Cast a Deadly Spell

In an alternate 1948 Los Angeles, mythical creatures are real, zombies are used as free labor, and magic is a commonplace thing.

A man named Mickey delivers a grimoire to mobster Harry Bordon, the owner of the Dunwich nightclub. Bordon later discovers the book is a fake and orders his lieutenant, Tugwell, to follow Mickey. At Union Station, Mickey meets with his girlfriend, Lilly Sirwar. After spotting Tugwell, he tells Lilly to flee. Using magic, Tugwell murders Mickey while Lilly retrieves a large package from a station locker.

The actual book, the Necronomicon, was stolen from the wealthy Amos Hackshaw by his chauffeur, Larry Willis. Hackshaw hires Private detective Harry Philip Lovecraft to locate it. Lovecraft later meets Olivia, Hackshaw's 16-year-old daughter. She has been sheltered and repressed for most of her life, ever since her father became a widow. As Lovecraft leaves, Hackshaw sends a gargoyle to observe the investigation.

At the flophouse where Willis lived, Lovecraft finds a photo of Mickey and Lilly taken at Dunwich Club, a sample of perfume, and a note on a housing development's stationery reading "Union Station – One Bag". At the Dunwich Club, Lovecraft encounters Connie Stone, an old flame who is now in a relationship with Bordon. Lovecraft and Bordon were former partners on the police before the latter became corrupt. When Lovecraft leaves the club, Tugwell and a zombie henchman follow him.

The next morning, Lovecraft wakes in his office to find Olivia, who escaped her house to visit him. Lovecraft takes her out to breakfast. There, Tugwell pays the diner manager to deliver a slip containing cursed runes to Lovecraft. Whoever holds it will be killed by a demon. Recognizing the incantation, Lovecraft confronts the manager. In the ensuing fight, the demon kills the latter. At the police station, Lovecraft and Olivia give statements about the incident. While there, Detective Otto Grimaldi and Olivia display some attraction.

After returning Olivia home, Lovecraft realizes Grimaldi is following him, as ordered by the police. Lovecraft, who has grown concerned for Olivia's well-being, asks Grimaldi to watch her instead.

That night, Lovecraft returns to his office and finds Connie waiting for him. The two rekindle their romance and spend the night together. The next morning, Olivia discovers Grimaldi spying on her, and the two have sex.

Lovecraft finds Lilly at the Hotel Ashcroft. She is actually the drag persona of Larry Willis, who started a relationship with Mickey after they met at a party.

When Lovecraft agrees to help Willis flee to Tijuana, the latter reveals that Bordon, through shell corporations is financing Vista Bonita, the housing development on the stationery in Willis’ room. Mickey recruited Willis on Bordon's behalf to pose as a chauffeur and find out why Hackshaw wanted to purchase Vista Bonita. Willis discovered the Necronomicon and stole it on Bordon's orders, along with the fake one, which had been commissioned for insurance purposes. Willis and Mickey intended to ransom the real book back to Hackshaw and get money to flee Los Angeles together. Hackshaw and Bordon plan to unleash the Great Old Ones using the book and will sacrifice Olivia as part of the ritual because she is a virgin.

Hackshaw's gargoyle later kills Willis. Lovecraft goes to Connie's apartment with the Necronomicon, only to discover Bordon and Tugwell waiting. Bordon reveals that Connie has doublecrossed Lovecraft, kills Tugwell for his incompetence, and takes possession of the Necronomicon. Bordon, Connie, and the zombie take Lovecraft captive and go to Vista Bonita. Hackshaw has Olivia bound and gagged there, in preparation for the ritual. After it is enacted, Bordon will become ruler of the new world while Hackshaw will ascend to godhood. Connie kills Bordon, wanting to take his place. Using the book's incantations, Hackshaw summons an eldritch horror. Rejecting Olivia as a sacrifice for not being a virgin, the creature devours Hackshaw instead. With the ritual having failed, the monster sinks back into the earth.

Before Connie is arrested for killing Bordon, Lovecraft and her share a kiss. He then leaves with the Necronomicon, confident his aversion to magic will override any temptation to use the book's dark powers.

In The New York Times John J. O'Connor said, "... Cast a Deadly Spell, a new HBO Pictures production that can be seen tonight at 8 on the pay-cable service, gives the city a spin that should make even its most jaded observers sit up, chuckle and wince.... Mining familiar formulas, Mr. Dougherty's Cast a Deadly Spell is engagingly different and special."[2]

In the Chicago Tribune Rick Kogan said, "I've had some very strange times in Los Angeles, spotted some very strange people. But none of what I've done or seen in that town can compare with what happens to H. Phillip Lovecraft in a special effects-filled and wildly successful original Home Box Office movie called Cast a Deadly Spell... Casting its own spell, this movie invigorates."[4]

HBO produced a sequel, Witch Hunt, with Dennis Hopper playing Lovecraft in place of Ward. Witch Hunt takes place in the 1950s during the Second Red Scare, with magic substituted for communism. Many characters reappear from Cast a Deadly Spell, although some have different backstories.

• Fred Ward – Harry Philip Lovecraft (same initials as Howard Phillips Lovecraft)
• Julianne Moore – Connie Stone
• David Warner – Amos Hackshaw
• Alexandra Powers – Olivia Hackshaw
• Clancy Brown – Harry Bordon
• Charles Hallahan – Detective Morris Bradbury
• Arnetia Walker – Hypolite Kropotkin
• Raymond O'Connor – Tugwell
• Peter Allas – Detective Otto Grimaldi
• Ken Thorley – Mickey Locksteader
• Lee Tergesen – Larry Willis/Lilly Sirwar
• Michael Reid MacKay – Gargoyle
• Curt Sobel – Band Leader

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• Cast a Deadly Spell at IMDb
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