This violent murder thriller was originally released in 1998. The film recently premiered as a special edition Millennium Series DVD from Sterling. With the release of LETTERS FROM A KILLER, I’m happy to report that independent studio Sterling has come full circle; mainly because this is Sterling’s first DVD that is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen TVs. LETTERS FROM A KILLER is a vehicle for Patrick (STEEL DAWN) Swayze, an actor whom I always considered an untalented pretty-boy. But now that he is older, his grizzled features actually provide some sinister presence for his character who may or may not be a serial killer.

The movie is directed by David Carson, the man who directed STAR TREK: GENERATIONS and the recent TV miniseries, THE TENTH KINGDOM. The female lead is sexy Australian actress Gia (ULTRAMAN: TOWARDS THE FUTURE) Carides who stars as Lita, a woman who was kicked off the police force for stalking criminals. Kim (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2) Myers is beautiful Gloria, a troubled woman attracted to prisoners. Bruce McGill is the intense FBI chief, Brinker. Roger Mosley is prison guard Horton, a man with a secret. The movie has a great supporting cast including Mark Rolston, Don Stark, Olivia Birkelund, and Tina Lifford.

Patrick Swayze plays Race Darnell, a man wrongly accused of murdering his wife, and now doing time on death row. In his seven years of incarceration, he passes the days by writing a book, and establishing relationships with four different (and mentally flawed) women. Every week, he writes recites poetry and records them onto audio tapes. He sends these cassettes out to the four women who have extremely low self-esteem. These ladies do not know each other, and they don’t know that Darnell has established emotional relationships other women. One day, a butt-head prison guards purposely swaps each woman’s tapes. Thanks to those guards, each woman now knows they have been betrayed by Darnell. But what is really strange, is that all the women pretend like nothing ever happened the next time he contacts them.

Shortly after this incident, Darnell receives an audio tape in his mailbox, presumably from one of the betrayed ladies. When he plays the tape, there is indeed a woman’s voice on the tape, but it is filtered and he cannot determine which one of the womens’ voice it is. The anonymous voice spews death threats at the concerned inmate. Race shares his plight with his prison guard friend, Horton (Mosley). Meanwhile, Darnell’s lawyer (Tina Lifford) comes up with a loophole that will free Darnell in his upcoming appeal. Sure enough, when his appeal comes around the jury votes to release him.

Once Darnell attains his freedom, the mysterious death threats continue. Unhappily married mother Stephanie greets Darnell outside the court building, and Darnell begins his quest to determine which one of the women is threatening him. He visits the glamorous Gloria, who abandons Darnell for another death row inmate. Farm mother Judith doesn’t want to see him anymore. He visits dejected ex-cop Lita (a woman with secrets of her own), who is hurt by the whole situation, and tells Darnell to leave. Darnell is unable to determine who his stalker is, but things change for the worst when Stephanie and his lawyer turn up dead.

In a purposeful link to the killing that sent Darnell to prison (in which his wife had her middle finger cut off), their bodies are missing their middle fingers. The blame immediately falls on the shoulders of Darnell, and the FBI gets called in, led by the stoic Brinker (Bruce McGill). Darnell, now on the run, heads to the home of his lonely prison guard friend Horton. The FBI and the police track Darnell to Horton, but it is too late; they have both hit the road in Horton’s truck. They are on a mission to locate the other women who may be the killer. Unfortunately, each woman they find turns up dead, and the authorities are closing in on the duo. Time is running out…

The movie succeeds in generating suspense because the killer remains a mystery until the final minutes. Lots of red herrings and fake clues. Between the suspense set pieces, there is plenty of action scenes to keep things moving. This is a modern giallo if I’ve ever seen one, but of course David Carson lacks the style and filmmaking skills of a Dario Argento or a Brian Depalma. But overall, an well-conceived mystery thriller with just the right touches of gore, action, and dementia.

However, the movie is flawed and with lots of plot holes. For instance, the Darnell character never even sends letters to these women; he sends them cassette tapes. I guess the title CASSETTES TAPES FROM A KILLER just isn’t too menacing. There is no true sense of logic, and the movie has a meandering pace. This is one of those movies where hundreds of cops and FBI agents empty their guns at the fleeing heroes, who never get hit by any bullets. The most illogical scene of the film has a murder suspect push Darnell out of a moving car that is racing down the highway. Darnell hits hard, and the murder suspect heads into a large city to locate a potential victim. Minutes later, a limping Darnell mysteriously traverses the many miles it takes to the get to the heart of the big city; and jumps on the suspect who pushed him out of the car!

As if the script did not have enough illogical things for Patrick Swayze’s character to do, Swayze’s performance is one-dimensional. Luckily he is backed up by a capable cast including Gia Carides, Roger Mosley, and especially Kim Myers as sexy white-trash woman who has a thing for men behind bars. She looks (and acts) like a young, beautiful Meryl Streep. One good thing about the film is it borrows from Hitchcock and other suspense films. Swayze’s character is thrust into a situation that he is unable to do anything about. He is being manipulated and set up, and he can’t do a damn thing about it (like THE WRONG MAN). This kind of ‘everyman’ quality is what separates the film from the pack.

There is a behind-the-scenes montage that is Full Frame, DD 2.0, and runs 5:17. Talent Bios are for cast members Patrick Swayze (including an interview clip: FF, DD 2.0, 1:20), Gia Carides (including an interview clip: FF, DD 2.0, 1:00), Roger Mosley (including an interview clip: FF, DD 2.0, 40 seconds), Kim Myers (including an interview clip: FF, DD 2.0, 50 seconds), David Carson (including an interview clip: FF, DD 2.0, 1:00), Bruce McGill, Mark Ralston, Don Stark, and Tina Lifford. There is a photo gallery containing stills and behind the scenes photos. There is a boring trivia game as well. There is also a decent commentary with director David Carson, who describes the story, characters, actors/actresses, and technical production aspects. Carson also explains scenes that he forced to cut out thanks to studio brass. Plenty of DVD-ROM features too: You can read or print the screenplay, meet the cast, load a LETTERS FROM A KILLER screensaver, view the trailer, link to the film’s Web site, and view Sterling’s entire DVD catalog.

Trailer fans rejoice. First of all, the original trailer for LETTERS FROM A KILLER is widescreen (1.78.1, DD 2.0, 1:45). There is also a separate menu option where you can view trailers for all of Sterling’s Millennium Series DVDs. There are trailers for the following eclectic movies: CORRUPT (1.85.1, DD 2.0, 1:00), NEW ROSE HOTEL (FF, DD 2.0 1:20), FREE MONEY (FF, DD 2.0, 1:00), URBAN MENACE (FF, DD 2.0, 1:00), LEGIONNAIRE (1.85.1, DD 2.0, 1:30), PROGENY (FF, DD 2.0, 1:15), THE CONFESSION (FF, DD 2.0, 1:35), SPACE TRUCKERS (FF, DD 2.0, 1:00), and A MURDER OF CROWS (FF, DD 2.0, 1:00).

- Darren Collete

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