Resurrection is intended to be a dark and creepy ninety minutes of serial killer heaven so probably the first thing that will jump to mind is 'that other movie'. You know the one I'm talking about. As such, its bound to suffer the wraith of armchair critics everywhere, but if you can keep your expectations in check, you'll find a decent flick that stands on its own. Don't be too quick to judge this one.

The dark foreboding imagery, religious overtones and a crazed, mystery killer has been done. The constantly dreary atmosphere, dark locales, the detective with a broken past, the second string banana who's the direct opposite of his partner, the twist you're not supposed to see coming. These are the conventions, that is formula, but its unfair to label Resurrection a rip-off. It features some good production values and there's no denying this is one of Christopher Lambert's better efforts. He's one of those guys that has slipped into B-movie obscurity like some actors do. Appearing in the dredges of the direct-to-video market. In fact, this was such a pleasant experience than it almost made up for those poor Highlander sequels I sat through.

No one (me included) is going to come out and say Resurrection is the best thing ever, but all things considered, it's better than eighty-five percent of the dtv offerings I've picked off video store shelves. The acting and story might falter at times, but there are also moments that try to rise above. A must-watch for Lambert fans and a satisfying flick in its own right.

***SPOILERS*** What the movie "Resurrection" shows is that religious nuts, from all dominations and cultures, are about as dedicated to their religious beliefs as those who try to suppress and eradicate them.

This deranged psycho is out on the streets of Chicago trying to replicated Jesus' Easter suffering by using unsuspecting persons, whom he kidnaps and brutally murders, body parts in his recreating Jesus' ordeal on the Cross. This wacko goes so far as seeking out his victim in that they have the same biblical names that connects them, in the Bible, with Jesus' Apostles! He also makes sure that his victims are also the same age that Jesus was when he was crucified: 33 years old!

It's transplanted , from New Orleans, Cajun Chicago police detective John Prudhomme, Christopher Lambert, who gets the jump on the killer by deciphering his notes, that he carved into his victims bodies, he left at his crime scenes. Det. Prudhomme's attempt to catch the elusive killer leads to his partner Det. Hollinsworth, Leland Orsen, ending up not only getting shot by the police, in mistaking him for the killer, but having his left leg cut off, by the killer, when he's left alone and under intensive care in his hospital room!

As things turn out it takes FBI profiler Agent Wingate, Robert Joy, to get Det. Prudhomme as well as the Chicago PD to finally get it straight in not just why this psycho is committing these ghastly crimes but who he really is! This revelation, on Agent Wingate's part, is by far the most shocking and surprising sequence in the movie.

What really makes the movie "Ressurection" go completely downhill is that after the killer's identity is revealed he walks right into a trap, that with his great intelligence and intuition he should have seen coming, that Det. Prudhomme and the Chicago PD set for him. With the killer being so smart as well as omnipresent during the first 75 minutes of the movie he then, after he's discovered, does everything in not at all bothering to prove his innocence that he easily can, by his manipulating the law and the courts, but goes out of his way in his death wish-like effort to prove his guilt instead! This has him going on a mindless and murderous rampage knocking off some dozen people by the time the movies over! Most, if not all, of those that he murders have nothing at all to do with his sick scheme in replicating the Miracle of Easter!

You have to have a really strong stomach to be able to sit through this movie that tries to outdo the film "Se7en" which has an almost identical storyline. "Ressurection" goes to show how unchecked religion, or religious fanaticism, can effect a disturbed and unstable mind who uses it for his own sick and maniacal purpose's. In the case of the movie "Ressurection" the sick person who's mind is effected uses religion, like the psycho in Se7en, to mask his dark and deep psychotic and murderous fantasies by having it justify not, what in reality it would do, condemn them!

Here's yet another serial killer thriller, adding itself to the genre which has been all the rage in a post-SEVEN world. RESURRECTION has an interesting religious killer to recommend it, as well as lots of grisly gratuitous carnage and an above-average performance from Christopher Lambert, but is let down by a perfunctory script and a story which has too few surprises. Director Russell Mulcahy - teaming with Lambert again after HIGHLANDER - seems too engrossed in creating a slick "stylish" film instead of telling a proper story which is where the film falls down.

The roving camera-work quickly becomes tiring, giving the appearance that the cameraman was drunk rather than making the film disturbing and disorientating as I believe was the intention. Now I know I do moan about static cameras in earlier films but this just takes the biscuit and is far more headache-inducing than THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was, at least in the latter it had a reason and fit the context. On the plus side, RESURRECTION has an excellent pacing which makes the near-two hour running time fly by, and a surprisingly subtle score which adds to the film's atmosphere. Once again the colour palette primarily used is a dark grey one (a must after SEVEN) but this has the added bonus of making the film very easy on the eye - even during the gory murder scenes.

Speaking of gore, this is a surprisingly unpleasant and gruesome little picture. The grue comes from the scenes in which the bodies of the murder victims are discovered missing various limbs (arms, legs, heads, etc) with blood usually splattered all around the vicinity. Shots of the naked headless corpse of an old overweight man are designed to shock and are creepily effective. Similarly, a scene where Lambert discovers a body still barely alive and is splashed with crimson gore is something you're not prepared for, so only strong stomachs need apply.

I've always been a fan of Lambert (despite the fact most of his films are pretty bad) and his performance here is a strong one. His character is a dark and moody one with an inner torment (he failed to save his son from being run over, as per usual for these kind of flicks) and Lambert manages to create a strong screen presence out of him. Leland Orser is also good as the twitchy partner while the familiar Robert Joy makes for a very creepy killer. The supporting cast of unknowns also do their jobs well. While RESURRECTION offers no new twists to the serial killer genre, it remains a highly watchable dark thriller with some very disturbing bits (the image of the resurrected body is unforgettable) for those who like that sort of thing.