Fallen (1998)

Plot of Fallen: Philadelphia detective John Hobbes has been instrumental in the apprehension of killer Edgar Reese who he sees executed by electrocution, but not long afterwards he and his partner Jonesy find themselves investigating copy cat murders, if that is what they are. At the murder sites Hobbes finds messages apparently left for him which put him on the trail of a suicide of a policeman Milano and then in contact with his daughter Gretta. It gradually becomes apparent that Hobbes is at risk and that his adversary is a demon, or as Gretta has it ‘a fallen angel’. Hobbes reads some occult books which tell him (and us) what the demon, Azazel is capable of, principally that it can possess people by touch and that if the host is killed it can transfer to another human as long as it is done within a single breath. Azazel pursues Hobbes, at one point forcing him to shoot a teacher and implicating him in further murders. The demon briefly possesses people in the precinct, so how will Hobbes survive.

 Content: No sex or nudity. Just a bit of drinking as the police celebrate their initial success and quite a bit of smoking. Initially the killer Edgar Reese is seen being executed by the gas chamber, apparently elated, singing the Rolling Stones song ‘Time is on My Side’. We see that other killings have taken place and sometimes see the killers who look a bit weird, and the messages to Hobbes which lead him to meeting Milano’s daughter. She warns him that he is in danger and over time they become friends, but not lovers. Lieutenant Stanton, Hobbes’s boss is generally sceptical about Hobbes’s investigations. The demon seems to indicate his presence by having the possessed sing a bit of the Stones’ song. Later we begin to see things through the demon’s eyes everything given a sort of yellow tint.

A View: The critics gave this outing a bit of a seeing to, and it seems to have only recovered about half its quite considerable production cost. If you follow the plot very closely I think there are some problems, but overall, not a bad film. The sense of impending doom is well presented, and it was good to see a number of well known actors doing their thing, including James Gandolfini soon to be Tony Soprano. So not a bad way to spend a couple of hours if you like demonic presentations.

Fun Fact: Although panned at the time it now has a bit of a cult following and is considered to be one of Denzel Washington’s better outings.