The First Power (1990) Revisited – Horror Movie Review

Last Updated on January 31, 2025

INTRO: You might have heard this story before. A serial killer is caught by the authorities, but becomes even more powerful after their execution. Their evil spirit has been unleashed to wreak more havoc and rack up a higher body count. That could be the description of several movies. Shocker, House III: The Horror Show, Fallen. But we’re not talking about those today. The supernatural serial killer movie we’re shining the spotlight on in this video is writer/director Robert Resnikoff’s 1990 film The First Power (watch it HERE). If you haven’t seen it, it’s the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw.

CREATORS / CAST: Resnikoff didn’t have many credits to his name when he went into production on The First Power. This was his feature directorial debut; previously he had only directed one short film called The Jogger. He had a couple more writing credits: a Disney retrospective called Once Upon a Mouse and the Pat Morita and Jay Leno buddy cop movie Collision Course. Which he also co-produced. And he had played a ghost in the 1977 sex comedy Cherry Hill High. This doesn’t sound like the résumé of someone you’d expect to deliver an under-appreciated but very cool horror movie, but what’s exactly what Resnikoff did with this film.

Pitched as The French Connection meets The Exorcist, The First Power centers on Los Angeles cop Russell Logan. He has already busted two serial killers before we meet him, and now he has his sights set on a third. The Pentagram Killer. A nickname the murderer earned by carving pentagrams into the bodies of his fifteen victims. He’s such a fan of Satan, the locations of his crime scenes form a pentagram-shaped pattern on a map of L.A. An anonymous phone call tells Logan where the killer is going to strike next. But the caller only gives him this information after he promises that the Pentagram Killer will not be killed by the police. The caller also wants to make sure he won’t receive the death penalty when he’s apprehended. But as soon as Logan catches up to the killer, he throws his promise out the window. He fires multiple shots at the madman and definitely would have killed him if the bullets hit their mark. He tackles the guy through a window, beats him to a pulp. And he gets a knife to his stomach for his troubles.

The Pentagram Killer, whose real name is Patrick Channing, survives his initial encounter with Logan. Then he’s sentenced to die in the gas chamber. To be fair, the death penalty ruling wasn’t Logan’s to make, but at least he could show some concern about it. And he should be concerned, instead of celebrating like he does. As soon as Channing is executed, the murders start again. This time the killer is targeting people close to Logan, taunting him. Knowing what’s going on, the person who called Logan has to reveal their identity so they can help him bring an end to this situation. The caller is a psychic named Tess Seaton, who knew Channing would return if he was killed. Now the Satanic murderer is possessing people so he can continue killing. He passes from body to body on a mission to torment both Logan and Tess, because she opened herself up to him when she established the psychic connection. Logan is an atheist and a skeptic, so this is a difficult situation for him to wrap his mind around. But Channing quickly makes it very clear that he is back. To figure out how to stop him, Logan and Tess have to work together to learn more about the man. They dig into his twisted back story. While they’re investigating and fighting for their lives, they also happen to fall for each other. By the end we’ll know that getting the help of a certain nun, Sister Marguerite, may be their only chance to kill Channing. Again. And keep him dead this time.

The First Power was produced by David Madden, who had just produced his first film the year before. That was the action movie Renegades, starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Kiefer Sutherland. Madden had been so impressed by Phillips while they were working on Renegades, he decided to cast him in this movie as well. A fan of both cop movies and horror movies, Phillips signed on. Fresh from playing the heroine in Sleepaway Camp III, Tracy Griffith, who happens to be the half-sister of Melanie Griffith, was cast as Tess Seaton. Elizabeth Arlen was cast as Sister Marguerite. Mykelti Williamson, who would go on to play Tom Hanks’ friend in Forrest Gump and Nicolas Cage’s friend in Con Air, got the friend role in this one as well. Here he plays Logan’s ill-fated pal Detective Oliver Franklin. Familiar faces like Grand L. Bush, Bill Moseley, Re-Animator’s David Gale, Brian Libby from Silent Rage, and Friday the 13th Part III’s David Katims have small roles in the film. Some of them appear so quickly, you might not have the chance to recognize them.

Singer Nick Cave was considered for the role of Patrick Channing and even auditioned for it, but Resnikoff ended up casting Jeff Kober, who was on the TV show China Beach at the time. This turned out to be the perfect choice, because Kober is creepy as hell as the Pentagram Killer. It’s no surprise that he has gone on to play killers several more times during his career. He has a very unnerving screen presence. With a smile and a simple line, usually one where he calls Logan “buddy boy”, he can send chills running down your spine.

