as the naive
Jenny allows
John, a total stranger, to take her on a long trip into the country after he's introduced himself to her on campus while wearing a trenchcoat and
Groucho Marx-style gag glasses as a disguise. They both show even worse judgment when they ignore the advice of two threatening policemen who pull them over just to warn them to get out of the area ("People in the valley don't like strangers"), not only driving on but actually trespassing on the grounds of the deserted spa. Actress
Edna Macafee is an older woman who needlessly adopts a comical "old lady" voice for her character, and
Jenny trusts the shady
John far beyond rationality. Still, once everything starts rolling,
Warlock Moon serves up some weird atmosphere and decent shocks, though seasoned
horror fans will probably see everything coming a few minutes before it arrives. The set is appropriately creepy, the two youthful leads are energetic, and the film relies more on suggestion than gore (until a gruesome payoff near the end).
Joe Spano and
Laurie Walters went on to successful television careers (
Hill Street Blues and
Eight Is Enough, respectively), though this is director/screenwriter
Bill Herbert's only known credit.
~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
;)
