The First Power

Plot

A sadistic serial killer Patrick Channing (Jeff Kober), known by most as the Pentagram Killer, is at large in Los Angeles, killing innocent people as a sacrifice to Satan. His specific MO is engraving a pentagram symbol into the flesh of his victims before killing them.

Detective Russell Logan (Lou Diamond Phillips) is determined to bring the Pentagram Killer to justice. He receives an anonymous phone call from a psychic called Tess Seaton (Tracy Griffith). After getting his promise that the man will not be executed, she tells him where the killer is going to strike next. With time running out for the next victim, Logan decides to take Tess on her word. Logan goes on a stakeout and successfully tracks down Channing's lair. During a struggle in which Logan apprehends Channing, Logan receives a severe stab wound to his torso.

Logan manages to recover from his stomach injury and breaks his word, turning Channing over to the death penalty authorities. Tess makes another phone call to Logan, pleading with him to keep his promise that Channing not be executed. Logan refuses, satisfied that Channing is now caught and cannot harm another person and, therefore, is not interested in sparing the serial killer from what he believes is a much-deserved fate. Channing is later convicted and sentenced to be executed in the gas chamber. However, since Channing was a worshipper of Satan, Satan seemingly grants Channing The First Power -- resurrection. This is the first of three special powers Channing is attempting to gain, and is directly stated in the movie that Jesus Christ also possessed all three of these powers. Channing returns from the grave and is able to appear or disappear at will, as well as possess others. His main objective now becomes to get his revenge on Russell Logan as well as continue his work. Logan must then team up with Tess in order to find a way to defeat Channing once and for all. The climax of the film takes place at an old church where Logan finds Tess after she was kidnapped from her hotel room by Channing. Logan and Channing fight resulting in him getting stabbed in the chest with sharpened cross, which is the only thing that will kill him. A police officer shoots and wounds Logan after he thought Logan was attacking a nun. A week later, Tess visits Logan in the hospital, where he wakes up and attacks her with a scalpel. She realized that the whole experience was just a dream.

Reception

The film received negative reviews, including Desson Howe's in the Washington Post, which called it "shopworn and imitative." In the New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote that Phillips "doesn't seem altogether comfortable here, but he certainly is not bad," and despite the film's fast pace and impressive special effects "the whole thing is seriously stupid."

As of September 2016, The First Power has a 22% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.