As soon as I finished this I had to look up the short story The Last Illusion this is said to be based on, as I noticed the movie shared some remarkable similarities to another of Clive Barker's tales, The Damnation Game. The villain has the exact same personality traits and motivations as a certain European, while several key plot points are straight up identical. Given that the author himself both wrote and directed this feature, I had reason to suspect it would be mostly faithful to the source material, which me led to wonder if his acclaimed debut novel had not been unflatteringly derivative of an earlier effort. Turns out however that the underappreciated horror icon was once again flexing his distinctive creativity by taking the characters from one narrative and restructuring their adventure to resemble another, cleverly (and secretly) giving the audience TWO adaptations in one. The visuals are by far the highlight of the experience. Barker's writing career was defined in part by the horrific, gruesome imagery he was able to paint with his words. His time as a filmmaker was so exciting because he was able to bring those sights to life before our eyes. The nightmarish creatures, gory brutality, supernatural sorcery, and flamboyant sexuality with a kinky edge here stand as the best he ever brought to the screen. Which is great considering the plotting hits some dull notes that did see my attention waning. I'm not saying the characters and the slower moments are completely uninteresting, but the downtime between the next twisted or horny sight can be a tad flat at points. Despite that though this is still an underrated and overlooked title. Hellraiser might be more prominent, but my vote for what Barker's best directorial foray was goes to Illusions. The way it takes one of his lesser known works and uses it to bring viewers a cinematic portrayal of a book that would have gotten an NC-17 rating if given a more faithful take is impressive in its ingenuity. Yet, it's ultimately the light neo-noir elements in combination with Barker's eye for particularly imaginative violence and unparalleled otherworldly abominations that elevates this above being more than just a generic piece of mid '90s, '80s wannabe horror. So while I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to those with more mainstream tastes, it's certainly worth a watch for hardcore genre enthusiasts.