''Resurrection'' is a 1999
Police procedural
The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...
horror film directed by
Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy ( ; born 23 June 1953) is an Australian director of film, television, and music videos. He began his career directing music videos for artists like Elton John and Duran Duran, before making his feature directorial debut with the ...
and starring
Christopher Lambert
Christophe Guy Denis Lambert (; ; born March 29, 1957), commonly known as Christopher Lambert, is a French-American actor, producer, and writer. He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally f ...
,
Leland Orser
Leland Jones Orser (born August 6, 1960) is an American actor, director and writer. He has appeared in numerous film and television roles since his debut in 1991, notably as Lucien Dubenko on the television series '' ER'' (2004–09), Father Rome ...
and
Robert Joy
Robert Joy (born August 17, 1951) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as medical examiner Sid Hammerback on the police procedural series '' CSI: NY'', and his appearances in the films ''Atlantic City'' (1980), ''Ragtime'' (1981) ...
.
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and ...
appears in a cameo as a priest. Lambert co-wrote the story for the film with Brad Mirman, who also wrote the screenplay.
The film was theatrically released in most of Europe, Asia and Australia, but went
straight to DVD in the US. It was also occasionally aired/streamed on television.
Plot summary
Detective John Prudhomme, a
Cajun
The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states.
Whi ...
transferred to Chicago, and his partner Hollinsworth are assigned to investigate the savage murder of a man whose left arm has been sawed off and taken. A message, "He Is Coming", is found written in lamb's blood on the victim's window. After another victim is discovered with a missing right arm, the detectives realise they are dealing with a
serial killer
A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone:
*
*
*
*
* (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
.
The third victim to be found has his head removed. After studying the
roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
found carved into the victims by the killer, Prudhomme realises that when combined with the victims' names (Matthew, Peter and James), these numerals are citing Bible verses related to the
resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus () is Christianity, Christian belief that God in Christianity, God Resurrection, raised Jesus in Christianity, Jesus from the dead on the third day after Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion, starting—or Preexis ...
. Prudhomme theorises that the killer plans to use the body parts he has taken to reconstruct the "
Body of Christ
In Christian theology, the term Body of Christ () has two main but separate meanings: it may refer to Jesus Christ's words over the bread at the celebration of the Jewish feast of Passover that "This is my body" in (see Last Supper), or it ...
" in time for Easter. This explains why each victim is 33 years old (Jesus was 33 at his death) and why the killer is ensuring that the victims are conscious when he kills them (Christ was conscious when he suffered). An FBI
profiler named Wingate arrives and offers additional insights into the killer's mental state.
Armed with this new information, Prudhomme and Hollinsworth are able to predict the killer's next target. When they interrupt the killing and give chase, Hollinsworth is tasered by the killer and shot in the leg by the police, after being set up by the killer. The injury to his leg necessitates its
amputation
Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malign ...
, resulting in it later being stolen by the killer. The killer leaves a message for Prudhomme, chiding him for interfering with the last killing and saying that for penance, Prudhomme's wife Sara must die. Prudhomme rushes home to find a mutilated corpse, but it is revealed to be Sara's visiting sister, and Sara herself is safe.
With Hollinsworth hospitalised and unable to help him, Prudhomme turns to detectives Scholfield and Moltz, with whom he has had a contentious relationship, for help. The team finds a fifth victim in a slaughterhouse, missing his leg, meaning that the killer needs only a torso to complete his work. Scholfield discovers an FBI record of a similar murder several years earlier in
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
—Prudhomme is irate that they did not get this record from Wingate, who had promised to send all the Bureau's information. When Prudhomme goes to the FBI's office, he finds Wingate, who is a different man than the apparent profiler his team has been working with.
Knowing that the fake Wingate is the killer, Prudhomme and his team lay a trap and arrest the impostor for impersonating a police officer. The impostor's name is Demus, and he mocks the police because they cannot connect him to any murder. The judge for the case sets bond at only $20,000, which Demus pays. Although officers
shadow
A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...
the released Demus to the
Chicago Union Station
Chicago Union Station is an Inter-city rail, intercity and commuter rail terminal station, terminal located in the West Loop neighborhood of the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side of Chicago. Amtrak's flagship station in the Midwest, Uni ...
, in the restroom he escapes by changing clothes and crawling under the stalls.
Prudhomme's team is able to connect Demus' fingerprints to the earlier murder in Tennessee, meaning they can now arrest him. They discover that he had been institutionalised for several years, only having been released two months ago. Meanwhile, Demus kills his sixth victim, taking the torso. Prudhomme theorises that Demus may be hiding somewhere they already looked, and in the house of the first victim, they find the gruesome remains of his victims, arranged to resemble a crucified Christ. Looking over Demus' notes, Prudhomme realises that to complete his work, the killer plans to take the heart of a baby born from a woman named Mary on Easter, which is the following day. Moltz identifies a newly born baby from a Mary, and they rush to that hospital, where they find Demus with the baby. Moltz is wounded and Prudhomme chases Demus to the rooftop. He shoots Demus and catches the baby. Demus falls from the rooftop to his death.
