The First Power (1990)

Well...I was kinda lookin forward to this one but by the end my attention was diverted away from the screen doin other things. When this happens...it's a stinker of a film.Where to start. Right off when you see the year of the film and Lou Diamond Phillips then you know this was his heyday of his starring in films. Not long after this he was relegated to worse B movies and straight to video status. He's not bad in this he's just the same as he always is. He's put in a movie with a really stupid script/concept.I think the part of this film that makes it not work is the concept itself. Basically what you get is a quasi Devil worshiper fella who has a nasty habit of killing whenever and to whoever he wants. LDP's character comes in and saves the day and then he diverts his attention to all his friends/co-workers to try and kill all of them. He meets up with a psychic who tags along throughout the entire film to a believability factor of "0".The funny part of this film is the editing. There are major stunt scenes in this where they switch the characters with stunt men but they don't even come close to makin it work. A scene were the killer busts out of the Gas Chamber and the character is suppose to break through the glass and they switch to the stuntman and he's taller and doesn't look remotely close to the guy playing the killer's role. They let the scene/camera role for so long you can clearly see that this isn't the same guy. There's a scene where the Devil/Killer does some martial arts super kick towards the end of the film. It's a laugh. How many Satan/Beelzebub/Lucifer characters in history do you know of who can do this stuff? LOL..There so many stunt scenes where it's plainly evident that it's s stuntman it's just sad. BTW...some of the stunts in this are just fantastic. It's the only reason to see this film.Bad Casting...Stupid script and terrible editing make for a waste of 90 minutes of your life. Take that time instead and watch Ishtar :D

Kept me entertained while it was on, just not the most memorable horror movie I have ever seen as I only have a few images of it stored in my mind. The movie was about a serial killer with powers that made him rather hard to kill and get rid of, some religious stuff and this and that and Lou Diamond Phillips looking rather bored in this one for the most part. The movie needed more horror...wow what a surprise for me to say, eh? Actually, I say it quite often on movies of these types, ones that can not decide whether to be thrillers or horror movies. So you get some scenes of creepiness, but not many. You mainly get Lou and a helper try to find a way to stop the seemingly unstoppable killer. I would like to be more specific in what went on, but the main thing I remember is the ending and while not great I would still rather not ruin it for anyone. Just a forgettable movie that is decent enough to keep one's brain occupied for a bit, you just are not going to remember the movie long after.

People tried to make me believe that the premise of this rubbishy supernatural horror/thriller was inspired by the actual last words spoken by an authentic serial killer (whose name escapes me at the moment). Whilst awaiting his execution in the electric chair, he claimed that his soul would return to life and continue to go on a never-ending murder spree. It's not a highly original idea to revolve a horror film on, by the way. Other low-budget turkeys implemented the exact same basic premise, like "House 3", "Shocker" and "Ghost in the Machine". Anyway, "The First Power" (a.k.a "Pentagram") isn't a completely terrible effort, but the script overly reverts to clichés and lacks genuine thrills. The film starts off as an okay, albeit mundane serial killer flick in which obsessive cop-hero Lou Diamond Philips pursues a maniac who carves bloody pentagrams into the chests of his victims. He receives unexpected help from a spiritual medium, played by the gorgeous and underrated Tracy Griffith. She leads him to the killer but also begs not to execute him, as that would result in an even bigger catastrophe! Thanks to Tess' helpful hints, Detective Logan quickly captures the killer and celebrates his death penalty, but Patrick Channing made a pact with Satan Himself and returns to the rotten streets of California to do some more killing. "The First Power" gets pretty bad once the murderer reincarnates as a vengeful spirit. Instead of using his newly gained satanic powers to wipe out the entire world (that's what I would do in his position), Channing simply prefers to play cat and mouse games with his nemesis the copper. He annoyingly calls him "Buddy-Boy" all the time and possesses the bodies of Logan's friends and colleagues in order to trick him. Even though never really boring or poorly realized, it's a very weak film to endure, mostly because you constantly get the feeling of déjà-vu. Writer/director Robert Resnikoff shamelessly uses every dreadful cliché (the killer got sexually abused as a child) and even the players' lines can easily be predicted. As soon as Griffith explains she's able to predict the future, you just know that, somewhere at some point in the film, she's going to say the ridiculously overused line "I tell people who to live their lives, but my own life is a mess". Yawn. Lou Diamond Philips' performance is adequate enough, but it's rather difficult to take that youthful rebel of "La Bamba" and "Stand And Deliver" serious as a tough copper. There also are decent supportive roles for Mykelti Williamson ("Forrest Gump"), Carmen Argenziano ("When a Stranger Calls") and B-movie horror legend David Gale ("Re-Animator") appears in a minuscule cameo at the very beginning of the film.

