Editorials
[We Love ’90s Horror] ‘Cast a Deadly Spell’ is a Lovecraftian Take on ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’
The ‘90s often get a bad rap with horror fans. After the numerous successful slashers and creature effects films of ‘80s, the ‘90s offered a different variety of horror fare. Though there were plenty of hits, hidden gems, and misunderstood classics, the ‘90s usually don’t get the kind of love that other decades get when it comes to horror. It’s time to change that.
It’s so tough to mesh disparate genres. We’ve gotten used to it as cinema has evolved and become even more varied, but it can still be jarring when two well-established types of stories try and play nice with each other. However, it’s extremely satisfying when one genre’s chocolate meets another genre’s peanut butter, and Cast a Deadly Spell is definitely one of those magical successes.
“Magical” is a keyword when talking about Cast a Deadly Spell. The film takes place in 1948’s Los Angeles, but it’s a world in which the use of magic is an everyday occurrence. In fact, it’s considered abnormal not to use magic in some way or another. That’s what private detective H. Phillip Lovecraft (Fred Ward) has decided, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t getting mixed up in a whole bunch of supernatural shenanigans.
Cast a Deadly Spell takes the same approach as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? by blending a hard-boiled LA noir with a fantastical universe. Where Who Framed Roger Rabbit? had toons, Cast a Deadly Spell has witches, warlocks, gremlins, gargoyles, and powerful gods ripped straight from the pages of the actual H.P. Lovecraft. It’s a huge love letter to that sect of horror fantasy and does a good job of blending its cosmic horror with a no-nonsense detective yarn.
What really makes this flick sing is the casting. Fred Ward was born to play a schlumpy, down on his luck ex-cop who gets caught up in a twisted mystery. He’s got the kind of gruff charm that’s necessary for such a tried-and-true archetype. The same goes for everyone else in the cast. The always delightful David Warner is right at home as the devilish Amos Hackshaw, Clancy Brown is the perfect choice for suave crime boss Harry Bordon, and you couldn’t ask for a better femme fatale than Julianne Moore. It’s a stellar ensemble that perfectly jives with the material.
Plus, you get an abundance of fun creature gags and special effects. I won’t spoil all of the movie’s treats, but it should be noted that this movie features an enormous beast at the end that should be more beloved in the horror community. There are also some really inventive uses of magic in the film, including an early murder that gives us a great interpretation of the phrase “death by a thousand cuts.” Even though this was a TV movie produced by HBO, they don’t skimp on the effects work and it’s easily one of the film’s best aspects.
Cast a Deadly Spell definitely feels like a forerunner to other mashup media like Grimm or The Wolf Among Us. It’s a great slice of genre goofiness that manages to deliver on both its pulpy detective elements and its horror inspirations. If you’ve never seen this one, seek it out — it’s available to stream through HBO — and get a little bit of magic in your life.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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