The First Power

The First Power
The First Power
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Resnikoff
Written by	Robert Resnikoff
Produced by	David Madden
Starring	Lou Diamond Phillips; Tracy Griffith; Jeff Kober; Mykel T. Williamson; Elizabeth Arlen;
Cinematography	Theo van de Sande
Edited by	Michael Bloecher
Music by	Stewart Copeland
Production; companies	Nelson Entertainment; Interscope Communications
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date	April 6, 1990;
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million (estimated)
Box office	$22,424,195 (USA)

The First Power is a 1990 American neo-noir horror film written and directed by Robert Resnikoff, and starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Tracy Griffith, Jeff Kober and Mykelti Williamson.

The film received mostly negative reviews, but was a financial success.

Plot

Russell Logan, a hotshot Los Angeles police detective who specializes in catching serial killers, is hunting the Pentagram Killer, a murderer nicknamed after his habit of carving a pentagram in his victims before killing them. Logan receives an anonymous phone call from a woman who offers to tell him the location of the killer's next attack if he promises that the killer will not be executed. Logan agrees, and the police stake out the suggested location for several days. Just as patience is waning, the killer abducts a policewoman from the location. Logan and his partner Franklin rush to the scene and find and apprehend the murderer before he can kill her.

The Pentagram Killer is revealed to be a Satan worshipper named Patrick Channing who is apparently eager to be executed. Logan goes back on his word to the anonymous caller and successfully advocates for the death penalty for Channing. Before the execution, Logan receives but ignores another anonymous call from the mystery woman pleading with him to prevent the execution.

After Channing dies in the gas chamber, Logan begins having visions and hearing Channing's voice. The policewoman that Logan and Franklin saved from him is found dead with a pentagram carved into her chest. Psychic Tess Seaton sees Channing in front of her in a parking lot. Tess is revealed as the anonymous caller who tipped off Logan. Understanding that Channing's Satanic rituals have allowed him to return as a demonic spirit and a dire threat, Tess goes to the police and tells Logan that she was the tipster. She explains that execution has empowered Channing, allowing him to possess and act through weak-minded or fragile individuals. Rather than believing that Channing has returned, Logan suspects that Tess was an accomplice of Channing and is now helping to continue his work.

Logan and Franklin investigate Tess's apartment; Tess finds them there and tells Franklin that she senses he is in great danger. Outside, Franklin is trampled by a horse-drawn carriage. Logan pursues the driver to the top of a tall building, where it is revealed to be Channing. Channing leaps off the building and lands effortlessly, escaping. Soon after, another of Logan's colleagues is crucified on a bridge with a pentagram carved in his chest.

Channing lures Logan into a hotel where he plans to kill him, but Tess has a psychic premonition of this and arrives in time to warn and save Logan. Together Logan and Tess manage to evade the killer, with Logan now finally convinced that Channing has returned as a spirit able to possess others.

At Tess's suggestion, they visit Sister Marguerite, a nun knowledgeable about "The First Power" (resurrection), to learn how to stop Channing, but she turns them away. They then visit Channing's childhood home, where Tess's psychic visions reveal the terrible truth that Channing's grandfather was also his father, having raped his own daughter and then molested Channing.

Channing lures the duo into another trap; while they appear to kill him, the body suddenly becomes a police lieutenant whom Channing possessed and was acting through. That night Channing possesses a bag lady and kidnaps Tess from Logan's apartment, planning to ritually sacrifice her. In desperation Logan again visits Sister Marguerite, who relents and agrees to help. She explains that a crucifix knife she possesses can kill someone with the First Power of resurrection.

Logan and Marguerite track Channing to a water treatment plant. Logan finds and rescues Tess, killing Channing's bag lady body. Marguerite, wounded in the fight, is then possessed by Channing. After a prolonged struggle, Logan manages to stab Channing with the crucifix dagger just as police arrive and see him stabbing the body of Marguerite. They shoot Logan, then discover that the body is in fact Channing's.

Later, Tess visits Logan in the hospital, where she has either a dream or a psychic premonition of a possessed Logan waking and attacking her.

Cast

Lou Diamond Phillips as Detective Russell Logan
Tracy Griffith as Tess Seaton
Jeff Kober as Patrick Channing
Mykelti Williamson as Detective Oliver Franklin
Elizabeth Arlen as Sister Marguerite
Dennis Lipscomb as Commander Perkns
Carmen Argenziano as Lieutenant Al Grimes
Clayton Landey as Detective Mazza
Sue Giosa as Carmen
Oz Tortora as Antonio
Dan Tullis Jr. as Cop At Arrest
Hansford Rowe as Father Brian
Grand L. Bush as Reservoir Worker
Bill Moseley as Bartender
David Gale as Monsignor
Philip Abbott as Cardinal
J. Patrick McNamara as Priest
Lynne Marta as Nun
Brian Libby as Bum / Detective
Nada Despotovich as Bag Lady
Juliana McCarthy as Mrs. Channing, Patrick's Grandmother
Charles Raymond as Gang Member #1
Scott Lawrence as Gang Member #2

Production

The movie began production under the title Transit.^[1]

Reception

The film received negative reviews, including Desson Howe's in the Washington Post, which called it "shopworn and imitative".^[2] In The New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote that Phillips "doesn't seem altogether comfortable here, but he certainly is not bad". He added that, despite the film's fast pace and impressive special effects, "the whole thing is seriously stupid".^[3]

As of November 2022, The First Power has a 25% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 12 reviews.^[4]

References

^ Vamvakitis, Anthony (March 1990). "Transit". Cinefantastique. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
^ 'The First Power', Archived 2018-11-18 at the Wayback Machine Desson Howe. The Washington Post, April 6, 1990
^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 3 November 2021. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
^ "The First Power". Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2020-02-18 – via www.rottentomatoes.com.