“Reveal
the dragon thro’ the human; coursing swift as fire, To the close hall of
counsel, where his Angel form renews.” -America A Prophecy by William Blake
NYC
Detective Peter Nicholas is drawn into a murderous nexus of religious barbarism
and alien intrigue. He must accept the fallacy of his own past while confronting
the last vestiges of his archaic and crumbling Catholic upbringing, and enter
into the final apocryphal battle with his own brimstone doppelganger.
The
film’s startling violent first shots are reminiscent of Charles Whitman’s
rampage; ten years earlier, he killed 15 innocent bystanders from the top of a
tower at the University of Texas before being gunned down by police. Director
Larry Cohen uses this traumatic event as a template for his intriguing
narrative; but here the killer talks happily with Detective Nicholas and he
jubilantly responds, “God told me to kill those people” before leaping to his
death. Cohen then jump-cuts (literally) to the Detective awakening from a
nightmare, revealing his inner vision to be haunted by this ordeal. As the
unrelated murders and the soft spoken excuses continue, Nicholas begins to
investigate a common thread: each killer had contact with a strange blonde
haired (blue-eyed?) guru.
Cohen is
best when he alludes to the violent act, such as the father who shot his wife
and two children to death, and lets the killer sit in a gentle repose,
describing the act as meditatively as a transcendent joy: truly chilling and
realistic. As Nicholas searches for this mystical demagogue (demongogue) he
discovers the secret to his own mysterious past. He must dissolve the malignant
and pervasive tendrils of his own faith and accept the Truth. Nicholas must
ride the Chariots of the Gods to his own fiery salvation and face his greatest
enemy; he must destroy that beautiful creature of light whose incandescence
rules through fear and loathing, a monster that is actually the shadow race
Homo Superior. Peter Nicholas carries the burden of guilt for all humanity; he
accepts his punishment and smiles to the camera. His body displays Christ’s
stigmata and his hollow words echo nihilism; “God told me to”.
Final
Cut: (C+)
