This was one of those big box VHS tapes that used to elude me back when I was a teen wandering the many video shops in my area. You know the sort that you mean to go back for but when you do it’s been rented out, time and time again.  So, you give in, or rather you quit nagging your mother since you aren’t old enough to legally rent it.

I had seen Lou Diamond Phillips in "Young Guns" (I was a teen) and wondered how he would hold up as a main character in a horror film.  Answer?  Not bad really.

"The First Power" is a well crafted thriller that takes itself seriously and believe me, acts as a blueprint for the Denzil Washington horror, "Fallen."

We start with a nun standing to attention against a Bishop and two priests.  She’s trying to warn them about the coming of Satan, but to be fair, they aren’t very impressed by her evidence.  So.... hold on a moment, is that...?  It is!  David ("Reanimator," "Bride Of Reanimator," "Guyver") Gale in a small cameo role.

We’re introduced to Logan (Lou Diamond Phillips) who is a bell-end detective who writes random notes, balls up the paper and throws it at his cat.  As introductions go -- not good.  He’s tracing crime scenes on a map and they all join-the-dots as a pentagram.  He’s tipped off about a serial killer he’s hunting called the Pentagram Killer.  So there’s a stakeout with some cops (one cop looks alarmingly like a cross between Chuck Norris and Ron Pearlman).  Logan arrives with a cig, a trench coat and grim attitude.  A girl cop is caught by the killer and tied up on the ground in a sacrificial pentagram.

Logan gets to the crime scene and a chase is on, accompanied by a decent soundtrack, until Logan is stabbed four or five times in the struggle. He does however, manage to subdue the killer.

Time passes and at his trial, Patrick Channing, the Pentagram Killer wants the death penalty and gets it.  “See you around, buddy boy.” he says to Logan.  Logan meanwhile receives a call from the same person who tipped him off that on no account should Channing get the death penalty.  Channing is gassed regardless.

Anyone who’s seen "Shocker" or "House III" ("The Horror Show") knows that an executed killer will come back and Logan finds his apartment walls splashed with blood that suddenly vanishes.  The same day a woman is found dead in a copycat style to the Pentagram Killer.  Another woman in a car-park hears growls and actually sees Channing.  Bare in mind this has all happened in the first twenty five minutes so we know we’re in for a hell of a ride!  The woman who saw him is called Tess Seaton -- she’s a psychic with 1980’s hair.  She goes to Logan and it turns out she was his tip-off.

Logan goes to psychic Tess’s house with his token ‘funny’ cop partner (“Man, you can kiss my black ass... she might have a voodoo love doll”) -- so amusing.  Her answering machine has a message from Channing saying, “Looks like Pentagram Killer - 16, LA PD - 1” and a location for Logan to follow.  No surprise, Logan is the only one to hear it, for upon rewind, it’s blank.

They head to the location. “Hey.” says token funny partner, “I don’t like this, it’s spooky.”  Moments later he’s crushed graphically by a horse and carriage.   Honestly, it makes sense when you watch it.

Logan chases the suspect briefly, glimpsing Channing's face before the suspect jumps off a tall building and hits the ground (to simply get up and run off.)

It seems that Channing’s spirit is possessing people. Weak and vulnerable folks are the easiest.  Kill one and his spirit simply jumps into the next one (like I said, "Fallen" took a lot of ideas from this.)

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 DVD SPECS:
 Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen
 Region: NTSC R1
 Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
 -  "The First Power" trailer