Liliths Fluch

This could easily be a sci-fi channel pilot as it has all the earmarks of a Hallmark presentation with a little blood thrown in so they can call it sci-fi.

The plot is hokey, the execution is so-so, and there is no redeeming social value.

The only reason most people purchase this movie is that it contains Shiri Appleby as Lilith / Elle; she has indeed come a way since her original Taco Bell commercial days. However, one person does not make a movie.

The plotline is a distortion of myth with a little sci-fi tossed in to create a winged creature with a cute smile that shall protect humanity from evil creatures with snarly smiles.

This movie passes time for people that do not have anything better to do.

Although I agree with the earlier posting about Darklight not having much direction, I think it was initially a pilot for a series that never got greenlighted. It was like the producers had several episodes that they had to piece together to salvage what was funded in startup. The effects were good for TV -- we can't expect CGI in everything. I thought the initial storyline of Adam's first wife, Lilith, seeking to be absolved from her initial sins was a good premise. I would like to see the movie developed into a mini-series, if not a series. It could be something like 'Angel' with a flawed key figure trying to pay for the sins of the past.

A secret society called the Faith is battling evil. Lilith is Adam's first wife who considered herself an equal. She was banished from Eden and turned into a demon by God. Anders Raeborne injects himself with Darklight and turns into a near-indestructible demon. Elle (Shiri Appleby) is a woman with no memories attacked by the demon. William Shaw (Richard Burgi) recruits her revealing that she is actually Lilith under the control of the Faith. He trains her to use her demonic powers for good while trying to deal with her evil past.

As a concept, I really like trying to make the Biblical Lilith into a dark superhero. There is great potential but this is a fail. This was a Sci-Fi TV movie. I don't know if it was meant to be a TV pilot and it certainly fails as that in many aspects. As a simple TV movie, it doesn't really work either. There is way too much background to stuff into the start. The CGI and the special effects are fair for a TV movie. Shiri Appleby is a little stiff considering what her character has to play with. The movie doesn't have good flow. It feels like first-time writer/director Bill Platt was trying to run through a list of plot points. This doesn't work.

Sweet Shiri is all grown up now and still quite lovely, but she must have been desperate for money to do this film. It's clearly low-budget. There's something wrong with the audio. It's like everyone is speaking through some sound filter. Their voices just don't sound right. This movie is so bad only a heterosexual male fan of Shiri would want to see this film. Richard Bergi, John De Lancie, Richard Gnolfo, and David Hewlett do their best to support this lousy production, but still seeing and watching Shiri is the only incentive to continue to the end of the film. I have no idea why this movie is Rater R. The Cable Guide referred to this as a Comedy, Romance and Horror flick. It wasn't funny or scary to watch.

Shiri Appleby is the cutest little embodiment of evil turned good girl demon-kicking Buffy clone, Elle. But I'm getting ahead of myself, you see Lilith was the first woman made by god as a companion to Adam. But she got all uppity evil feminist so god banished her from Eden. A clandestine order known as The Fath captures her but doesn't kill her, so now with amnesia (which is not really explained that well) Lilith (now Elle) is free to become the aforementioned Buffy-clone who has to battle with a mad scientist who got an injection of Lilith's blood.

If the previous paragraph sounded hideously convoluted, that's because it is. The movie is also dull, generic, and for a film with a plot steeped in theology it doesn't seem to know a lick about it. This bargain basement lousy-CGIed movie was apparently a failed series pilot. All I can say to the fact that it didn't get picked up is a resounding Amen.

My Grade: D-

DVD Extras: Commentary by Writer/Director Bill Platt and Co-writer Chris Regina; and Stills gallery; video effects samples: before & after (it also has an "also available" selection that you would THINK would lead you to some trailers, but nope on DVD covers for other films, which is a stupid idea)

DVD-ROM extras: Final shooting script and Deleted scenes transcript both in PDF format