AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Cissy Évelyne It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Scott LeBrun Future TV names Laurie Walters ('Eight is Enough') and Joe Spano ('Hill Street Blues') headline this obscure but reasonably amusing micro budget horror flick. Laurie plays Jenny, a college student aggressively courted by the theatrical John (Spano). After a picnic lunch in the boondocks, they end up at an isolated, run down former spa that has been closed down for four decades. They also meet a resident: affable old lady Mrs. Abercrombi (Edna MacAfee). Laurie must soon dodge attempts on her life and comes face to face with some sort of oddball ritual that must take place within a certain time frame.Written, edited, produced & directed by Bill Herbert (his only credit as a filmmaker), this is no great shakes but it entertains in decent enough fashion. It is notable for a goofy sense of humor at times: Johns' idea of impressing Jenny is wearing Groucho glasses and doing a bad Inspector Clouseau imitation. He also launches into a re- enactment of a classic horror trope in a later part of the picture, just for *beep*s and giggles. Although it has no warlocks, and the moon doesn't play into the plot (the original title, "Bloody Spa", would have been more accurate), it's got enough weirdness & atmosphere, and fun moments of grisliness to make it mildly enjoyable. Although the cast largely consists of no-names, the acting is sincere, with Walters and Spano making for an engaging primary couple. Ms. MacAfee is a gas as the supposedly harmless old biddy who does have a secret to hide. Steve Solinsky and Richard Vielle are adequate as two axe wielding goons who scowl, stalk around, and commit bloody mayhem.Before the movie / night is over, we'll also have been treated to some face painting, quail hunting, exposition, haunting, and, funnily enough, a lecture early in the picture on human "deviancy".The closing credits actually begin before the story is really over, which was supposedly an attempt by Herbert & company to get people to actually READ the damn things.Six out of 10.

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) WARLOCK MOON is one of the overlooked little classics of the American horror film's fascination with witchcraft & satanic covens that spawned dozens of adventuresome, low budget films that became staples of cult cinema: RACE WITH THE DEVIL, THE DEVIL'S RAIN, BLOOD SABBATH, NECROMANCY, ENTER THE DEVIL, WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS, "Brotherhood Of Satan", etc. Europe had its vampires & werewolves, but the satanic witch covens seemed to be a predominantly American fad, and if the production of this gem had not lead up the blind alley that it infamously went it would have been regarded as a classic of the form.This time out we meet a perky, cheerful young college coed played by "Eight Is Enough" actress Laurie Walters, who spends the first half of the film wearing a skin-tight sheer blouse that looks painted on with nary a coconut brassiere in sight. If girls dressed like that nowadays we might not have had time for the War On Terror at all let alone going to Mars. I mention her attire only because the first time through her chest was the sole focus of my attention for her entire duration on screen, resulting in my missing a delirious little nightmare of a world that the filmmakers contrived out of next to nothing.The key feature is the beguiling location they utilized to shoot the bulk of the film: A dilapidated, creepy, run down, unwholesome looking unused health spa out in the middle of nowhere. The place is a marvel of decay, gloom, and Gothic menace worthy of a Euro Horror castle with its misty passageways & cobweb infested dungeons. Only this time its a huge, maze like series of interconnected structures that used to serve as a health resort. The walls are all falling down, the doors half off their hinges, discarded rubbish, broken glass, and household oddments litter the empty, twisting hallways that go nowhere other than claustrophobic little rooms. Some of them have padlocked meat lockers, some have cabalistic symbols drawn on the floor, and the whole setting is something right out of a nightmare.The story concerns Ms. Walters being smooth talked by a young guy claiming to be a newspaper photographer to accompany him on a semi-romantic picnic in the country. Played by "Hill Street Blues" favorite Joe Spano, the guy comes off as charming & professional, and even though she called the newspaper looking for him and they had never heard his name before, she agrees, and he takes her to see the old spa first. There they encounter a dear little old tottering lady, living alone in a small furnished room where she makes tea and sandwiches and quickly ingratiates herself onto the young couple. The young lady gets lost in the maze of passageways, encounters ghostly figures and bizarre occurrences that the others have a hard time believing.That's about all I want to say about the plot, which contain just as many twists, empty rooms, and unexpected ends as the spa location itself. To ruin any of the fun would be unthinkable, though it should be added that there are aspects of the movie that might strike some as shortcomings, the most important being the actress playing the elderly woman. Yes she overacts and hams it up, but I would argue that it is exactly what the film required and that she created a memorable character.And in fact I'd say that one of the film's strengths is how it plays up this idea of forced politeness when confronted with someone so unrelentingly creepy. The social pressure to be polite in situations where things seem a bit odd is something we have all had to endure. One can sympathize with the young woman's natural urge to want to be nice to the lady, and the film does a marvelous job of taking that idea to an almost surreal barrage of increasingly creepy behavior that eventually pushes the girl over the brink in the film's most ingenious scene.The film is ultimately perhaps more tightly written than its execution might suggest, and filled with startling little touches like the two berserk guys running around with axes, a theme involving cannibalism, some eye popping still frame photography and an unrelenting atmosphere of claustrophobia. The double twist ending is also fun, with the film ending on a decidedly downbeat paranoid 70s note that seems to have predominated in the form. Fans of the genre will be very pleased, and the background of how the movie came to be is even just as fascinating if not more.7/10

