Baphomet Review from Cleopatra Entertainment!
Matthan Harris was one of my original regulars on Severed Cinema. Having first chanced upon him in the anthology flick, German Angst (see review here), I reviewed a few of the short flicks he’d done before interviewing him (see interview with Matthan Harris here), but it’s been a few years since he last checked in on these pages. That’s because he was hard at work on his most ambitious creation to date, Baphomet.
When Matthan does a complete feature, he has a great knack of bagging some awesome genre names. For instance, back in 2012, he released The Inflicted (see review here) which had a cast including Sid Haig, Doug Bradley, and Bill Moseley, all cast in roles totally opposite to what you’d expect.
Giovanni Lombardo Radice, a.k.a. John Morgan, also featured in a supporting role, and he returns in Baphomet. Giovanni, for anyone who is unaware (c’mon you know who he is!!) is the genre giant who has appeared in City of the Living Dead, House of Flesh Mannequins (see review here), Cannibal Apocalypse, The Omen (remake), Beyond Fury (see review here) House on the Edge of the Park, and many more. The man isn’t really a fan of horror, but he is one of those actors that no matter what he appears in he will perform and earn his wage! (Yeah, I think I’ve mentioned before, Giovanni stars in two movies that I also appear in, but I’ve never met him due to different shooting schedules, though in Beyond Fury, he says my character’s name). He’s also joined by Dani Filth, who’s known more for his theatrical metal mob, Cradle of Filth, but back in 2001 turned out a wonderful acting job in the anthology film, Cradle of Fear.
Baphomet wastes no time whatsoever by presenting Giovanni from the get-go as Henrik, the Satanic Priest of a sect that stands before his followers wearing an awesome mask. He removes it to address the gathering. A nude lady is dragged in, sliced open and her blood fills a chalice. Henrik swears his allegiance to Satan and the resurrection of such.
Onwards we go to meet the Richardson clan, headed by Jacob whose daughter is pregnant. Henrik has sent his son along explaining his father is willing to offer a large sum of money to buy their land. Jacob isn’t very flattered by the offer, yelling about how he built it all with his bare hands, the usual. Afterwards, Rebecca speaks on the phone with her partner and daddy-to-be, Mark, played by Matthan himself. You tend to find Mr. Harris in a role within his films – and Matthan never ages!!
Mark sees the glimpse of a cowled Satanic figure in his rear-view mirror, then whilst surfing the waves of Malibu, a cowled man manipulates a shark into attacking. Wild stuff, but naturally freaks Mark out a lot as he is dragged down.
The Richardson’s receive the call to go along and identify a body which has been washed ashore. That evening before setting off the next day, Jacob discovers a few bound and slaughtered birds in the garden. Rebecca begins to suffer hideous nightmares of Mark’s death and of a man in a mask carrying a ritualistic dagger.
More tragedies befall them as the film goes on. Then one day whilst on the web, Rebecca watches a very British-tongued Dani Filth as Lon Carlson who is speaking of the realities of magic and witches. He mentions that some can resurrect the dead. Her eyes widen. “These spells should only be performed by the right people, for the right reasons.” he warns. She contacts a witch, Marybeth, who it transpires knows of Henrik and his followers. Marybeth agrees to bring Mark back from the dead. Will we find him in a Neither the Sea nor the Sand or The Monkey’s Paw kind of scenario? No time to think of such negatives for Marybeth realizes why Henrik wants the land so much! Buried under the garage is a well that, as Jacob explains, looked like it had been there for centuries…
There’s a comment on Rotten Tomatoes about Baphomet which in-between praising the film, says it doesn’t make much sense. It does if you actually watch it and listen. Baphomet is in the mould of the old school Devil worship flicks. Think The Devil’s Rain, Race with the Devil (see review here) and that sort of not blockbuster level of their era but chilling and thrilling entertainment. Baphomet is equally chilling and thrilling in the right places. It isn’t scary but it’s intelligently put together and paced to deliver what you need for a late evening relax in front of a horror with a fair claw full of clichés and impossible happenings, but that’s the fun of it.
Unfortunately, Matthan builds up and constructs the ride so well and with so much time and care that he didn’t really work enough on the end, so everything derails, and plummets downhill once Mark confronts Henrik in the well and a horned bugger appears. So, underwhelming, then the addition of a standard ‘shock’ finale quick edit before the credits, “Oh no, it’s not over yet!” bullet points the film to which we kind of guessed that anyhow.
I was really annoyed by this complete crash of an ending because I was quite heavily involved, mainly thanks to Giovanni who delivers a masterful rendition of a cult leader. I’ve noticed that in the last ten years or so, Giovanni has really and truly brought some fantastic characters our way. Henrik is almost once of the best, but sadly we are cheated of any fanfare.
Aside from Mr. Radice, Rebecca Weaver as Rebecca (huh???!!) holds up her end of the film supported by Colin Ward as her pops, but Charlotte Bjornbak just phones it in as Marybeth making the white witch dull and deadly to the senses. Matthan’s performance isn’t his best as Mark. His expression has two settings throughout but he can be forgiven, I mean the poor bloke has direction, and such to worry about like back in his shorts and The Inflicted, yet in those he acted convincingly.
The less said about Dani Filth the better. His name will maybe bring along a gaggle of pop goths, but his very brief appearances are nothing to rave about, he seems unconcerned by what he’s saying, unconvincing and I just thank the dark lord he is simply a cameo.
Now then, I touched upon the early stages of Baphomet, and this is the strength, aside from some brilliantly in your face FX that aren’t over-the-top and every minute, the atmosphere carries a weighted foreboding of doom. Matthan’s use of darkness and shadows works so richly, he is an incredible talent at building a real horror plus he knows when to use gore without allowing it to be the focus point. Patrick Cupp supplies effects, he’s a regular in Matthan’s world, whilst Wendy Rager contributed heavily to the Hellbound Lament TV series from 2020.
It sounds like I’ve chucked muck all over Baphomet, but it isn’t the case. Until the finale I enjoyed myself, probably too much like I stated because I felt really let down. It’s one of those cases when I really truly wanted to like the film as a whole, but I simply couldn’t. I recommend Baphomet as a funky quickie, but it could have been so much more. Sorry, Matthan, buddy, but The Inflicted hasn’t been surpassed yet.
Lastly, if you stick around through the end credits, there’s something way better than a Marvel additional scene — there’s a ‘Special Thanks’ to some guy called Jay Creepy. I dunno who he is but he sounds pretty awesome.
Directed by: Matthan Harris
Written by: Matthan Harris
Produced by: Matthan Harris, Grant Gilmore, John Lepper
Cinematography by: Pedro Avila, Andrew Bird
Editing by: Eric Won, Brandon Taylor
Music by: Fabio Amurri
Special Effects by: Patrick Cupp, Wendy Rager, Brooke Nichole
Cast: Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Matthan Harris, Rebecca Weaver, Colin Ward, Charlotte Bjornbak, Dani Filth
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 11min
Studio: Incisive Pictures
Distributor: Cleopatra Entertainment
