CAST A DEADLY SPELL (1991) ***

Cast a Deadly Spell is set in Los Angeles in the ‘40s where magic is commonplace.  Everyone uses it, except for a private detective named Lovecraft (Fred Ward).  He’s old school.  He’s also broke, so when Lovecraft is hired by Hacksaw (David Warner) to find the Necronomicon, an unholy book which just might bring about the end of the world, he jumps at the chance to recover it. 

Directed by Martin Campbell (who would go on to helm Goldeneye a few years later), Cast a Deadly Spell is a cheeky and fun melding of Lovecraftian horror with a Raymond Chandleresque hard-boiled detective story.  There are all the clichés you love to see in the private eye genre here, including femme fatales, duplicitous rich clients, seedy gangsters, and virginal sexpots.  Only this time, we have zombie henchmen, slimy monsters, and voodoo priestesses in the mix.  

Campbell does a fine job blending the genres together and allows the more fanciful stuff to happen with verisimilitude.  Scenes like a unicorn lumbering out into traffic and gremlins turning up in machinery are played out as everyday occurrences, and Ward’s reactions are often priceless.  I also liked that the rampant use of magic is mostly a metaphor for post-WWII prosperity and a symbol of modern advancement, with Ward being stubbornly stuck in his ways against it.  Again, Campbell doesn’t hit you over the head with it, but it’s nice to know it’s there.

Ward is ideally cast as Lovecraft.  He’s almost as good here as he was in the previous year’s Miami Blues, which is enough to make you wish he had played detectives more often.  Ward excels at delivering the rapid-fire, hard-nosed banter and looks perfectly world-weary and lived-in as the badass fast-thinking Lovecraft.  Moore is a bit miscast as the gangster’s moll, but she is very good, nevertheless.  Clancy Brown is particularly fun to watch as a tough guy nightclub owner and Warner gets a few memorable scenes as Ward’s mysterious employer.

I enjoyed this immensely, although I must admit, it never quite kicks into fourth gear.  The ending is predictable too but getting there is a consistently engrossing and enjoyable ride.  If you can abide a few cheesy moments and one or two missteps in tone (like the gargoyle attack), you’ll have yourself a solidly entertaining amalgam of ideas held together by Ward’s knockout performance.