Resurrection - Die Auferstehung

The plot is a common one: a serial killer obsessed with Christ commits murders to fulfill an unknown fantasy. An unlikeable cop dealing with tragedy struggles through personal issue to try to catch the bad guy. There are several plot twists throughout, not all of which are predictable, the acting is okay, nothing egregiously bad, and the gore was well done and believable. I was enjoying it well enough, glad to have found this film, but a couple of director's decisions at the end really irritated me as they were clumsy and ridiculously improbable. If you can overlook that, it's a solid one-time watch.

Resurrection is intended to be a dark and creepy ninety minutes of serial killer heaven so probably the first thing that will jump to mind is 'that other movie'. You know the one I'm talking about. As such, its bound to suffer the wraith of armchair critics everywhere. However if you can keep your expectations in check - you'll find a decent flick that stands on its own. Don't be too quick to judge this one.

The dark foreboding imagery, religious overtones and a crazed killer has been done. Constantly dreary atmosphere, dark locales. Detective with a broken past, the second string banana who's the direct opposite of his partner. The twist you're not supposed to see coming. These are the conventions. That is formula, but its unfair to label Resurrection a rip-off. It features some good production values and there's no denying this is one of Christopher Lambert's better efforts. He's one of those guys that has slipped into B-movie obscurity like some actors do. In fact, this was a pleasant surprise.

Not saying Resurrection is the best thing ever, but all things considered - it's better than eighty percent of the dtv offerings I've picked up off video store shelves. The acting might falter at times, but there are also moments that rise above. A satisfying flick in its own right.

Chicago homicide detectives Prudhome and Hollingsworth are assigned to investigate a murder . Both become entangled in the scheme of a mesianic serial killer whose goal is to recreate the body of Christ by dismembering members of murdered corpses , adding extreme bloodletting. This is a thrilling film about two homicide detectives (Christopher Lambert and Leland Orser) in desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as a holy sacrifice . There are various suspects but eventually seems the crimes were the work of the same man , a weird person murdering mercilessly a lot of people . Two stubborn detectives in an effort to understand the killer's modus operandi scoff at difficult efforts to get inside the mind of a killer...There is an evil which I have seen under the sun , and it is common among men . Ecclesiastes 6:1. Be afraid. For he is coming.

This is a nice thriller in which serial killers and mismatched cops overcoming antagonism , including thrills , chills , noisy action , violence and loads of blood and gore . The typical crime movie plot in ¨David Fincher's Seven¨ style blending genres to grim and gripping effect , dealing with two police inspectors tracking a serial murderer who is killing men , this time for a main purport , to use parts of his victims to reassemble the body of Christ in time for Easter Sunday Resurrection . Our protagonists slow voyage from claustrophobic murk into blinding light and rain making for a vivid dramatic metaphor . A sinister and eerie movie with dismal and gloomy environment , in which the murderer's terrible capacity is graphically demonstrated in the dark and subdued tones characteristic of film noir . It packs a great number of scenes with plenty of gory violence , these frames have been shortened for the US version where went straight to DVD . It is visually striking , in fact filmmaker Mulcahy gained fame directing films with stunning visuals.

It contains a moving and rousing musical score by James McGrath . As well as a somber and tenebrous cinematography by Jonathan Freeman . The motion picture was professionally directed by Russell Mulcahy who often cast Christopher Lambert , in fact this is 3rd film Lambert did with Russell Mulcahy after the first two Highlander I and II . The movie was theatrically exhibited in most of Europe , Asia , Africa and Australia in the United States was direct to video . Russell Mulcahy is a good filmmaker , a craftsman with a long career , he began shooting video clips for such famous artists as Elton John , Duran Duran, The Buggles , Culture Club , and Bonnie Tyler. He is also well known for feature films , starting off with the comedy Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979) , the horror film Razorback (1984), the spectacular sword and sorcery of Highlanders (1986) , followed by the sequel Highlanders II (1991). He directed Denzel Washington and John Lithgow in the violent Ricochet (1991), Russell made a film version of the comic book : The shadow (1994) with Alec Baldwin and took the helm for Tale of the Mummy (1998) . In recent years Mulcahy has been involved in directing several telemovies , episodes of TV shows and other various films of all kinds of genres , including Queer as Folk (2000), 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (2004), Teen wolf , The mysterious island (2005) , The curse of the tomb Tutankamon (2006) , Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) , Crash and Burn (2007) , King Scorpion 2 (2008) , Grimm (2010) , Adventures of Errol Flynn (2018) , among others . The picture will appeal to Christopher Lambert fans . Rating : 6.5/10 . Acceptable and decent sinister thriller .

