''Witch Hunt'' is a 1994 HBO

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

detective

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

directed by Paul Schrader and starring Dennis Hopper and

Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian ( hy, Էրիկ Բոգոսյան; ; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and a ...

. The film, written by

Joseph Dougherty Joseph Dougherty is an American television producer, writer, and director. He has written for such television series as ''Thirtysomething'', for which he won an Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for ...

, is a sequel to the 1991 film '' Cast a Deadly Spell'', with Hopper playing private detective H. Phillip Lovecraft replacing

Fred Ward Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American actor and producer. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', ''Southern Comfort'', '' The R ...

. Additionally, many characters have different backstories than in ''Cast a Deadly Spell''. For example, Lovecraft refuses to use magic in ''Cast a Deadly Spell'' on principle, but in ''Witch Hunt'' he refuses because of a bad experience he has had. The original music score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti.

Cast

* Dennis Hopper as Harry Phillip Lovecraft (same initials as Howard Phillips Lovecraft) *

Penelope Ann Miller Penelope Ann Miller (born Penelope Andrea Miller; January 13, 1964), sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress. She began her career on Broadway in the 1985 original production of ''Biloxi Blues'' and received a Tony Award no ...

as Kim Hudson *

as Senator Larson Crockett *

Sheryl Lee Ralph Sheryl Lee Ralph OJ is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in the 1977 comedy film '' A Piece of the Action'', before landing the role of Deena Jones in the Broadway musical '' Dreamgirls'' (1981), for which she received ...

as Hypolita Laveau Kropotkin *

Julian Sands Julian Richard Morley Sands''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, ...

as Finn Macha *

Valerie Mahaffey Valerie Mahaffey (born June 16, 1953) is an American character actress and producer. She began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera '' The Doctors'' (1979–81), for which in 1980 she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outst ...

as Trudy *

John Epperson John Epperson (born April 24, 1955) is an American drag artist, actor, pianist, vocalist, and writer who is mainly known for creating his stage character Lypsinka. As Lypsinka he lip-synchs to meticulously edited, show-length soundtracks culle ...

as Vivian Dart (as Lypsinka) *

Debi Mazar Deborah Anne Mazar Corcos (; born August 13, 1964) is an American actress and television personality, known for playing sharp-tongued women. She began her career with supporting roles in ''Goodfellas'' (1990), '' Little Man Tate'' (1991) and ''S ...

as The Manicurist *

Alan Rosenberg Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1950) is an American actor. Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his character Eli Levinson which appeared in both the series '' Civil Wars'' and the popular '' L.A. Law''. From 2005 to 2009, he was president of the ...

as N.J. Gotlieb *

Clifton Collins Jr. Clifton Craig Collins Jr. is an American actor. After starting in 1990, with small roles in film and on television, Collins gained attention for his performance as Cpl. Ramon Aguilar, a prisoner "serving" under an imprisoned general played by R ...

as Tyrone

Plot

The film takes place in a fictional Los Angeles where

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

is real, monsters and mythical beasts stalk the back alleys,

zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...

s are used as cheap labor, and everyone—except

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

private investigator H. Philip Lovecraft (Hopper)—uses magic every day. Yet, cars, telephones and other modern technology also exist in this world. The year is 1953, at the beginning of the

Second Red Scare McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origina ...

, but in this universe magic is substituted for

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and the McCarthy-esque proceedings are being run by Senator Larson Crockett (Bogosian). Lovecraft is hired by film star Kim Hudson (Miller) to dig up dirt on her husband, producer N.J. Gotlieb (Rosenberg), who is about to replace her on his latest film with a young starlet he may be having an affair with. Gaining entry to the studio with the help of practicing witch Hypolita Kropotkin (Ralph), his friend and landlady who is working for the studio, he encounters Finn Macha (Sands), a warlock and former private investigator with whom he had once crossed paths. When Gotlieb is murdered by magic, Senator Crockett uses the crime to make Kropotkin a scapegoat for use in his Anti-Magic crusade and uses newly-passed Congressional legislation to have her sentenced to death by public burning. Lovecraft must now not only save Kropotkin and uncover the real murderer, the motive behind the murder and the secrets Kim Hudson is hiding, but also confront the demons in his own past...a past that includes Finn Macha and the reason why Lovecraft will not use magic.

References

External links

* * 1994 television films 1994 horror films American comedy horror films American urban fantasy films American satirical films American detective films 1990s English-language films Films set in the 1950s American neo-noir films American supernatural horror films 1990s supernatural horror films Supernatural comedy films Cthulhu Mythos films HBO Films films 1994 films Films based on works by H. P. Lovecraft 1990s comedy horror films American horror television films 1994 comedy films 1990s American films {{US-tv-film-stub