Some time later, Prudhomme visits a recovering Hollinsworth, who is learning to walk on a prosthetic leg and promises to return to the job better than ever.
Cast
*
Christopher Lambert
Christophe Guy Denis Lambert (; ; born March 29, 1957), commonly known as Christopher Lambert, is a French-American actor, producer, and writer. He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally f ...
as Det. John Prudhomme
*
Leland Orser
Leland Jones Orser (born August 6, 1960) is an American actor, director and writer. He has appeared in numerous film and television roles since his debut in 1991, notably as Lucien Dubenko on the television series '' ER'' (2004–09), Father Rome ...
as Det. Andrew Hollinsworth
*
Robert Joy
Robert Joy (born August 17, 1951) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as medical examiner Sid Hammerback on the police procedural series '' CSI: NY'', and his appearances in the films ''Atlantic City'' (1980), ''Ragtime'' (1981) ...
as Agent Wingate / Gerald Demus
*
Barbara Tyson
Barbara Tyson (born October 1, 1964) is a Canadian actress known for appearing in hit TV series ''Neon Rider'', ''Cold Squad'', '' ER'' and ''The Twilight Zone''. One of her first notable television roles was in '' Another World'' as Dawn "Ivy" R ...
as Sara Prudhomme
*
Rick Fox
Ulrich Alexander Fox (born July 24, 1969) is a Bahamian-Canadian actor and former basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association for the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, and played college basketball for the North Caro ...
as Scholfield
*
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and ...
as Father Rousell
* Jonathan Potts as Detective Moltz
*
Peter MacNeill
Peter MacNeill is a Canadian film and television actor and voice-over artist who has starred in numerous television series and films.
His film credits have included '' The Hanging Garden'' (for which MacNeill won a Genie Award for Best Support ...
as Captain Whippley
* Philip Williams as Detective Rousch
*
Jayne Eastwood
Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in '' Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Waitress in '' The ...
as Dolores Koontz
*
David Ferry as Mr. Breslauer
*
Chaz Thorne
Chaz Thorne (born 1975 in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian actor and television and film director. He graduated from the National Theatre School in 1996. He has appeared on stages across Canada as well as in numerous film and television ...
as David Elkins
* Darren Enkin as John Ordway
* Michael Olah as Michael Prudhomme
* Ray Vernon as Real Agent Wingate
Production
An international co-production between Canada and The United States. Some of the film was shot in Chicago, Illinois and
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, Louisiana, but most of it was filmed in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Canada.
According to director Russell Mulcahy's DVD commentary ''Resurrection'' was originally rated NC-17, which is why several scenes of violence and gore, like the leg cutting scene, were excised to achieve an R rating. The "Uncut version" of the film was never released and is presumed lost to this day.
Release
''Resurrection'' was released in the fall of 1999 on cable television in the United States. In other countries such as France, Spain and Switzerland, it was shown in theatres. In France it was a modest success, with nearly 400,000 film admissions. The film was quite popular in Spain, with 1,198,684 admissions.
Critical reception
Critical reception for the film has been mixed. Marc Bernardin of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' called the film "woefully derivative" but "well-crafted."
John Fallon of
Arrow in the Head called it "one of the more entertaining serial killer movies on the block." Fallon added, "If you can get past the similarities with ''
Seven
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...
'', you will surely enjoy this razor sharp, nasty flick." Chuck O'Leary of FulvueDrive-in.com said the film is "a blatant rip-off of ''Seven'', but pretty scary and unsettling in its own right."
Carlo Cavagna of About Film called ''Resurrection'' "an entertaining movie," remarking that "the cinematography is quite good by any standard, and the writing is decent enough to keep you interested." Cavagna felt that the plot was "by-the-numbers," but added that it
asa new twist on the killer's motivation."
Review
Carlo Cavagna, About Film
References
External links
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*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Resurrection (1999 Film)
1999 horror films
1999 crime thriller films
1990s serial killer films
Canadian horror thriller films
Canadian serial killer films
Films set in Chicago
Films shot in Toronto
Films shot in New Orleans
Films directed by Russell Mulcahy
1999 films
Canadian religious horror films
American serial killer films
Films with screenplays by Brad Mirman
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
1990s Canadian films
American horror thriller films
Resurrection in film
English-language horror thriller films
English-language crime thriller films