The Rosary Murders

I like religious horror and giallos. For example one of my favorite horror films is Alice Sweet Alice, I think The Exorcist is a well-written drama, and I lean towards the Italian films with spiritual or religious imagery. The Rosary Murders deals with a lot of complex issues in the Catholic church, someone might argue the plot of this film is absurd, but it's not. A priest cannot tell on a child rapist or a serial killer even if they confess. One of the reasons I am giving this flick a solid six is because it attempted to confront these kinds of issues head-on, as well as other problems like overly focusing on sexuality in the American conservative churches to the point of insanity, and the mandatory celibacy of priests.

But to see Donald Sutherland in this film a scant fifteen years after the epic supernatural giallo, Don't Look Now, is a little sad. The Rosary Murders would have been so much better handled by a director with a better eye, who actually understood lighting and atmosphere and editing techniques. Instead, this movie looks like it could have been made for tv, and I consider it a stylistic flaw when handling this kind of subject matter. No one wants to watch a movie about religious murders that looks like an episode of Hill Street Blues.

Is this a giallo? A neo-noir? A detective story? Let's not play with labels. Let's just see it for what it is — a whodunit where priests and nuns are the victims of a serial killer who leaves a black rosary on their dead bodies.

Directed by Fred Walton (When a Stranger Calls) and adapted by Elmore Leonard, this is a dark, rough take on William X. Kienzie's novel (Kienzie left the Catholc priesthood in 1974 after 20 years due to the Church's refusal to remarry divorced people). This may have been the only movie concerning the detective skills of Father Robert Koesler (Donald Sutherland), but the character appeared in twenty three more novels from Kienzie.

The character is a progressive priest — even falling for a reporter, Pat Lennon (Belinda Bauer, RoboCop 2, Flashdance). He serves with Father Ted Nabors (Charles Durning, Tootsie), who is the exact opposite — a racist throwback to pre-Vatican 2 who follows the Church to the letter of the law.

The central dilemma of the film? The killer confesses to Koesler, who can't do anything about it, thanks to the Church's Seal of Confession. But what if other lives — maybe even his own — are in danger?

The film was shot on location at Detroit's Holy Redeemer Parish, and if you look hard enough, you'll see an uncredited Jack White — years before The White Stripes — as an altar boy. That feels like it should be an urban legend, but it is true.

The film has what some describe as a leaden pace. There are some great moments in it, such as when Koesler hears the killer in a cemetery and the ending, where the real killer is revealed. I'm always debating with myself whether or not to spoil the ending. It's a thirty year old movie, but I feel weird doing so here. Must be the Catholic in me.

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I grew up in Detroit, so it's surprising that I've never seen this film. I played college baseball, and one of the guys on our team went to high school at Holy Redeemer (the church in this movie), so it was interesting to me in that way, as I'd never seen this church before.

The thing that bothered me as the movie ended is why the killer was killing Catholic priests and nuns. Maybe it was there and I missed it, but the end of the movie left me thinking "why?". After watching the whole movie, I felt let down at the ending.

Father Koesler (Sutherland) seemed to me to be less than devoted to his calling. Why did he break Catholic rules and baptize a baby born out of wedlock? Whether or not that's a good rule, he is required to abide by it, not pick and choose which he'll obey and which he'll ignore. And why did he break into someone's house? Why would a priest commit a felony?

I'm considering re-watching this film to see if I missed a few things.

Murder mysteries generally speaking are criminal fantasies, outside of those based on real-life or so-called true crime. "The Rosary Murders" is based on a neo-noir novel by William X. Kienzle who was a real catholic priest. The story involves a series of murders associated with people in the catholic church, some laymen/laywomen while others are clergy. The murderer leaves behind a rosary. Donald Sutherland plays Father Koesler, a sort of priest-turned-detective. Also, at one point, the murderer confesses to the Koesler and he has to decide if he should break the church law of keeping confession confidential.

Typically, civilians outside of law enforcement are not supposed to engage in their own investigations of a crime being handled by the police. However in this story Father Koesler is given a lot of leeway to explore the case and interview witnesses. It turns out there's a backstory involving a nun who has entered into a cloistered convent where she has taken vows of silence. Koesler realizes she knows something crucial to the case.

Overall, I didn't find this film very entertaining. It was interesting, but also very gruesome and the overall feel was almost so real it was verging on not being terribly entertaining. Strangely films like "The Silence of the Lambs", though gruesome, are compelling from beginning to end. I didn't find that true with this film. Compelling but not really entertaining, and if it's not entertaining, what's the point?

The author has relied heavily upon the literary device of COINCIDENCE in constructing his plot; i.e., he expects you to believe that several people living in the same part of the country would have certain proper names. I'd love to explain that in detail, but doing so would ruin part of the ending. Rent this movie and see if you agree. But this flaw will not diminish your enjoyment of the film, as there is enough action to keep the murder mystery fan happy. I was never bored during any of the times I watched this film. I recommend this any day of the week.