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Movie Review “Chemical Wedding”

Posted on September 15, 2008 in the Film category

Ok technically this is not a new movie, however since it slipped well under the radar of most mainstream cinema outlets it’s been left till last week before anyone could really see this film, with it’s release on DVD.

Ok firstly, if you haven’t heard of the protagonist of this story, British author and occultist Aleister Crowley, then stop reading right now because you will NOT enjoy this film the way it should be enjoyed. Basic premise of the story is that  Cambridge professor Haddo (Simon Callow) takes part in an experiment involving a supercomputer which, through the aid of an Aleister Crowley enthusiast, allows the spirit of Crowley to possess the body of Haddo, bringing him into the 21st Century to wreak havoc, and allow him to attempt one of the greatest occult rituals in history, The Chemical Wedding. Crowley’s antics in the early 20th century outraged pretty much everyone, wrongly dubbed Satanic due to his precocious sense of humour and penchant for pissing off the masses in any way he could, he formed the term “magick” and dedicated his life to uncovering the mystic secrets of the universe, as well as creating his own religion (although he would have HATED to call it by that name) “Thelema”. He was also a drug addict, chronicling many of his experiences in the excellent book “Diary Of A Drug Fiend”, chess player extrodinaire as well as an accomplished mountaineer and writer. So, history lesson over, back to the film. I only mention these aspects of the Great Beast’s life (as he tended to call himself) because they are what make the character so interesting, and while the film does touch upon a lot of these traits, Crowley, played by the excellent Simon Callow, is more represented as a horror villain towards the end of this movie than as a character of many levels. Bruce Dickinson (who wrote the script), took all the questionable aspects of Crowley’s character, such as the drug addiction, penchants for urination, defacation and ejaculation on the strangest of places, without delving at all into the mind of the man and questioning why he did these things.

Although it is very clear the budget for this film was very minimal, the acting in this film is fantastic, which is good because of the blatant silliness of the story, if the actors were piss poor this would have been awful to sit through. Simon Callow is clearly having the time of his life as Crowley, shaven head, moobies and all, bringing this English Gentleman with an evil streak to life with style and aplomb, delivering a very powerful and hilarious performance that makes you think this film could not have been done without him.

Bruce Dickinson has also done his homework with Crowley, never once painting him with the “Satanic” brush  which in life Crowley was wrongly accused of to this day, and clearly has a lot of respect for the guy, delivering lots of information about his magick rituals, knowledge and history which does cover a lot of ground. The biggest problem this film has is that the plot involving some supercomputer, parallel universes and the uncertainty principal all gets quite confusing, especially towards the end, which leaves little time to fit in all the aspects which make Crowley such an interesting character.

As an introduction to the “Wickedest Man In The World” Chemical Wedding is a good, solid thriller which introduces a lot of Crowley in a short space of time, but not enough. Aside from the terribly confusing ending the film serves to entertain, and it does so very well indeed. But read up more on the man after watching. Bruce Dickinson deserves credit for writing Crowley well, but hopefully a film with a bigger budget will come along soon, and allow for more room to explore the life of one of the most interesting Brits of all time.

[Oxking]

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