The First Power (1990)

A 1990 supernatural thriller about an LAPD detective who hunts a serial killer, catches him, sends him to the gas chamber, and then discovers that execution is exactly what the killer wanted. The film is a chase where the villain can be anyone in any scene because after death he can possess the living. Lou Diamond Phillips plays Detective Russell Logan. Robert Resnikoff directs. The film is one of the best 90s thrillers most people have never heard of.

What the film does

Russell Logan (Lou Diamond Phillips) is a hotshot LAPD detective who specializes in catching serial killers. He is hunting the Pentagram Killer, a murderer who carves a pentagram into his victims before killing them. Logan receives an anonymous phone call from a woman who offers the location of the killer’s next attack if Logan promises the killer will not be executed. Logan agrees.

The police stake out the location. The killer abducts a policewoman. Logan and his partner Franklin catch him before he can kill her. The killer is Patrick Channing, a Satan worshipper who is eager to be executed. Logan goes back on his word to the anonymous caller and pushes for the death penalty. Before the execution, the mystery woman calls again, pleading with Logan to stop it. He ignores her. Channing dies in the gas chamber.

Then Logan starts having visions. He hears Channing’s voice. The policewoman they saved is found dead with a pentagram carved into her chest. A psychic named Tess Seaton sees Channing standing in front of her in a parking lot. Tess is the anonymous caller. She tells Logan that execution has empowered Channing, turning him into a spirit that can possess weak-minded or fragile people.

Logan suspects Tess is an accomplice. Franklin is killed, trampled by a horse-drawn carriage. The driver is Channing, who leaps off a tall building and lands effortlessly. Another colleague is crucified on a bridge. Logan is finally convinced.

Tess takes Logan to Sister Marguerite, a nun who knows about the First Power: resurrection. She turns them away. They visit Channing’s childhood home and Tess’s visions reveal the truth: Channing’s grandfather raped his own daughter, then molested Channing. Channing lures them into another trap. They kill his host body, but it was a police lieutenant he was possessing.

Channing possesses a bag lady and kidnaps Tess. Logan returns to Sister Marguerite, who explains that a crucifix knife she possesses can kill someone with the First Power. They track Channing to a water treatment plant. Logan rescues Tess and kills the bag lady body. Marguerite is wounded, then possessed by Channing. Logan stabs Channing with the crucifix dagger. Police arrive and shoot Logan as they see him stabbing Marguerite’s body, then discover the body is actually Channing’s. Tess visits Logan in the hospital. She has a vision of a possessed Logan waking up.

Why it’s in the canon

Criteria blend is 1+3, loved it and want to remember it. The film is a supernatural thriller that understands the structural advantage of a villain who can possess anyone. In any scene after the first act, any character could be Channing. The film uses this sparingly and effectively. The possession is not a twist. It is the premise. The film trusts the audience to stay ahead of Logan and the tension comes from knowing what he does not.

Lou Diamond Phillips carries the film as a detective who is not haunted or cursed, just wrong about everything and slow to admit it. The nun with the crucifix knife is the kind of detail a film can only include if the film is committed to its own world. The First Power is a real Catholic concept, not invented for the script, and the film treats it with the gravity of a horror film that did its homework.

The film pairs with other supernatural thrillers in the canon that take possession seriously as a structural device, not just a scare tactic.

A note on the title

The film is “The First Power” (1990). The Letterboxd and Wikipedia pages use this title. The slug is the-first-power.

On hand

DVD only (no digital/download).