{"id":6617,"date":"2024-10-25T23:07:18","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T03:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6617"},"modified":"2024-10-25T23:07:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T03:07:18","slug":"the-rosary-murders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/the-rosary-murders\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rosary Murders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Rosary Murders<\/strong> (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 105 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, mature themes)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Fred Walton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Elmore Leonard and Fred Walton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Bobby Laurel and Don Sebesky\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Golia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Donald Sutherland, Charles Durning, Belinda Bauer, Josef Sommer, James Murtaugh, Leila Danette, Addison Powell, Kathleen Tolan, Tom Mardirosian, Anita Barone, John Danelle, Anna Minot, Lupe Ontiveros.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Box Office: $1.7M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: **<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Rosary Murders<\/strong> is like a made-for-TV movie the makers decided at the 11th<\/sup> hour to release theatrically instead on the off chance the moviegoing public would be willing to shell out money to see a movie they could conceivably watch at home. Yes, it carries an R rating, but it\u2019s not all that violent and the only sexual content is references to incest. All the makers had to do to achieve an R was insert a few f-bombs in one scene and viola! Of course, this is all hypothetical. I don\u2019t know what went on during and after production on The Rosary Murders<\/strong>. All I know is that it\u2019s an incredibly mediocre mystery about a series of murders within the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

\u00a0You\u2019d think a screenplay with crime writer Elmore Leonard\u2019s (52 Pick-Up, Rum Punch) name on it would be something special, right? In the case of The Rosary Murders<\/strong>, you\u2019d be dead wrong. It\u2019s as standard and nondescript as they come. There\u2019s a killer going around murdering priests and nuns. His calling card is a black rosary he leaves in his victims\u2019 hands. The murders take place during Lent. Nobody knows who\u2019s responsible until the killer admits to his sins to Father Koesler (Sutherland, Eye of the Needle) during Confession. This puts Koesler in a real quandary. Should he break the confessional seal and tell the investigating detective, Lt. Kosnicki (Sommer, Witness), what he knows thereby saving the lives of future victims? Or should he honor his vows and keep quiet? What Koesler does is play detective to discover the identity of the killer who dropped a few clues during his confession. Helping him is the reporter, Pat Lennon (Bauer, RoboCop 2), doing the story for the local press.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It would be wrong to call The Rosary Murders<\/strong> a mess. It\u2019s not the right word. \u201cIncomplete\u201d is more accurate. In fact, it hits the proverbial nail right on the head. For example, the subplot about the reporter is dropped about midway through without much of an explanation. She disappears too, but not before the idea of mutual attraction between her and Koesler is brought up. Come to think of it, dropping this particular story element is really more of a cop-out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s something else. Early on, director Fred Walton (April Fool\u2019s Day) introduces a clash in styles between Koesler and another priest, Father Nabors (Durning, When a Stranger Calls*). Nabors is a traditionalist while Koesler is more liberal. This could have been interesting, but Walton doesn\u2019t do much with it beyond a few scenes of the two priests arguing points of Catholicism.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have no complaints about the acting. The Rosary Murders<\/strong> has a decent cast. They give good if unexceptional performances. You can tell Sutherland and Durning are just there for a paycheck. In any event, they carry out their acting duties like professionals. It\u2019s the screenplay and the director that lets them down. The story is very routine. It\u2019s fairly predictable except in regard to the killer\u2019s identity and motive. That\u2019s only because he\/she isn\u2019t introduced as a character until after Koesler uncovers his\/her identity. As for motive, let\u2019s just say it\u2019s not as shocking as the movie would like it to be. The direction is rather uninspired. Walton fails to make it a gripping, edge-of-your-seat mystery. At best, it\u2019s mildly interesting.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn\u2019t see The Rosary Murders<\/strong> at the movies. I remember it playing in theaters, but none of them were convenient for me. I saw it on video a few months later. That\u2019s all I remember about it. It left no impression on me either way. There isn\u2019t any graphic violence or crazy Omen-like deaths although the score would lead you to believe that\u2019s the kind of movie it is. It doesn\u2019t work as a serious examination of Catholicism or Catholic guilt. It\u2019s rather superficial actually. I don\u2019t know how good a read William X. Kienzle\u2019s original novel is, but the movie adaptation isn\u2019t a good watch. It\u2019s instantly forgettable.<\/p>\n

* = TRIVIA TIDBIT: When a Stranger Calls (1979) was also directed by Walton.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rosary Murders (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 105 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, mature themes)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Fred Walton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Elmore Leonard and Fred Walton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Bobby Laurel and Don Sebesky\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Golia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Donald Sutherland, Charles Durning, Belinda Bauer, Josef Sommer, James Murtaugh, Leila Danette, Addison Powell, Kathleen Tolan, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rosary-Murders-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7492,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6617\/revisions\/7492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}