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Lord of Illusions
theatrical poster for Lord of Illusions
Directed by	Clive Barker
Produced by	Clive Barker, Steve Golin, Joanne Sellar, Sigurjon Sighvatsson
Written by	Short story & screenplay: Clive Barker
Starring	Scott Bakula, Kevin J. O'Connor, Famke Janssen, J. Trevor Edmond, Daniel von Bargen, Joseph Latimore
Music by	Simon Boswell
Cinematography	Ronn Schmidt
Editing by	Alan Baumgarten
Distributed by	United Artists, MGM (USA, DVD)
Release date(s)	August 25, 1995
Running time	109 min Director's cut: 120 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Lord of Illusions is a horror film, written and directed by English author, filmmaker and artist, Clive Barker. Based on his earlier short story, "The Last Illusion" (from Books of Blood Vol. 6), this film presents Barker's signature Harry D'Amour character onscreen for the first time. Barker asserts that the director's cut of this film is his definitive version, as the theatrical release does not represent his true vision.

Cast

This 1995 film stars Scott Bakula as D'Amour, Kevin J. O'Connor as Swann, Famke Janssen as Dorothea, and Daniel von Bargen as Nix.

Plot

The plot revolves around the blurred line between magic and illusion. One of the main characters, Swann, uses the teachings of cult leader Nix to make a name for himself as an illusionist. The key difference between him and other magicians is that he uses actual magic to perform his feats.

When an illusion performed by Swann goes horribly wrong (apparently killing him in the process), Harry D'Amour, already in Los Angeles to pursue an insurance fraud case, is contacted by Swann's widow Dorothea to investigate the strange occurrences surrounding it.

D'Amour, after finding Swann still alive, learns that Nix's followers are attempting to bring him back from the dead. After finding Nix's body stolen from his burial site, Swann and D'Armour return to the farmhouse where Nix's cult was based. Nix resurrects in front of his followers, and then slays them all, declaring only Swann is worthy to destroy humanity with him. D'Amour and Swann manage to kill Nix, with Swann dying in the process.

Style

With this film, Barker attempted to resurrect the film noir style, while merging it with contemporary horror so as to make a film with a fresh feel to it.

Trivia

• Cult leader Nix is explicitly compared to cult leader Charles Manson in the film. Like Manson and his "family," Nix and his followers believe he has the power to return from the dead. Both have followers who live in a ratty place out in the desert and cut off their hair at their leader's request.

• The opening sequence of the Swann's performance (in which he is depicted dying when an illusion goes bad) was filmed at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California.

• The Swann funeral sequence was filmed at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery located on Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles, California.

• The song played as the credits roll is a rendition of Dancing in the Dark performed by Diamanda Galás

• Heavy metal band Nevermore uses word samples from the movie in two tracks from their album Dreaming Neon Black.

• Speedcore artist Lord Lloigor uses dialog samples from the movie in his track "Ray Of Darkness".

External links

• Lord of Illusions at the Internet Movie Database
• Lord of Illusions at Allmovie
• Lord of Illusions Box Office Data at The Numbers