Carrie Betts

Michael Mann's outstanding fairy tale (albeit butchered by the studio). Understandably disowned by the filmmaker after Paramount Pictures infamous haphazard truncation, it is a glorious, atmospheric visual adaptation of F. Paul Wilson's masterful novel (one in a series). Alex Thomsom's cinematography is superb. The cast is beyond reproach, including Sir Ian McKellan, Jürgen Prochnow, the late Canadian actress Alberta Watson, and Gabriel Byrne. Tangerine Dream's synth score is refined and superbly fits the tone of the film. The antagonist (the demonic Molasar, designed by renowned artist Enki Bilal) is sculpted meticulously with a voice to match. Apocryphally, much of the footage was forever lost and post-production SFX were stymied by the sudden death of FX supervisor Wally Veevers (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and designing the flight FX for Christopher Reeve in 1978's SUPERMAN. Many genre fans and film buffs desperately crave a definitive cut, remastered and with the sound corrected and enhanced. Also, despite the deviations from his written work, this film introduced many of us to author F. Paul Wilson. This film is worth seeking out and going into knowing some backstory. Michael Mann is a brilliant director and knows his craft.