Lord of Illusions (1995)
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Harry D'Amour has been hired to find out what is going on in Phillip Swann's life because his wife is getting worried. So he goes to a Swann performance of his masterful illusions and this ends up as Swann's last performance because he ends up dead. Harry continues to poke around but each step gets Harry into the worlds of magic, illusion, and confusion. Seems that Swann was once a disciple of The Puritan who is believed to be coming back from the dead - a death that Swann engineered to save a girl named Dorothea (now Swann's wife). When Harry finds out that even Swann's death was a trick, he must decide if he should get out alive or help Dorothea survive the Puritan's resurrection.
Overall - Book: The book "Last Illusion" is so vastly different from the film that I'll summarize it here: Swann has his last performance on Broadway and dies after the show. Dorothea calls in Harry to protect the corpse because Swann sold his soul to the Devil and by following strict rules, could save Swann's soul after all. But the Devil has his own helpers who will try at all costs to take the body away. Swann eventually foils the plan and successfully saves Swann's soul. Overall - Movie: As you can see, there is a massive difference. The book never alludes to a Puritan, a cult, Dorthea being anyone other than his wife, and it even take place in a different city - NY versus LA. Butterfield is a lawyer in the book and a cultist in the film. Valentine is a demon in the book, a mere butler in the film. And the book really goes into detail regarding Harry's last case of demonic possession which the film barely alludes to. This is Barker at his worst because of the changes because he directed the film. Obviously he must have decided to do something new but I still think the film could have just added stuff to the original story and been better than the film ended up being. But the effects people obviously got their way with the changes. Unbelievable! Comparison: Houdini meets Ninth Gate (film) ---- Phantasm meets Hellraiser (book) |
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