Cast a Deadly Spell (1991) is a Horror/Detective HBO movie with Fred Ward, Julianne Moore and Clancy Brown. Ward stars as 1940's hardboiled private detective Phillip Lovecraft, in fictional universe in which magic is real, monsters and mythical beasts stalk the back alleys, zombies are used as cheap labor, and everyone -- except Lovecraft -- uses magic every day. Yet, cars, telephones and other modern technology also exist in this world.

The movie is very much an homage to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Though not based on any one particular story by Lovecraft, the film features many Lovecraftian tropes, and can be considered to take place against the unified backdrop which has come to be known as the Cthulhu Mythos. Frequent references are made to the Necronomicon, the Old Ones, and Yog Sothoth throughout the film.

There are also references to other authors in the genre. One of the police detectives is named Bradbury. The nightclub is called Harry Bordon's Dunwich Room.

While the film clearly does not take place in Lovecraft's world, it does reference Lovecraft extensively (including the name of the main character), though there are many obvious differences. The most obvious difference being that in Cast a Deadly Spell, magic is omnipresent - everybody uses it. In Lovecraft's stories magic is almost unknown, except to a select few.

As to its being horror, while it contains many of the elements one would expect in a horror - the mere presence of monsters and magic does not a horror make. It could probably be better classed as a fusion of urban fantasy and film noir.

In 1948 Los Angeles, everyone uses magic- everyone except hard-boiled private detective H. Phillip Lovecraft, who refuses for "personal reasons." Lovecraft is hired by a mysterious rich man to recover a stolen book, the Necronomicon. Investigating, he finds that the book holds the key to taking over the world by magical means, releasing the "Old Ones". (Contains several in-jokes to H.P. Lovecraft's horror fiction and also the hard-boiled detective genre.) Written by Ken Yousten

"The year is 1948... Everybody uses magic." In Los Angeles, 1948, magic is used for everything, from cocktails that mix and pour themselves, to zombie butlers, to murder. This makes things tough for Detective Philip Lovecraft (Fred Ward.) He's a private eye, and the only man left in town who doesn't use magic. It is because of this that the richest man in LA, Amos Hackshaw (David Warner) hires Lovecraft to recover the stolen Necronomicon, a book of immense evil, containing incantations powerful enough to revive the sleeping Outer Gods. To make matters worse, the threadbare detective isn't the only one searching for the book. He's up against a ruthless gangster... who just happens to be Lovecraft's ex-partner. Throw in a witchy landlady, a hot singer, a cross dressing thief, and a jalopy full of gremlins, and Harry's up to his necktie in trouble. He'd better act quickly though, because the full moon is on the rise, the zombies are on the prowl, and someone is about to cast a deadly spell. Written by Troy Wood