We all him as the original Highlander and as Rayden in the first Mortal Kombat film, but Christopher Lambert has been around for awhile and has made a pretty impressive number of films (however the quality of many of them is not that impressive). Though many of his films lack something to be desired he has made some classics and he always brings in a solid "Lambert" performance and every now and then he brings in a performance that even surpasses that. Resurrection happens to be one of those performances.

The film itself is actually quite good and it is a bit of a shame that it did not get a wide release in theaters, but unfortunately Lambert just can't bring 'em in anymore (however he is a staple in the straight to video market). The film is a gritty detective story (so NO SWORDS guys) in the style of SEVEN and re-teams Lambert with his Highlander director, Russell Mulcahy. What is interesting here is that the film is co-written and conceived by Lambert, which I think is a first for him (though I'm not sure). What makes this significant is that, Lambert gets to branch out a little and play a character with a little more depth. Which I'm sure is something he's been longing to do since GREYSTOKE. Another interesting thing about the film is that it has genius/director David Cronenberg acting in a small part as a priest(That's what I'm waiting for, the Crononberg/Lambert, Director/Actor team-up).

The film is well shot and acted. It is suspenseful and even a little more thought provoking than the average suspense/mystery. It has a twist that I believe works pretty well.

Well in other words, the film is good. See it if you can.

A precinct already working hard fitting every cliché of these genres(psychological thriller, cop crime investigative flick) into just one 100-ish minute picture is hit by several brutal murders where limbs are missing, and Lambert(who lost his daughter... son, I'm sorry, she... he... looks... uhm, great... anyway, he died in one of those ridiculously contrived sequences that only happen in this type of movie, and that could, by the way, easily have been avoided by the introduction of common sense... oh, and if you think that will pay off, don't hold your breath, it's a cheap setup with minimal payoff) is brought in for his experience with decapitations and paint-by-numbers plots. You can figure out the basics of where this goes, everyone talks in Hollywood Dialog(and immediately after, dramatically turn to walk away, signifying how deeply they feel about how lazily this is supposed to conjure up emotion(with that said, this does make you care about some of what we see... though at least once it utterly betrays whatever confidence they might have earned for that)... did I mention that the villain has impeccable luck in where he hides is a regular occurrence(planning...does...not...cover... it)?), for every good performance there is at least two that are over the top, but still, this is a cool enough concept(I will not reveal what the endgame is... though I will say that I don't know where the bad guy got it from, nor what his motive was, and there wouldn't have been a film if it had been slightly different, and less random...), it keeps to a fast pace(you're not bored...it does help to MST3K it), there are chilling bits(helped by the impeccably done practical FX) and, directed by the usually dependably visually interesting Russell Mulcahy, it's nicely filmed and edited, except for when the cameraman gets zoom-happy in a desperate attempt to increase the tension(which is successfully built here and there), the tracking shots(typically doing a semicircle on a character, so they can remain in place and still do a powerful change of position) that are so fast and start and end so suddenly, I've nicknamed them Whiplash-pans, and it, gradually, using the "nausea-vision" filter excessively. The DVD comes with trailers for Elizabeth and Rounders. There is a lot of strong language, a moderate amount of bloody, gory, disturbing violence and a little full frontal nudity of both genders in this. I recommend this to big fans of this kind of thing, as it gets the job done and has solid production values. 6/10