Doctor Mordrid

1990 / Director. Charles Band & Albert Band.

Doctor Mordrid is a wonderful and phantasmic science-fiction movie about a wizard residing on Earth, guarding the gateway to the Fourth Dimension. He has been on Earth for over a century waiting for the evil sorcerer, Kabal, to unleash his demonic minions, which would ultimately send our world into a fiery apocalypse. If the premise sounds familiar that's because it is. Charles Band (there's that name again) originally had the option on Marvel Comic's Doctor Strange but when that option expired the script was re-written and the characters were changed. I personally think it was for the best because Doctor Mordrid stands well on it's own. It plays out like a magical mashing of Highlander, Superman and Warlock... there's even touched of Thor. The poster art is deceiving and while I personally like it, I imagine it would deter some people. If you love sorcery, wizardry and fantasy then this is a quality movie. Charles Band is an autuer of the B-movie but this is a cut above the rest of his productions. The special FX are great, the score is inspired and acting is decent. I always considered Jeffrey Combs' best performances to be Re-Animator & The Frighteners but Doctor Mordrid comes in a close third. He's wonderful and breaks away from his usual eccentric niche. I know quite a lot of nerdy fanboys & girls who love cosplay and get stuck into fantasy and I'll be recommending this one to them. When I was 10 years old I remember watching this movie and loving it... now 20 something years have past and tonight I watched it with my 11 year old son who was 100% enamoured with it. I felt like a kid again and Doctor Mordrid proves that a movie's age is irrelevant when the storytelling is good!  

Curiously, something struck me about Doctor Mordrid. One of the main plot devices is a relic known as The Philosopher's Stone.... this raises my eyebrow because in another Charles Band production (Troll) there is a character named Harry Potter. Makes me wonder what type of movies JK Rowling's been watching! 

---