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.

**THIS REVIEW COULD CONTAIN A LOT OF SPOILERS. IF YOU DON'T WANT THE FILM SPOILED THEN I RECOMMEND THE READERS VIEW THE FILM FIRST BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW**I personally really like this film a lot. Christopher Lambert put on an excellent performance as a detective (I see no signs of Highlander :D). He plays the role of a father who lost his sun in a tragic accident and is dealing with a failing marriage. His work takes over his life, especially when he starts chasing after the "numbers" killer, as the newspaper in the film refers to the serial killer as. During all the investigations, nothing was too over the top. It all seemed realistic (of course you got the clues contributing to cat and mouse) in a murderous way (yes, I know that sounds disturbing). What I thought was awesome, is when I found out the killer was collecting body parts. It was new and original for a motive in a detective film. Then you find out he's building the body of Christ out of these old decaying appendages later in the movie, which goes to show you that this killer is totally bonkers. He's super smart (genius status) though. Which is another cool part of this movie. The statistics used in the movie are actually really cleverly placed into the script. They applied to the story-line flawlessly. I won't spoil too much more of the film, but I cringed at the thought of the killer's last planned victim had been a new born baby. Damn! That guy really had some pieces missing from his puzzle.As mentioned earlier, there's nothing too over the top in this movie, and the filming really drags you into like this genuine reality feel. There's no over use of gore, or over the top killing, or weird torture methods. It is a very realistic type cat and mouse movie. I really enjoyed in. It is a suspenseful ride. All-in-all, the acting was good, the script was descent, and the dialog was good also. The characters really made you connect to the story. Very good. I would recommend this to anyone who likes detective/serial killer movies for AT LEAST a one time watch.

A precinct already working hard fitting every cliché of these genres(psychological thriller, cop crime investigative flick) into just one 100-ish minute picture is hit by several brutal murders where limbs are missing, and Lambert(who lost his daughter... son, I'm sorry, she... he... looks... uhm, great... anyway, he died in one of those ridiculously contrived sequences that only happen in this type of movie, and that could, by the way, easily have been avoided by the introduction of common sense... oh, and if you think that will pay off, don't hold your breath, it's a cheap setup with minimal payoff) is brought in for his experience with decapitations and paint-by-numbers plots. You can figure out the basics of where this goes, everyone talks in Hollywood Dialog(and immediately after, dramatically turn to walk away, signifying how deeply they feel about how lazily this is supposed to conjure up emotion(with that said, this does make you care about some of what we see... though at least once it utterly betrays whatever confidence they might have earned for that)... did I mention that the villain has impeccable luck in where he hides is a regular occurrence(planning...does...not...cover... it)?), for every good performance there is at least two that are over the top, but still, this is a cool enough concept(I will not reveal what the endgame is... though I will say that I don't know where the bad guy got it from, nor what his motive was, and there wouldn't have been a film if it had been slightly different, and less random...), it keeps to a fast pace(you're not bored...it does help to MST3K it), there are chilling bits(helped by the impeccably done practical FX) and, directed by the usually dependably visually interesting Russell Mulcahy, it's nicely filmed and edited, except for when the cameraman gets zoom-happy in a desperate attempt to increase the tension(which is successfully built here and there), the tracking shots(typically doing a semicircle on a character, so they can remain in place and still do a powerful change of position) that are so fast and start and end so suddenly, I've nicknamed them Whiplash-pans, and it, gradually, using the "nausea-vision" filter excessively. The DVD comes with trailers for Elizabeth and Rounders. There is a lot of strong language, a moderate amount of bloody, gory, disturbing violence and a little full frontal nudity of both genders in this. I recommend this to big fans of this kind of thing, as it gets the job done and has solid production values. 6/10

After the first two "Highlander" films, Christopher Lambert and Russell Mulcahy gathered again to make this thriller, written by Lambert himself. The story deals with a serial killer who severs off parts of his victims' bodies in order to rebuild the body of Christ. John Prudhomme (Lambert) and his partner (played by David Cronenberg) have to stop him.Mulcahy's peculiar filming style provides a brilliant background for this film, which is sustained by Lambert, who gives a solid performance, as many of the films he did in this period ("Gideon", "Highlander:Endgame"). One thing is Christopher when acting, other when he's doing "heh-heh" all the time. These two should team more often. It's something which can fail only once... and we all know "Highlander II".To a certain extent, the movie goes in the lines of "Se7en". However, many post-1994 films did that ("The Bone Collector", to name one). This is probably the best ripoff of all. Most of the bloody images occur during night, which is probably the time of the day in which Mulcahy excels, and it's probably not the best time to watch this film (specially in a stormy night).Adviseable for all Lambert, Mulcahy, and serial killer movies fans. Unadviseable for all those who heap scorn on Lambert and his films, and purists who hate ripoffs.Se7en!