Detective John Prudhomme (Christopher Lambert), who is both Chicagoan and Cajun, is still mourning the death of his son who died in a terrible accident when he gets put on the case of some vicious serial murders. The killer is a religious fanatic cutting the limbs from his victims one at a time in order to build a patchwork statue of Jesus. The only thing worse than serial killers are overachieving DIY serial killers. Seriously though, who has the time?! As Prudhomme and his partner (Leland Orser) get closer to cracking the case, the killer decides that it’s time to get personal. This baddie is such a dick though. He’s literally leaving clues so that our heroes can be at the next crime while it’s still taking place and yet, he’s getting pissy about it? I don’t think I’m on his side, like not even a little bit at all.

So I’ve been to Chicago and it didn’t rain the whole time I was there like it does in this movie. I did see that someone had taken a dump in a discarded pizza box on the street. That’s totally different than director Russell Mulcahy deciding that it needs to rain in just about every damn scene in this film. I dig Mulcahy and all -though I’m more of a Razorback (1984) guy than a Highlander (1986) guy- but Resurrection (1999) doesn’t work for me. It’s reminiscent of Se7en (1995) and not in a flattering way. That being said, this gritty and stylish thriller is rarely ever boring and certainly worth a watch if you dig the acting stylings of the one and the only Christopher Lambert. I know y’all are out there.

The wild editing and inventive camerawork is occasionally neato but mostly feels like an obnoxious affectation but that’s the late 1990s for ya. The story by Lambert and screenwriter Brad Mirman has enough momentum to maintain interest and leads to an audacious showdown between our detective and the killer, but it still gets bogged down in predictable cop thriller beats. I enjoyed their previous pairing on Knight Moves (1992) much more but mainly for its pseudo-giallo style. The gore is particularly nasty and very impressive with some truly outrageous splatter setpieces (that almost always feature full frontal male nudity) on display. Also of note, David Cronenberg plays a priest AKA the part he was born to play! Plus, you have to hear Christopher Lambert screaming “Motherfucker!” at least once in your life or twice if you watch happen to check out this film.

Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu-ray presentation of this 1999 film is unsurprisingly very, very nice. In terms of extras, there’s some good stuff. The disc has an interview with Russell Mulcahy but unfortunately, the interviewer was either underprepared or very nervous while speaking to the director. It’s worth a watch but it’s a very unfocused discussion. The best moment is when Mulcahy uses the phrase “the grunge factor” while explaining the style of the film. Actor Robert Joy talks about his career and working on Resurrection. He’s very charming and is very frank about his talents as an actor. Character actor Jonathan Potts, who plays the other wisecracking detective in the film, discusses his time on Resurrection and mentions how he was a Highlander superfan when he met Lambert. There’s a great interview with Canadian composer Jim McGrath talks about working with Mulcahy and goes into the nuts and bolts of film composing.