Confession criminelle

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.

"The Rosary Murders" follows a Catholic parish in Detroit that is plagued by a series of brutal murders. One of the priests (Donald Sutherland) is joined by a journalist (Belinda Bauer) attempting to cover the story; both aim to stop the killer before he dispatches more nuns, monks, and members of the Holy Order.

This is a downbeat and gloomy affair from Fred Walton, who, the year prior, directed the playful, joke-filled slasher "April Fool's Day." "The Rosary Murders" is more a return to Walton's style as seen in "When a Stranger Calls" (1979) in that it is a much more austere, dour take on the genre. This film gives no reprieve, and the subject matter is relentlessly grim. It has a similar taste to other Catholic-themed slasher films, such as "Alice, Sweet Alice" (1976), or even "The Exorcist III" (1990), both of which set a serial killer narrative against the stark backdrop of the Catholic Church. There is something inherently transfixing (and sinister) about this formula that evokes a creep factor that is hard to shake (especially if you were brought up Catholic). "The Rosary Murders" also has a late-'80s flair about it that at times feels redolent of a number of "Unsolved Mysteries" episodes.

What works best about the film perhaps is the atmosphere: the wintry Detroit setting only adds to the ambiance, and the gothic cathedral and parish buildings are moodily photographed throughout. Donald Sutherland gives a muted but solid performance as the central priest, while Charles Durning has a smaller part as one of Sutherland's superiors. Belinda Bauer is great as the spunky reporter and has good chemistry with Sutherland, but it is ultimately wasted as her character is given little to do before altogether disappearing for the last quarter of the film (which is one of its main faults). Another instance where the film falters is that it has an even-keeled tone from beginning to end that drains the proceedings of any high suspense; the identity and motive of the killer is also unveiled too early, leaving little surprises to be had, and where the film feels like it should reach a fever pitch, it simply doesn't.

All that being said, I still found "The Rosary Murders" absorbing and extremely watchable. It is a dour, gloomy affair that works better as a mood piece than it does a thriller or mystery. Its narrative issues aside, the shadowy halls of the parish and the chilly Detroit exteriors impress a somberness on the viewer that is unusually stirring. 7/10.

Donald Sutherland is good, but he can't make this film worth seeing all by himself. The director doesn't seem to have the temperament that's needed for a successful thriller, the plot moves slowly and monotonously, and the whole thing just plods on to an ending that fails to explain the killer's motivation satisfyingly. (*1/2)

Though not as riveting as its premise will have you believe, The Rosary Murders still manages to deliver moments of tension & suspense within a monotonously executed drama and is anchored by Donald Sutherland's measured performance as a conflicted priest. A run-of-the-mill effort at best when it comes to direction, the story is undone by its long runtime, an unnecessary subplot that goes nowhere & more but the mood & build-up before the serial killings is done well and the dilemma our protagonist faces is rendered with sincerity, along with the conflicted interpretation of Church law & teachings. However, the picture as a whole needed a tightly-edited plot to keep things interesting throughout and carries the look n feel of a TV film in more ways than one.