Written in Blood

...to validate whether my hunch is correct. I think there is a really interesting and intriguing mystery thriller story here. It's a shame that an American TV director and American TV actors were used for the production of this movie. There is an obvious TV cliché feel to many of the scenes and overall plot navigation of this movie. The director seems to pull his feeling of the scene in comparison to movie chemistry that has worked well in other films. For example, the relationship between the two partners while John Traveller is in jail. It attempts a similar feel to the chemistry between Agent Starling and Hannibal Lector...but undoubtedly less intriguing performance.

Another aspect of the movie to reinforce the TV feel of it, is the lack of continuity to the filming styles throughout the movie. There are not drastic differences but enough subtle nuances to the lighting and scene cut styles, it leaves the viewer in limbo to the overall feeling of the movie.

I look forward to when this film is redone by a different director and cast.

Supposedly set in Cally Forny Eh, this crapfest has ZERO palmtrees, has ONE black actor who plays the Lieutenant in charge of the Police Squad, and a few characters who are supposedly latinos. It's so realistic!

Peter Coyote was desperate to make his mortgage payment, so he took on the role of the guy inside a cell (inside another room) in the "Metropolitan Detention Center". Seriously!

As for the story - or lack of it - I had it figgered out in the bathroom. AVOID!

Bloody neo noir picture, where a betrayed Cop John Traveller (Coyote) kills his unfaithful wife and her lover at own house, His partner Matthew (Weiss) is called at late night as witness, after a fair trial where himself confess guilty by the homicides, meanwhile he waiting for the sentence his young partner Matthew gonna crazy, his already frail marriage was dissolved, in the L.A.Police Department his bad behavior put in danger his job, meanwhile some strange killings are committed on Los Angeles, he starts to investigate and found some connections with Traveller past happenings, leads were left on crime scenes with Sherlock Holmes's books, interesting plot with average results, it won't disappoint anyone!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.5

You never know what you'll find when the dogs wake you at 3am. This interesting film-noir thriller was not as good as it could have been.

I like Michael T. Weiss as Jarod in "The Pretender." Of course, I liked Andrea Parker more. He tended to overact in this film and his haircut was atrocious. Normally, I wouldn't comment on something like that, but it was a definite distraction Peter Coyote played his partner who went to jail for murdering his wife and her lover. I always like Coyote and he was the best thing about this movie.

Maureen Flannigan (A Day Without a Mexican) as the hot daughter with a secret, added immensely to the action.

It was Flannigan's character that should have been built up more. We were not provided enough motivation and it left gaping holes in the story.

It was OK for 3am.

When the wife of Detective John Traveller (Peter Coyote) and her lover are executed in bed and John takes the blame, his partner and friend, Detective Matthew Ransom (Michael T. Weiss), becomes very upset, affecting his marriage that was not working well. The lover of John's wife was the son of Luke Williams (Steve Rankin), a detective of the same department, and he does not accept the death of his son. After the trial and conviction of John, Matthew separates from his wife Mary Ramson (Nancy Valen), being sexually arrested by John's daughter Jude (Maureen Flanigan). Meanwhile, a serial killer kills the enemies of John, leaving clues in the crime scenes relatives to Sherlock Holmes tales and Matthew suspects of Jude. "Written in Blood" is a good low-budget contemporary Film-Noir. The story is great, but there is a lack of a previous development of the key elements of the plot, since the characters and their relations are disclosed along the story. This is the great flaw of the screenplay of a movie that deserves to be watched at least once. I would like to know the nationality of this film, which is not indicated in IMDb. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Escrito em Sangue" ("Written in Blood")