Original Sins (TV Movie 1995)
4.5 out of 10 stars - Time to Read: 1:45min
BASIC PLOT:
Johnathan Frayne (
Mark Harmon) is a priest, who's taken a leave of absence, due to a crisis of faith. He's in hiding from his vows, and takes a job as a call in radio host, as he's figuring things out. He takes, "confessions" from callers, so they can alleviate their guilt, by sharing their biggest regrets. A killer begins calling in, and taunting Jonathan. He has details about two murders, only the killer would know. The killer also begins threatening Jonathan, and a woman he's become friends with, Laura (
Sarah Trigger). Determined not to make the same mistakes with women, he's made in the past, he realizes leaving the church, didn't solve anything. Can he find the killer in time to save Laura, and himself?
WHAT WORKS:
*IT'S A GOOD PREMISE Since the source material ("
Midnight Caller (1988),") was of a high quality, this is watchable by default. It's like the ugly step-sister to the original.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
*BLATANT RIP OFF OF MIDNIGHT CALLER This average made-for-tv movie desperately tries to revamp the very successful TV show, "
Midnight Caller (1988)," and it never succeeds. Unlike Jack Killian,
Gary Cole' character in "Midnight Caller,"
Mark Harmon's, Johnathan Frayne, never engages the viewer, probably because he's playing a priest in hiding.
*THERE'S NO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN HARMON, AND THE TWO FEMALE LEADS
I don't know what the problem was between
Mark Harmon,
Julianne Phillips and
Sarah Trigger, but there was no chemistry at all! This is in stark contrast to
Midnight Caller (1988)'s, Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian (
Gary Cole) and Devon King (
Wendy Kilbourne), who's chemistry cup runneth over.
*THE KILLER IS TOO OBVIOUS
I recently rewatched this, (I saw it the first time in '95 when it originally aired on CBS), and realized I was disappointed all over again. They only give you one suspect, so you know who the killer is, even before the foreshadowing begins. It's very disappointing.
TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION:
*That's a hard question. If you're a fan of
Mark Harmon or
Julianne Phillips, you might like this. It's a very average made-for-tv '90's movie. There are worse ones, but there are far better ones too. All things being equal, I'd recommend heading over to YouTube, and catching the few
Midnight Caller (1988) episodes available there, instead. It's more entertaining, and why watch the remake, when you can watch the original? We could all try to pressure the studios to release
Midnight Caller (1988) on DVD, WITH THE MUSIC IN TACT, but in this day and age, with nothing but greedy executives running things, your better bet is just to head to YouTube, and watch the few episodes that are there (some of them have Polish subtitles, just ignore them).
CLOSING NOTES:
*This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.
*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in ANY way by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews, and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.