BACKGROUND: A lot of genre movies have drawn inspiration from the crimes committed by real-life murderers. Just from Ed Gein we’ve gotten the likes of Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, and more. The First Power was also inspired by a convicted murderer, but not by their actions. It was something he said. While sitting on Death Row, waiting for his 1977 execution by firing squad, Gary Gilmore was quoted as saying, “I don’t care if you kill me. I’ll just come back as somebody else.”

He believed he was going to be reincarnated. Resnikoff was inspired to write The First Power because he was fascinated by the idea of a killer being reincarnated and then continuing their killing spree. Although Channing hasn’t exactly been reincarnated. The film tells us that there are three powers God or Satan can gift someone with. The first power is resurrection. Immortality. The second is the gift Tess has, psychic powers. And the third power is the ability to possess other bodies.

Since there are three powers in play, The First Power was not Resnikoff’s first choice for the title. During production, the title was Transit. Because Channing’s spirit is in transit from one body to another. The film was even promoted in the pages of Fangoria magazine as Transit. You can see why the title was changed along the way; Transit isn’t exactly a grabber. The First Power isn’t the most evocative title itself, but at least it’s a step up, and it makes sense because it’s in multiple lines of dialogue.

The First Power was made on a budget of just under ten million. When its release date was drawing near, it was looking like it was going to be a hit. The producers and distributor Orion Pictures were starting to think franchise. A test screening went so well, some more money was reportedly pumped into the production to enhance the climactic action. If the test audience liked it as it was, the paying audience would be even more impressed by the extra thrills. Online trivia claims that the ending, which takes place in the sewer system, was a reshoot. That the climax originally took place in a warehouse. That wouldn’t make much sense, though. There are multiple warehouse locations in the movie, but lines of dialogue and character details given throughout the movie make the sewer the logical setting for the ending. Everything points in the direction of the sewer. That has been Channing’s hangout since he was a kid, and it’s where he needs to be defeated. Fangoria was on set for the filming of the sewer action, and there was no mention of this being a reshoot.

The one thing that does appear to be a reshoot is the final scene, which takes place in a hospital. What makes it stand out is Tess’s hair, which is different in this one moment than it was in the rest of the movie.

Released on April 6th, 1990, The First Power was not well received by critics… but it did turn a slight profit at the box office. It made just over twenty-two million in the United States alone. Not quite enough to get a sequel off the ground, especially with Orion facing financial issues, but not bad. The film earned a fair share of fans, and was even said to be the favorite movie of rapper Eazy E. His final album, released in January of 1996 – ten months after he passed away – kicks off with a track called “First Power”, in which he quotes lines that were spoken by Patrick Channing. Unfortunately, The First Power seems to have slipped into obscurity as the decades have gone by. It’s rare to come across a reference to it. That’s why we’re revisiting it with this video, as it deserves to be remembered as one of the best horror movies of the early ‘90s.

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: At that time, Lou Diamond Phillips had recently established himself as one of the coolest actors in the business, and The First Power also ranks highly among his best movies. Russell Logan doesn’t seem like it was the most demanding role, but he has enough depth to get by and Phillips plays the role well. He’s a hero we can easily side with. Tracy Griffith’s acting career never broke out in a major way, but she made Tess a likeable character that the viewer and Logan come to care about. Elizabeth Arlen also makes a strong impression during the few scenes she has as Sister Marguerite.

Resnikoff’s goal was to make a gritty film that starts out with the street feel of your average cop movie. Then it suddenly shifts into supernatural territory without the audience realizing what’s happening. Producer David Madden said, “In recent years, the horror genre has either gone the total blood and guts route or a deliberate comedy route. (This movie) is going back to a time when exploring primal human fears was the most important statement a horror film could make.”

They achieved their goal, because the movie is effectively unsettling. Given that Logan is tracking a Satan-worshipping serial killer, it has a wonderfully dark and disturbing atmosphere from the beginning. But once Channing becomes supernatural, the creepiness factor increases substantially. As he possesses people, it’s up to him whether or not he appears to Logan and Tess as himself or as the body he’s in. He usually chooses to appear as himself, just to freak them out. Which is good for the audience, since we get to see more of Jeff Kober’s performance than we would have otherwise.