Gafke A young college girl in hideous red bell bottoms (Laurie Walters, who bears an odd resemblance to Gillian Anderson), agrees to accompany the creepy geekwho's been hitting on her to a picnic in the countryside. The two come upon the site of an abandoned spa with a tragic history - it seems that a young girl was murdered there years ago on her wedding day and served as the main courseto the unsuspecting guests. Ew. But wait! The spa isn't as abandoned as it seems! A creepy old woman with a penchant for tea parties lives there still, and she's very eager to have the young couple join her...forever. Will our young heroine escape before dawn? Who cares?Okay, so there's no warlock, and no moon, but there is a ghost in a bridal gown, a couple of axe-wielding hippies and a lot of drugged beverages. However, none of it is enough to make this very entertaining or interesting. The camera follows Laurie as she slooooooooooooooowly wanders around the spooky oldhouse in her nightgown, the plot seems to have been made up as the film wentalong and even after the end credits stop rolling, the film keeps right on going! It refuses to end! Admittedly, the acting of both Laurie and Joe Spano as her geeky love interest isn't really bad at all, but they weren't given much to work with. There's some great shots of the Northern California Bay Area, including the small town of Livermore, where much of this was filmed. (I used to live there, it really is beautiful.) But, for the most part, this film plods along for a very long time and keeps plodding on until I finally got irritated with the final extended freeze frame and turned off the TV. Once again, the comedy commentary byJoe Bob Briggs makes this snoozefest an enjoyable experience with someinteresting trivia and some much needed sarcasm. Released before "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" it's hard to believe that TobeHooper was ever worried about the competition. 1 star and a big yawn forWarlock Moon.

goodvibe-1 I saw this one on late night in the 70's and was absolutely creeped out! I knew I was in for another one of those low-budget cranks...but this is one I remembered and taped off of late night about 9 years ago just so I could have it. I absolutely agree that the director should have at least made one more film like it...heck, maybe not even a horror film at that. Perhaps an action flick or even more innovative for it's time would have been for him to make a post-apocalyptic film which very well could have been a percursor to Mad Max, or even the slew of like films apparently shot in Italy in the early 80's (??)Definitely could have been better microphone placement, that's my only complaint. Warlock Moon is one of my all-time favs! I like the plot twists too. I remember it kind of took me out there after the middle of Act I and spun it off somewhere I didn't quite expect.And what a wallop of an ending!!