Lord of Illusions
LORD OF ILLUSIONS Rating: Acceptable Our story begins in 1982 in the Mojave Desert. A cult meeting is going on and the leader of the cult, Nix, is holding fire in his hands. Dorthea, one of Nix's cult members is being held as a prisoner, handcuffed to a bed in the back of the room. A mandrill in chains stands near Nix. He is growling and swiping at Dorthea. A magician named Swann, who is also a cult member, comes to the rescue of Dorthea and they escape. We now cut to present day in New York City. Harry Devore is a private investigator who has been researching and trying to infiltrate one of the many cults in New York. Harry is suddenly called to Los Angeles to investigate an insurance fraud which, as he learns, is directly involved with one of the local cults. Harry's investigation leads him directly to a local psychic who has several knives in his neck and chest. The psychic reads the Tarot cards and tells Harry that Nix is the Lord of Illusions, and is now dead. Shortly after the psychic's information to Harry, we learn that Nix, the Lord of Illusions, is resurrected from the grave. Nix takes up right where he left off, which includes once again murder and mayhem throughout his cult. As Harry's investigation progresses, it takes him further and further into the dark world of magic and the occult to places he'll never forget. In the end, Swann, the magician, who, in the past, had learned a substantial amount of magic from Nix, uses this magic to kill Nix, once and for all.
- Starring: Scott Bakula, Kevin O'Connor, Daniel Von Bargen and Famke Janssen
- Director(s): Clive Barker
- Producer(s): Lord of Illusions Productions
- Screenwriter(s): Clive Barker
- Distributor: United Artists Pictures
- Animal Coordinator: Unknown
- Release Date: Friday, December 16, 1994
Featured Animal Action
In one of the very first scenes in the movie, the camera pans over a deserted ranch house in the Mojave desert in 1982. As it pans further, we see chickens in a coop clucking away. A little bit further down we see dead chickens lying on the ground. We then go on to a stable where we see a dead horse. The dead animals were fake, provided by the prop department. In the next scene, we are inside the ranch house and now in the basement where Nix is leading a cult meeting. In the scene where the shackled mandrill teases and tortures Dorthea, the trainer was just off camera giving the mandrill voice and hand commands. To accomplish a scene where it growls and swipes at Dorothea, the trainer offered the mandrill a food reward, and then took it away. To get the mandrill to appear to snarl, the trainer gave a hand signal command to smile, which made it appear as though he was snarling. At one point the mandrill jumps off the chair and runs. To accomplish this, the trainer, off camera, merely called for the mandrill to come. In the end, the mandrill is shot and his head explodes. The real mandrill was not even on set when this happened. Special effects and image animation were used to create this shot. There was a scene filmed at the Magic Castle in Hollywood where doves in a cage are shown. The doves were the property of the Magic Castle. There were a few scenes in which snakes were used. One scene showed snakes crawling over supposedly dead bodies. The snakes had been released by one handler who tapped them gently on the tail to get them moving, while another handler on the other side of the dummies, which were used for bodies, used a rodent scent to attract the snakes. Another scene shows snakes in the back seat of a car. They had merely been placed there by their trainers. In one other scene, we see snakes around an actor's neck and body. The handlers again, simply placed the snakes on the actor, who was familiar with the snakes. The only other scene with animals showed cockroaches swarming on the wall as a light goes on. The handler had merely placed them on the wall in the dark, then when the actor turned on the light, the roaches ran of their own accord.