Magnus� presence in the movie is explained; he was a friend of Leo�s who the grizzled cop would consult with on his more offbeat cases. Magnus is, or course, gone, but he left a pile of books for Leo, most of which have titles that seem to be lifted off of the HP Lovecraft Reference Shelf.
A black dog is spotted outside the house.
The prevalent message from Magnus appears to be: �He is coming back�. There are mentions of Yog Kothag (I assume it�s Yog Shoggoth�s nephew, tired of being forgotten by �Call of C�Thulu� roleplayers), sacrifices, and of course, some serious mystery. In many ways, this is what Lord Of Illusions should have been.
At 100 minutes in we have a completely unnecessary phone confab with a character never seen before or again. Ouch.
So the horror movie survivors (if you will bear with me, I think Mark and Reggie�s experiences could both have been beefed into feature-length) decide it�s time to get proactive and kick some demonic ass. Kind of a proto-Buffy, if you will. And Reggie seems to echo my feelings when she quips: �Rise and shine Mark, it�s time to go zombie hunting�. I�ve been waiting for a woman to say that to me for years. (editor's note: I say this to him every morning. he just doesn't wake up for it. -bettie)
So Mark and Reggie are investigating, investigating� horror-mystery is a great idea, but sadly it stretches a bit thin here. Pulse Quasars are mentioned a lot, I begin to fidget.
A little over an hour and we finally find out what Mark and Jay had invented, and it�s a wrist-mounted grappling hook�. I want one. Hmm� think this�ll be a plot device?
Mark has an effectively �Eeeew!� nightmare sequence, and I can see why it�s famous among gore-hound circles. It�s actually quite well done, almost Fulci-like in it�s thick ick factor, but less stylized than Argento.
It seems that Parker Nash (remember? The shifty realtor? Yeah, him. Well, he�s some sort of earthly servent for Yog Kothag, and he�s responsible for renting people the cabins where he Zombie Enforcer comes and guts them. Really, Yog Kothag is a pro-active villain, he needs sacrifices so he makes it happen. You have to respect that.
Leo is killed by the devil dog. Ah, the Devil Dog. For some time there I was wondering what it was doing in the pic� is it Yog Kothag�s earthly vessel? Naw, YK is more of a off-screen villain, kind of like The Emperor in the 1st two Star Wars movies� by which I mean the ones released in �77 and �80, thank you very much. So is the Devil Dog another form for the zombie enforcer? I don�t think so. I have a theory that The Devil Dog is the unseen Evil POV which ate Jay and almost ate Mark and roams the woods and stuff, drag-racing with the Evil POV from Evil Dead. I�d rather be a Devil Dog than a Rotting Apple Head, personally.
Ack, much like my review, this movie is soooo disjointed. There are times when I am relishing in how much it strikes off the beaten path and does something new to horror, and other times when I�m scratching my head and wondering how much is on a cutting room floor somewhere� well, a lot. So go to Dr. Freex� site if yer curious.
Ha! My 2nd shameless plug.
There is a huge confrontation with the Zombie Enforcer, the good guys win! But Mark is killed in the process. Nooooo, Mark!!!
Parker Nash is confronted by Reggie. At this point Bettie comes over from the computer to steal a cigarette. �I�m enjoying this!� says Parker Nash. �But I�m really hungry for more scenery, see?� says Bettie as Parker Nash.
Mark is now the new Zombie Enforcer, but his love for Reggie overcomes his Yog Kothag implanted Evil and he kills Nash. Reggie dumps Mark�s corpse in her Bronco and drives off.
We get to see the spiraling-Goblin/Spider shot of shifty realtor screaming� and a text comes on the screen: �Somewhere A Man Named Nash is Screaming��
Wow.
And you know what? We wouldn�t have hated this movie when we were kids, drinking Dr. Pepper and eating Taco Bell and Lil� Debbie Snack Cakes. It has some true laughs (unintentional, sure, but they�re still there), a couple good jolts, and some really inventive melding of the Lovecraftian horror story with a detective story� which is how it ought to be. Despite costing a lot less (millions, I�m willing to bet) I�d rather re-watch Forever Evil than The Resurrected. And I liked The Resurrected. A failure, ultimately, but a really enjoyable one� if you are in the mood for Taco Bell.
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