Original Sins

Mark Harmon is the DJ encouraging people to call in a confess their sins on National Radio. Isn't that what Jerry Springer does on TV? Anyway this strange voiced person calls in and confesses to a murder.

This is ludicrous. The performances are terrible and I think everyone would guess the outcome within about the first 10 minutes. Suspense level is zero and the finale in the chapel is just laughable.

A really pleasant surprise of a TV-movie when I picked up this. Unlike most unknown TV- films this immediately got my attention, due to a stunning performance by Mark Harmon.

The film starts with it's main premise. A priest starts off his first late night radio show with an idea of giving redemption and forgiveness to people who call in and admit their sins. Obviously this goes wrong. A killer calls, admitting to have killed a woman.

Nothing sensational about this, but the film manages to be both cozy and creepy at the same time, being well acted by all involved. There's actually quite some star power in the film, as well, so that's no surprise. It's also well filmed technically, and has a good music score. What the film manages, is to set a an interesting premise with a good mystery pace, and with the creepy feel giving a great glimpse back to the nineties best crime noirs.

So if you are abler to catch this little forgotten gem, then do.

I watched this film when it first opened in New York and Boston (television). Mark Harmon's performance was one of the best of his career, but he was overshadowed by newcomer Bo Chun, proving once again that he is the new face of Asian film. His beautiful bronze features framed by locks of jet black hair complement the character of Boy #2 perfectly. His brief role however, though it does set the film's narrative in motion, is unfortunately short lived. I guess we'll just have to catch him in his next appearance at the multiplex.

Original Sins (TV Movie 1995)

4.5 out of 10 stars - Time to Read: 1:45min

BASIC PLOT: Johnathan Frayne (Mark Harmon) is a priest, who's taken a leave of absence, due to a crisis of faith. He's in hiding from his vows, and takes a job as a call in radio host, as he's figuring things out. He takes, "confessions" from callers, so they can alleviate their guilt, by sharing their biggest regrets. A killer begins calling in, and taunting Jonathan. He has details about two murders, only the killer would know. The killer also begins threatening Jonathan, and a woman he's become friends with, Laura (Sarah Trigger). Determined not to make the same mistakes with women, he's made in the past, he realizes leaving the church, didn't solve anything. Can he find the killer in time to save Laura, and himself?

WHAT WORKS: *IT'S A GOOD PREMISE Since the source material ("Voci nella notte (1988),") was of a high quality, this is watchable by default. It's like the ugly step-sister to the original.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *BLATANT RIP OFF OF MIDNIGHT CALLER This average made-for-tv movie desperately tries to revamp the very successful TV show, "Voci nella notte (1988)," and it never succeeds. Unlike Jack Killian, Gary Cole' character in "Midnight Caller," Mark Harmon's, Johnathan Frayne, never engages the viewer, probably because he's playing a priest in hiding.

*THERE'S NO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN HARMON, AND THE TWO FEMALE LEADS I don't know what the problem was between Mark Harmon, Julianne Phillips and Sarah Trigger, but there was no chemistry at all! This is in stark contrast to Voci nella notte (1988)'s, Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian (Gary Cole) and Devon King (Wendy Kilbourne), who's chemistry cup runneth over.

*THE KILLER IS TOO OBVIOUS I recently rewatched this, (I saw it the first time in '95 when it originally aired on CBS), and realized I was disappointed all over again. They only give you one suspect, so you know who the killer is, even before the foreshadowing begins. It's very disappointing.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *That's a hard question. If you're a fan of Mark Harmon or Julianne Phillips, you might like this. It's a very average made-for-tv '90's movie. There are worse ones, but there are far better ones too. All things being equal, I'd recommend heading over to YouTube, and catching the few Voci nella notte (1988) episodes available there, instead. It's more entertaining, and why watch the remake, when you can watch the original? We could all try to pressure the studios to release Voci nella notte (1988) on DVD, WITH THE MUSIC IN TACT, but in this day and age, with nothing but greedy executives running things, your better bet is just to head to YouTube, and watch the few episodes that are there (some of them have Polish subtitles, just ignore them).

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in ANY way by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews, and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.

ORIGINAL SINS or it's alternative title ACTS OF CONTRITION is another one of those 'Radio DJ menaced by mad caller films' it's a sort of low rent PLAY MISTY FOR ME.

TV series regular and Tom Cruise lookalike Mark Harmon (NCIS) IS Johnathan Frayne, who starts a call-in radio show in Boston where listeners call and tell him their deepest secrets - when a mysterious caller confesses to Murder and draws Frayne into a deadly game.

Harmon is the best thing about this thoroughly average TVM - the acting is strictly TV grade, The worst aspect of ORIGINAL SINS - like I say in my summary, is the COMPLETE predictability of the entire plot, You know who the perpetrator is within 10, maybe 15 Minutes at the most and the film doesn't make the most of its Boston locations.

Co-Starring Julianne Phillips and Ron 'Hellboy' Perlman.

Harmon keeps it watchable, but only just.

It gets a **1/2 out of ***** from me, but only because of Harmon - without him my vote would be a lot lower.

First broadcast in May 1995 on U.S. Network 'CBS'.