I jotted down a few notes here on THE FIRST POWER, Lou Lambada Diamond Phillips' 1990 satanic serial killer yuppie hell-fest ...1) Lou Diamond Phillips was recently indicted for beating up his wife and may serve time in prison. I only hope that he can find Armani prison wear to go off in style with: One of the guilty pleasures of this movie is seeing his police detective clad in $4500 designer overcoats, a $7300 designer silk suit, and seeing his $3500/month Los Angeles bachelor pad loft with interior design by Mies Van Der Roeh.2) Leading lady Tracey Phillips has gorgeous porcelain skin, flowing red hair that always seems styled even when mussed, and amazing breasts that are hi-lighted in the 2nd half of the film by a designer silk pullover that sadly remains in place over her torso even when she was being prepared to be sacrificed to Satan. At least back in the 1970's our demonic killers undressed their victims before doing away with them, though there is something to be said for leaving a bit to the imagination. By the final 10 minutes of the movie all I could think about is what her breasts probably would look like.3) Professional Psychics living in Los Angeles can afford $4 million dollar condos on Mullholland Drive overlooking Los Angeles with a view that would make Brad Pitt decide that he was roughing it. As a matter of fact the condominium used in this film looks exactly like the same one seen in David Lynch's MULLHOLLAND DR., which at least had the good sense to make it's condo resident a successful movie director. The only Professional Psychics I have encountered outside of this movie are all currently serving prison sentences for wire fraud.4) I forget his name but the villain in this movie is wonderful, and his "How's it going', Buddy Boy?" line could be the best overlooked movie phrase since "THANKS FOR THE RIDE, LADY!!" from CREEPSHOW 2.5) Underneath major metropolitan cities there are huge vats of simmering acid that will explode into huge fireballs if someone throws a lit Zippo lighter into them, which is why major public waterworks plants all have no smoking signs plastered all over them even though the idea of smoking around water being dangerous is of course preposterous. And since Zippo lighters need to be manually filled with lighter fluid that can often leak out and be absorbed by ones clothing, the idea of a carrying one in the pocket of your $7300 Gucci silk suit strikes me as being much more dangerous.6) The stunts in this movie are impressive to say the least, and one of the fun things about watching it is remaining yourself that you are not viewing computer aided special effects but actual stuntpeople risking life and limb to contribute to a movie that earned nearly universal BOMB ratings from critics when released.7) Movie satanists always amaze me: Here is a guy who has tapped into some Luciferian bid for power, and yet instead of using it to do something useful like making himself rich or causing fashion models to engage in free form sex with him, he instead possesses bag ladies and have them levitate outside of people's apartments. Speaking of which here is a guy who is indestructible, can fly, and is able to put his being inside of other people's bodies -- and yet he obliges star Lou Diamond Phillips with an ordinary fistfight in the film's conclusion, yet does not have the good sense to inhabit Arnold Schwartzeneggar or Apollo Creed to ensure that he wins.And on and on ... To be watched in the company of wise-cracking friends while consuming beer. You'll have fun so long as you steadfastly refuse to take it seriously.4/10