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It’s been interesting reading the responses to guest blogger Dr Dave Evans‘ review of the new Aleister Crowley film Chemical Wedding over the past week. In addition to responses posted here, there have been a number of positive (or at least amused) comments on private blogs and journals, and at several which have been more public.

Crowley forum LAShTAL.com has been collecting Chemical Wedding reviews from various media sources, comparing and contrasting them and commenting on what they find, including the one posted here. Dave’s replies to commentators on the forum explore the various positions from which he disliked the film.

Taylor Ellwood’s response in his blog Experiments of a Magician struck me as rather odd. Rather than taking an interest in the film itself, Ellwood seemed pleased the movie received a terrible review because he hates Crowley. Continue reading »

Dave, a British academic and magician, is the co-founding editor of JSM – The Journal for the Academic Study of Magic and is author of The History of British Magic After Crowley (Hidden Publishing, 2007) and several other books.

I’m just back from the late-night regional premiere of the new Crowley-based film, Chemical Wedding, here in England. Much anticipated, this film is the brainchild (or should that be Moonchild?) of Bruce Dickinson. He is apparently a long-time Crowley fan, and will be better known as the screaming front man of perennial stadium heavy-metallers Iron Maiden . Apart from a few peripheral references in recent mainstream film (one of the Hellraisers, Razorblade Smile etc), Crowley hasn’t really been touched on for decades – you have to go back to the often appalling sixties’ Hammer Horror stuff, based on Dennis Wheatley’s books, or the 1950s classic Night of the Demon.

The prospects here looked good, with a prominent Shakespearian/Dickensian actor (Simon Callow) in the lead role instead of some unknown no-hoper. The plot encompassed some science fiction angles (the film Weird Science from the 80s immediately sprang to mind) and it is set in a modern-day Cambridge University, with a chaos-mathematics/quantum physics slant on to proceedings. Crowley is essentially called back to life via virtual reality technology, and possesses the body of an elderly and befuddled professor, who suddenly becomes the Beast renewed (in a rather natty purple velvet suit). Sounded like a great premise, and the online trailer, released ages ago, was simply fabulous.

Well, now I’ve seen the film… Continue reading »

Last week I posted about the release of Chemical Wedding, a new movie about Aleister Crowley that will hit theatres May 23rd, following the May 4th premiere at Sci-Fi London (tickets are available at Apollo Cinemas).

Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden front man and writer for the film, and director Julian Doyle will be self-publishing a tie-in book for Chemical Wedding under Matador.

The book will be published to coincide with the film’s release on May 23rd, and will retail for £7.99 and will be available from Matador.

Simon Callow plays bumbling Professor Haddo who becomes Aleister Crowley. John Shrapnel plays Aleister Crowley. Also starring in the film is Kal Weber as Dr Mathers and Geoff Breton as John Symonds.

Apparently there’s even a tie-in with Jack Parsons:

In 1952 Jack Parsons was blown up in his laboratory in Pasadena. L. Ron Hubbard died on his yacht as leader of the Church of Scientology. But did the issue end with these three deaths? Would Crowley, as he claimed, ever return from death to rule the world? Why did US astronauts name a crater on the moon after Jack Parsons? Is L. Ron Hubbard really dead? What had been generated by the ceremony in California that seemed to signal Crowley’s demise? And what happened to the missing pocket-watch?

Unanswered questions till, late in the twentieth century, Dr. Joshua Mathers brought a ’state of the art ‘Interactive Suit’ from Cal Tech California to Cambridge in England to begin an experiment that, unknown to mankind, changed the course of our planet.

Matador, “Chemical Wedding“

Film synopsis from BruceFans.com:

At Cambridge University a groundbreaking experiment integrates the human brain with a super-computer using a state-of-the art ‘interactive suit’. One of the Cambridge boffins is an obsessive follower of the turn-of- the-century occult leader, Aleister Crowley, and has reduced Crowley’s rituals to a series of equations and entered them in to the system. Bumbling academic, Professor Haddo (Simon Callow) is the willing volunteer, desperate to get inside the mind of the long-dead Crowley. The computer feeds directly into Haddo’s brain, transforming him from a shy and stuttering academic into the charismatic but sexually depraved Crowley who wreaks havoc around the Cambridge campus. Haddo believes himself to be the reincarnation of Crowley and as he plays out Crowley’s rituals, his associates realise he has knowledge that only the real Crowley could have…

I really want to watch this movie. How do you think it will fare?

The Chemical Wedding is a film about Aleister Crowley co-written by Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson and the film’s director Julian Doyle.

Simon Callow plays Professor Haddo, a Cambridge professor who “becomes” Aleister Crowley.

Crowley’s spirit is re-animated by a superconductor mainframe, transforming the shy and stuttering Professor Haddo (Callow) into the charismatic but sexually depraved Crowley who wreaks havoc with the students and faculty of today’s Cambridge campus.

BruceFans.com, “Chemical Wedding Movie Poster Unveiled“

John Shrapnel plays Aleister Crowley. Also starring in the film is Kal Weber as Dr Mathers and Geoff Breton as John Symonds.

The official trailer for The Chemical Wedding was released yesterday and is available on YouTube. The film opens May 2008.

I’m intrigued.