First Power

The late ‘80s was a great time to be a cinematic serial killer. Not only were you a menace to society when you were alive, but you were even more dangerous after you were dead! Part of a natural progression of the slasher genre, Shocker and The Horror Show both introduced villains who returned from the grave with supernatural powers to continue their bloody business. Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners (1996) eventually took the whole thing to a big-budget extreme, but wedged somewhere in between is The First Power (1990), starring Lou Diamond Phillips as an L.A. cop who has to catch the bad guy again after his spirit returns for a post-mortem rampage.

More action movie than straight-up horror, the film gets a ton of mileage out of actor Jeff Kober as Patrick Channing, the Pentagram Killer, who believes his status as one of the devil’s favorite disciples will grant him “the first power:” resurrection. And, what do you know, it does! Which leads to him body swapping all over the city and messing with Lou’s mind as the renegade cop hooks up with a local psychic (Tracy Griffith, Melanie’s little sister) to try and put him down for good.

Kober is genuinely creepy. Having just come off a memorable role on TV’s China Beach, the actor’s deliberate line readings and intimidating physique are the film’s best assets. A close second is a string of increasingly impressive stunts, including several scary-looking high jumps, a wicked car crash and a finale set in a flooded sewer line. Director Robert Resnikoff (who never made another film) shows a good flair for visual exclamation marks, making the most of his limited budget and L.A. shooting locations.

Less impressive is Phillips, who admits in the extras he was probably miscast as the tough, Irish cop. His trench coat, aviator shades and dangling cigarette just don’t read as believable. But he approaches the material with gusto and the film likely wouldn’t have existed without his post-La Bamba star power. Co-star Tracy Griffith is appealing enough that you wonder why she didn’t turn up in a few more direct-to-video titles, at the very least.

Original enough to stand out in a crowd of copycats and better made than most, The First Power had pretty much slipped away into obscurity until this hi-def rescue by Scorpion Releasing through Kino Lorber. The Blu-ray image quality is exceedingly good while still retaining that slightly soft late ‘80s action look. There’s even a half-hour interview with Lou Diamond Phillips (who reveals INXS star Michael Hutchence tried out for the killer role) and another slightly shorter interview with Jeff Kober, who recently popped up in a story arc on The Walking Dead.