The First Power is also packed with action. Channing is relentless in his pursuit of Logan and Tess, they don’t get many quiet moments once his spirit has been unleashed. The most impressive thing about the film may be the stunt work. The stunt team pulled off some incredible things for this movie – and since it was released in 1990, you know all the stunts were real. There’s a moment where Channing jumps off the top of a building that’s over a hundred feet tall, lands on his feet, and runs away. And a stunt person really did that. One member of the stunt crew was Tom Morga, and in the scene where Channing is in the gas chamber you can clearly see him doubling for Kober. This is notable because Morga had previously played Jason Voorhees and Roy Burns in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Leatherface in the bridge scene from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and the bandaged Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. By having Morga play Channing for that brief moment, the character is brought into the world of icons.

Phillips had gotten banged up and broken a rib doing stunts on Renegades, so he told Fangoria he wasn’t too enthusiastic about doing more of that. But he did many of his own stunts on The First Power anyway. And paid the price for it. By the time Fangoria got to the set, he was once again banged up and this time had torn a hamstring. He was observed limping around the filming location.

BEST SCENE(S): One of the most spectacular stunts in The First Power comes at the end of a sequence in which Channing has taken over the body of a homeless woman played by Nada Despotovich. This is one of the rare occasions where Channing retains the appearance of the person he’s possessing. Despotovich gets to play the character for an extended sequence, and it looks like she had a blast doing this. The bag lady mixes in some acrobatic moves while beating the hell out of Logan in his own apartment. When he and Tess try to escape from her, she pops up in the back seat of his car and continues messing with them. This highly entertaining stretch of the film builds up to a car crash that sends Logan’s vehicle flying through the air. On a bridge, where the car easily could have gone over the side if the stunt crew had made a slight miscalculation. But they pulled it off, and it looks great. As a bonus, we also have more Despotovich to look forward to even after the crash.

Another standout attack sequence is set in the hallway of a rundown hotel. A mask-wearing, axe-wielding Channing confronts Logan and Tess in this hallway – but the scene gets even better when he ditches the axe. He tears down a ceiling fan, starts it up, and follows them down the hall with the fan blade spinning in front of him. Now, this makes no logical sense. Once the fan has been torn off the ceiling, it’s no longer connected to a power source. It shouldn’t be able to run anymore. It definitely shouldn’t be able to deflect the bullets Logan fires at Channing while he’s holding it. But it does. And that’s fine, because it’s an awesome idea and a cool visual.

PARTING SHOT: Whether it’s an action scene or a creepy moment that gets under your skin, there are a lot of things about The First Power that are likely to stick in your mind once you watch it. It’s the kind of movie that lingers with you. It works so well, it’s shocking that Robert Resnikoff has never made another movie. This remains his sole feature directing credit. If you look at his IMDb page, it’s like he just vanished from the entertainment industry after 1990. That’s a shame, because he showed a lot of promise here. He delivered a movie that is both scary and has thrilling action in it. It leaves you wishing there were more Robert Resnikoff horror and action movies to watch.

One person who still has an appreciation for the film all these years later is Lou Diamond Phillips. In 2018, he shared a picture of himself and Jeff Kober on Twitter, celebrating a First Power reunion. In 2021, during an interview with MovieWeb, Phillips said he would still like to make a follow-up to The First Power. That would be his top choice if he was given the chance to make a legacy sequel to one of his older films. He said, “The one I think is really an interesting possibility would be The First Power. I would love to revisit that character thirty years later. And really kind of ramp up the horror. It has a cult following. It was very scary. But I don’t think I’ve made my best horror film yet. I think Jordan Peele and Blumhouse, they have totally revitalized the genre. That is something I think would be interesting.”

In that quote, it sort of sounds like he wants Jordan Peele and/or Blumhouse Productions to back a revival of The First Power. If they wanted to team up with him to pit Russell Logan against the forces of evil again, we’d be all for it. Peele has referenced The First Power before. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, he said he spend his youth at home watching movies on VHS. His quote was, “While other teenagers were getting laid, I was just trying to decide between DEAD AGAIN and The First Power for the third time.”

So Peele, Blumhouse, let’s do this. Call up Lou Diamond Phillips and let’s get The Second Power into production.

Some previous episodes of the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

Source: Arrow in the Head

About the Author

Cody is a news editor and film critic, focused on the horror arm of JoBlo.com, and writes scripts for videos that are released through the JoBlo Originals and JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channels. In his spare time, he's a globe-trotting digital nomad, runs a personal blog called Life Between Frames, and writes novels and screenplays.