31 Days Of Horror: Day 12

The First Power

Dir: Robert Resnikoff

Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Jeff Kober,

and Mykelti Williamson

Lou Diamond Phillips. La Bamba is in this movie. That clearly should be enough information for you to track this movie down immediately. 1990, I wasn’t sure what determined a good flick, I just went alphabetically down the horror section at my local Blockbuster and spent the summer in a mind numbing A-Z horror binge. It was a great summer. The First Power is that typical 90’s horror flick, not the best cast or the best stories were being made, but The First Power stuck out. It might have been my Lou Diamond love carrying over from Young Guns, but this was my favorite horror flick for a while.

 I can’t honestly remember the last time I sat through this film from start to finish, but the opening scenes immediately brought me back. The story is simple, and familiar to those that watched Craven’s Shocker back in ’89.  A young detective catches the serial killer, in record turn around fashion the killer is almost immediately sentenced to death by injection, but his spirit lives on and is able to possess the “weak” people. There is an additional overall religious aspect that surrounds the story, and further explains the “weak” people aspect, but basically, that’s the gist.

I still like this movie. It’s cheesy at times, and Lou Diamond acts about the same as he does today, but there are still some genuine creepy moments. Jeff Kober (Sons of Anarchy) plays the killer/spirit in over-the-top fashion; there is still a great scene with him wearing a mask using a ceiling fan as a weapon. The additional religious imagery is creepy as well and, if I haven’t convinced you enough, Mykelti “Bubba Gump” Williamson is in it…sans big gums. Day 12 with the shining Diamond.