[Crowley]
Plot:Involves a cambridge professor who one day comes to realize he's a reincarnation of notorious satanist Aleister Crowley.

Cast:Simon Callow, John Shrapnel, Kal Weber, Lucy Cudden, Jud Charlton, Paul McDowell, Richard Franklin, Terence Bayler, Robert Ashby.

My Thoughts:Good occult-horror flick, although over the top at times.

Review:"Crowley", aka "Chemical Wedding", is the story of Aleister Crowley, the notorious satanist. When he dies in the presence of two young men...the story then skips ahead many years later to a university in England. Where a professor (Callow) is eventually taken over little by little by Crowley's essence...eventually becoming the reincarnation of Crowley. He then begins setting in motion his evil plan of the chemical wedding, an ancient ritualistic ceremony which would give him the power to rule the world.

Granted, "Chemical Wedding" is a good occult horror movie in the sense that it really goes in depth into the background of Crowley, his goals, certain ceremonies, occult language, and such. But at the same time, Callow...who plays professor Haddo/Aleister Crowley reincarnated, does tend to overact a tad bit too much in his role. There are some moments where he does an excellent job as the classy, yet evil reincarnated satanist. But then there are times where he looks silly while he's playing the role, which I suspect is due to the people behind the scenes requesting he "ham it up", with the character.

Which is never a good idea in my book because over-acting and over the top dialogue can really hurt a character, especially in a horror film. Nonetheless, the character Crowley is an interesting villain to watch on screen, and has a devlish charm at times. Yet also can chill you at some points with how evil he really is. Of course the mission to stop Crowley from succeeding in his ceremony falls squarely upon the shoulders of a group of teenagers. Although these particular teens are students at the school where Professor Haddo has been taken over, and also work on the school paper.

So this makes for an interesting twist when compared to american movies where the heroes are usually a few stoners, one grumpy kid, and a hot girl and her goody-two-shoes boyfriend. People expecting "Crowley" to be one of those gory occult horror movies should not hold that expectation going into the film. It's not bloody by any means. In fact, it's more raunchy and Dario Argento-esque in it's twisted scenes filled with dark-bright colors, and alot of what can be described as erotic-horror. Although the movie isn't filled to the brim with sex scenes, the films most disturbing and darkest moments are surrounded by male/female relations mostly.

But back to the Argento mention, I really saw alot of Dario Argento influence within this film. I mean the director and writer have got to be fans of Dario Argento, or Italian horror in general. Becuase this movie could be easily compared to "Mother Of Tears" in some respects, and "Suspiria" in others. It's not nearly as scary or bone-chilling as "Suspiria", but it has the look and visual overtones that "Suspiria" did. The characters are the films weakest point though.

Beyond Callow as Professor Haddow, a quiet man who stutters often, and then becomes the powerful and charasmatic Aleister Crowley...most of the characters in the movie are quite boring and not very interesting to watch at all. I didn't find myself engaged in any of them, except for one older character who rolls around in a wheelchair and talks with a neck device. Him being the adult version of one of the boys who witnessed the aforementioned death of Crowley ages ago.

It's never a good thing when your film has the bad guy or the villain overshadow all of the other characters. Especially the good guys. Granted, every good antagonist needs an equally good protagonist. Thus this is what makes a horror movie good."Crowley" is not your typical horror film, as it's very darkly centered and immersed in occult teachings and mystique.

If you dig dark, occult-related horror then you should enjoy "Crowley", despite it's lack of blood, gore, and a high body count. But if you're more into occult horror that piles up the bodies, and splashes the screen red with blood...then maybe you should search elsewhere for a form of entertainment.

Positives:Great performance by Simon Callow, albeit at times he can go somewhat overboard. A very dark, moody, and twisted occult-related overtone throughout the film. The Italian horror undertones also worked pretty well.

Negatives:Like I said, Callow can go overboard sometimes with the character of Crowley, and be silly-looking at times. Also the supporting cast is pretty weak.

Overall:Two and a half out of four stars.





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