Please don't spend money on this.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Blistering performances.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Jenny, a college student meets John, a cub reporter and together they find horror at an abandoned spa.Like many others, I discovered this on late night TV when WOR in New York showed low budget and forgotten horror films. This is low on gore but great on atmosphere and shocking twists. Laurie Walters (later on Eight Is Enough) and Joe Spano (Hill Street Blues) are likable as the couple. Edna Macafee is creepy as the initially kind old woman they meet. She is the kind of scary old hag you may see in other films of the time like "Lemora-The Lady Dracula" and "Don't Look In The Basement". The low budget and grainy photography, so prevalent in early 1970s horror are great assets in this film. This also touches on subjects such as Satanism, cannibalism and ghosts. Other similar films are the well known "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the lesser know "Terror At Red Wolf Inn".Don't miss this one if you like these type of films, the ending is a shocker!

"Warlock Moon" is a very strange and unique movie. Certainly not David Lynch strange or Alexandro Jodorowsky unique, mind you, but the plot enfolds itself so extremely unusual! Yet for some reason you unconsciously accept what's going on, even though it makes little sense, because you're somewhat curious and intrigued. The two main characters make each their acquaintance rather … exceptionally, to say the least. She's a student and he's a tacky newspaper reporter who sneaks up on her, wearing a fake mustache and ridiculous goggles, and insists that she goes picnicking with him. Odd … but effective apparently, because the naive girl falls for it and a couple of days later they head out to the countryside together. They end up in a ramshackle old spa where they get a tour from an uncanny albeit friendly lady. Yet another few days later, the spa is totally abandoned and a hunter tells the girl about the morbid past of the place. But then when the boy pops up, the old lady returns as well. And so does a guy wielding an axe. What the hell? Following the good old clichés of the horror genre, one thing's for sure: the girl just learned about deviant patterns in school, like incest and cannibalism, so they sure as hell going to encounter some of that! "Warlock Moon" isn't a very good occult horror film, but I inexplicably appreciated it, and there are still a few things to recommend to fans of low-budget drive-in movies. The film features that typically 70's atmosphere, you know? Anything can happen, even the most absurd plot twists appear to be very normal and the most likable characters can get killed off at any second. The plot is mysterious enough and even a bit compelling, but the film is unfortunately also very slow-moving and uneventful. And then I'm not even mentioning the awfully redundant and head-scratching empty swimming pool sequence. That was the second "what the hell" moment already! Around the hour, the whole thing just gets too weird and you'll wonder where the hell they're going with it, but still I'd encourage people to see it, as there are a few neat twists in the end. "Warlock Moon" is the only film (at least, that I've seen) that uses freeze-frame shots during the actual film. We've seen a lot of movies end in a freeze-frame, but this crazy flick has several throughout the film and for no apparent reason other than the lack of budgetary means. Well, those are the 70's for you, any weirdo with a typewriter and a demented idea for a horror movie could raise a handful of dollars to actually make it. And there are plenty of punks, myself included, that make it their life's mission to hunt all this obscure junk down.

This appears to be the only film Bill Herbert made which is a great pity as it shows a lot of promise. He wrote, produced and directed this thriller about a naive young student Jenny (Laurie Walters) who allows herself to be picked up by journalist John (Joe Spano). On a picnic date they find themselves at an abandoned health spa where the only occupant is a kind grey haired old lady Agnes (Edna MaCafee). However, nothing is what it seems and soon Laurie is in mortal danger. The two leads are excellent in this hodgepodge of witchcraft, cannibalism and axe wielding maniacs. The photography helps along the spooky atmosphere immensely and the editing is excellent. Unfortunately the bad points outweigh the good ones, the script is muddled, the music score is all over the place and the actress playing the old lady over does it dreadfully. It is much to the credit of Bill Herbert that he manages to create an atmosphere of nightmarish uncertainty despite the obvious constraints of a very low budget.

The premise of Warlock Moon is actually pretty simple: girl meets intriguing boy, boy courts her, takes her to a mysterious building, strange things happen, mystery becomes terrifying and then not so, and then ends in a scream. In effect, this is a Gothic Mystery!Gothic stories always center around an old ruin or haunted building which acts as a center of mystery. The plot device serves to ratchet up the tension by challenging the heroine (sometimes a hero, but not often) to distinguish between what is real, and what is a result of their own nervousness. H.P. Lovecraft used the same sort of device in his famous horror stories. A proper Gothic creates its own atmosphere of mystery and creeping terror. Unlike a mystery, however, a Gothic tale also has an element of romance in it; if, however, the romance can survive the fear that ensues.Warlock Moon fails, however, because the characters never really emerge from their cardboard-cutout status. It's hard to root for the heroine, Jenny McAllister, because you always want more from her. She foresees the poisoned drink, but never quite breaks free from the mysterious events surrounding her. Compounding the problem is the stultifying pace of the film. Sometimes it seems as though the actors themselves are deliberately moving slowly so as to use up time blocks. It doesn't help that at times the picture seems to have a "frosted glass" effect on the fringes of the screen, adding to the Gothic feel of the movie.Filmed in the small town of Livermore, California, the movie still has a bit of celebrity status in that community. When Warlock Moon had finished production, it had a Grand Opening show at the local Vine Theater. All the local residents including notables like the mayor made a great show of attending the premiere screening. Of course the film bombed, which made the event all the more enjoyable, sort of in the style of MST3K!The setting for the film's climax was at an abandoned tuberculosis treatment facility, which burned down about ten years later. That area is now the site of Camp Arroyo, and is almost unrecognizable from the mysterious ruins shown in Warlock Moon.A member of the Livermore Heritage Guild, a local historical society, is looking for a copy of Warlock Moon for posterity's sake. He has asked me to relay word to any other filmmakers that he's also looking forward to seeing a much better film made in Livermore.