The First Power
directed by Robert Resnikoff
directed by Robert Resnikoff
Hollywood created a number of eighties and nineties movies that shared the theme of a bloodthirsty killer being caught and executed before coming back from the dead, possessing other people, and continuing to murder folks.
Often the obsessed hero detective who was the person who tracked the murderer down in the first place had some strange link with the supernatural murderer. Now, left grasping at straws, the detective must struggle with reality. Maybe he really did arrest and help convict the wrong man. Maybe the detective is hearing strange things or having nightmares. Maybe the detective's wife or brother suddenly is speaking in languages they don't know.
Maybe the detective's over the top sexy but profoundly strange new girlfriend knows more than she's telling him. Maybe there's a cult of killers. Maybe the detective himself is the killer. These movies can vary widely in quality. There was Deliver Us From Evil, Shocker, The Horror Show, Virtuosity, and Fallen (the last two both starred Denzel Washington and were at the higher end of the quality spectrum).
So YMMV vary on this but The First Power was Lou Diamond Phillips' entry into this genre. It was decent enough I guess but lacked chemistry between and among the lead actors.
In Los Angeles a crazy serial killer Patrick Channing (Jeff Kober) is running around murdering people as sacrifices to Satan. He's always at least one step ahead of the cop assigned to his case, Detective Logan (Phillips), something which drives the tightly wound Logan up the proverbial wall. Channing loves to call and taunt Logan.
When the busty psychic Tess Seaton (Tracy Griffth) anonymously lets Logan and his team know where she thinks Channing will strike next, she also extracts a promise from Logan to urge the DA not to seek the death penalty.
After capturing Channing and being wounded in the process, Logan doesn't see the point. And the DA isn't bound by promises cops make.
A surprisingly cheerful Channing is executed in the gas chamber. All's well that ends well. Except that it isn't.
Logan starts hearing Channing's voice when other people are talking to him. There are taunts on answering machines that only Logan can hear. Logan sometimes sees Channing but of course Channing isn't there.
Logan's partner, Detective Franklin (Mykelti Williamson) and supervisors think Logan is starting to lose it. They don't want to be around a nutcase with a badge and a gun. But when there are more murders, no one knows what to think. Are there copycat killers?
Logan intends to track down Seaton and find out what she knows, even if everyone else thinks he's crazy. The bodies are piling up. And Logan thinks he's next. As mentioned, ok movie for what it was but nothing to write home about.
