- Directed by Anthony Kickix
- Written by Kevin Rock, Sam Bernard, David Twohy
- Stars Julian Sands, Chris Young, Paula Marshall, Joanna Pacula
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njVDf8UoPq4
Spoiler-free Judgment Zone
Despite what we were led to believe in the first film, the Warlock is not dead, and Julian Sands is back with all his charm. But nothing about the movie is quite as good this time. It’s an okay sequel, not great in any way.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a lunar eclipse as credits roll.
We are told: Once every millennium, when the sun aligns with the moon, druids summon the magic of their sacred runestones in the quest to prevent the birth of Satan’s son. We watch as a possessed-looking, very pregnant woman is surrounded by druids with magic stones. They stop the evil spell, but then they are all killed by men on horseback. The only surviving druid gets away with two of the stones. “The final battle is still to be fought.”
In the present, lightning strikes a tree, and a bunch of sawdust falls out. “The sign of his birth.” A woman looks at the eclipse and suddenly grows a big belly and gives painful birth to a slug. The slug then eats her little dog. It then gets bigger and bigger and becomes the Warlock. The possessed mother gives Warlock six days to gather the other runestones.
Kenny Travis plays chess with his father, Will, the man who recognized the sign in the sawdust. In the morning, Will goes to see Larson and Franks. He shows them the sign in the sawdust. The three then do a ritual. They’ve made plans for the return of the Warlock, but they’re all old and weak now.
Kenny and Samantha talk about college. They spot Will and Franks walking through the field and freak out. Will shoots Kenny. They sprinkle magic glitter on him and his wounds heal. All better! They explain the whole plot to him.
In the city, there’s a fashion show for Paula Dare. Warlock is in the audience and sees that she’s wearing one of the stones. He takes her hand, and the two fly above the city. She gives him the stone, and he drops her.
Ted Ellison is the town preacher, and he used to be in Will’s group, but now he doubts all that stuff. He takes his daughter Samantha away from Kenny. Franks does a spell, and the Warlock springs a leak. Will tells Kenny that he’s going to be a great warrior. Will teaches about the power of the druids, which is essentially the Force (even the music cues are similar to Star Wars).
Warlock shows up at a sideshow carnival and talks to the owner about a stone that decorates one of the exhibits. When the psychic dwarf tries to intervene, he makes… short work of her. Things go poorly for the carnival manager, but Warlock gets his stone. We see that Ethan Larson, one of Will’s druids, is following the Warlock with his magic compass.
Samantha complains to Kenny about her dreams. Kate complains to Ted about badmouthing the druids. Samantha shows Will her telekinetic powers and then confronts her own father. She wants to be reborn too, but Ted doesn’t want to do it. She stabs herself, and the other druids bring her back, just like Kenny.
We see Ethan in an elevator with the warlock. Ethan pulls out the magic dagger, but only the Warlock leaves the elevator. He talks with a collector, and he soon adds one more stone to his collection.
The druid group gives Kenny the final two stones. Kenny and Samantha go to their local version of Stonehenge to await the Warlock. Bully Andy shows up for Samantha, but Kenny’s not into being bullied anymore.
Will and Ted go to town, and everyone is assembled there. They have Kate crucified upside-down in the churchyard. Everyone blames Will for being a Satanist. Warlock has captured Franks and demands the stones. Kenny attacks Warlock and gets impaled. Kenny sets Warlock on fire. Will and Ted come in with shotguns, but Warlock doesn’t need a gun to take them out.
Warlock corners Samantha in the woods, and even the trees fight him. He immobilizes her and takes the final stone.
The eclipse begins!
Warlock makes the stones fly around but is struck by Kenny’s lightning bolt. There’s another brief fight. Warlock opens up a portal to Hell, and Satan’s son starts to come out. Kenny and Samantha, both tied up, use their force powers to turn on the truck’s lights, which disrupts everything.
The sun comes out, and Kenny and the Warlock have one last battle of wills over the blessed knife. He melts in front of both of them. Before they can collect all the stones, Warlock’s bony hand grabs one of them…
Commentary
So, in the end, Satan and the Warlock were defeated with a pickup truck’s headlights.
In the first film, Warlock was pitted against Redferne, someone from his own time who was basically his equal. In this one, he’s up against clueless teenagers– and loses. Without anyone to banter with, he loses a lot of his charm and becomes a monster movie villain.
The special effects are more sparse than in the previous film. Neither of the teenage actors can act at all, and all their scenes together seem like a bad soap opera. All the fighting is just basically them using telekinesis against each other, and the stakes aren’t anywhere near as interesting as in the previous film.
It was fine, but it was a pale comparison to the original.