Chemical Wedding (2008)
Bonkers Brit sci-fi / horror / occult flick about the spirit of legendary occultist Aleister Crowley getting resurrected in the body of stuttering Cambridge don Oliver Haddo. It then takes four days for Crowley to become whole again.
Written by Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson along with Julian Doyle, best known for his work with Monty Python, who also directs. Chemical Wedding is a film i just can't put my finger on. Last night was my fourth viewing and i'm sure it's probably seen by many as garbage but for some reason i really like it. It has an odd Britishness about it, it feels like it should have been made in 1974 rather than 2008. It has so much smutty humour and grossness that it should offend but it doesn't, it's as if Tom Sharpe of Blot on the Landscape fame got pissed with Dennis Wheatley and L Ron Hubbard then decided to write a screenplay.
As a horror film it doesn't really do much, it's not particularly gory or scary despite there being horrific sequences. As for the science? Well i didn't really get all the ins and outs but i don't think that really matters, it often seemed a bit random, although with the final clash between science and magic perhaps a wide knowledge of physics would have helped me.
Truth be told for the most part the acting leaves something to be desired especially the younger characters, but it was nice to see Richard Franklin (Mike Yates from Jon Pertwee's time in Doctor Who) with a big role. Having said that i'm not sure anyone could live with Simon Callow in Chemical Wedding. For it is he who plays Haddo / Crowley and he's on top form. Swearing like a trooper, ****ing and sucking, hell he even pisses on his audience at one point. There possibly aren't many Shakespearean actors who wank onto occult manuscripts whilst in the throes of flagellation, but Callow just gets on with it and seemingly has a whale of a time spouting Crowley's rhetoric as he descends into deviant madness.
Those with an in depth knowledge of Crowley and his philosophies will no doubt dislike this film but i find it strangely enjoyable. As an occult film it's probably rubbish but as a quirky example of Britishness it possesses a certain charm.
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