Slaughter of the Innocents (film)
Slaughter of the Innocents | |
---|---|
Directed by | James Glickenhaus |
Written by | James Glickenhaus |
Produced by | Kirsten Bates-Renaud Frank K. Isaac Jefferson Richard Leonard Shapiro Alan M. Solomon |
Starring | Scott Glenn Darlanne Fluegel Kevin Sorbo Armin Shimerman Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus Aaron Eckhart |
Edited by | Kevin Tent |
Music by | Joe Renzetti |
Distributed by | Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Slaughter of the Innocents is a 1993 thriller film directed by James Glickenhaus and starring Scott Glenn and Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus with supporting roles from Kevin Sorbo and Armin Shimerman. A then-unknown Aaron Eckhart has a bit part.
The film is set in the Arches National Park of Moab, Utah, and Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Plot
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (December 2023) |
In Timberlake, Utah a woman drives home one evening during a storm and barely misses a hooded figure on the side of the road. She arrives home and calls out to her two daughters who do not respond. She finds her young daughter nearly dead, covered in blood, and her living room destroyed.
Stephen Broderick (Scott Glenn) is a Cleveland FBI agent who investigates murder cases. His 10-year-old son Jesse (Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus) is very tech savvy and has a deep interest in his father's work. Jesse mentions to his father that he has found a potential serial killer after reviewing some crime scene reports which have similarities with the Provo Canyon Massacre five years before with the two murdered girls from the beginning of the film. Broderick readily listens to his son's theory that the mothers in both cases say that they saw what looked like an old lady wearing a black dress picking something on the side of the road and putting it into a basket right before the bodies were discovered.
Broderick gets approval from his superiors to investigate the link. He goes to Draper Penitentiary where the man convicted and sentenced to death for the Provo Canyon Massacre, Bobby Martel, is about to be executed. Broderick is greeted by FBI Agent Roxanne Lemar (
Broderick is tasked by the FBI to investigate the case that has now been reopened in light of the DNA evidence proving Martel's innocence. Based on the evidence he surmises that Martel came to watch the girls undress through their window while the killer entered the house, stabbed the older girl, and accidentally killed the younger girl in the struggle. In the killer's frustration for accidentally killing the younger girl, the killer sexually assaults the older girls
Broderick takes his son Jesse to Timberlake, Utah to the scene of the most recent crime. Jesse finds sage on the side of the road where the old woman was reported to be standing and picking something the night of the murders. Jesse has read the files and seen the photos of the crime scene and states that the killer stabbed the girl with a 9-inch hunting knife and removed one of her ribs to take with him. Jesse surmises that with the sandal prints, the bones, the sage, and with what Martel witnessed, that the killer was dressed like God.
The killer is a bearded man who lives in the desert and dreams of being sexually assaulted and tortured in his youth. He drives his Volkswagen bus to a general store and screams "I will gather the species two by two" and when the store owner attempts to defend himself, he is killed and his two taxidermied birds are taken by the killer.
Jesse programs his computer to review crime reports looking for 25 key identifiers and to print out any with more than seven. A report in Utah has nine identifiers and he reports the shopkeeper's death to his father. Broderick asks Jesse to go back and search crime reports for five years with the same criteria. Broderick and Jesse go to the general store to investigate the crime scene. While outside Jesse notices that the killer's footprints are even and level meaning that he was not running from the crime scene but was calmly walking away.
Broderick and Jesse summarize what they have learned. The killer is 6"2' tall and weighs 205 lbs based on the sage he stepped on, he is right-handed, his prints are not in the system, so he is never been arrested, and he is blood type b based on physical evidence found on the sexually assaulted girl. He has also not been to the dentist in a long time due to bite marks found on the girl as well. They also know he drives a pre-1968 Volkswagen van based on markings left at the general store.
A woman stops at a gas station with her young daughter, Kristi Collins in the back seat and goes inside to pay. The cashier notices the killer dragging the girl into his van and runs outside with a revolver to stop him. He fires several times, but the killer is able to drive away with the young girl. Broderick goes back to Utah when news of the kidnapping reaches him, and Jesse goes home.
The Utah police are called due to a foul odor coming from a house. Officer Ben Olmon (
The killer goes to a public library and views books on Flemish paintings. Broderick and Roxanne get a tip from the library that a man fitting the killer's description has been there recently. They ask a janitor at the library if he saw the man and the janitor says that he always comes in, sits at the same place, and takes notes while reading an art book. They find the book and dust for prints from the table and the book and find that they match the previous crime scenes. Later that night, Roxanne finds a list of other books that the killer checked out, one of which is called Mother Less Child. She goes back to the library that night to look for the book and the killer watches her from across the street.
Roxanne and Broderick meet to go over the newly discovered book which deals with
Jesse meanwhile finds an older police report where two giraffes were stolen from the
Broderick and Roxanne investigate the former leader of the Moab sect named Robert Vale who has since become a
Jesse goes to the Salt Lake City Zoo and tells a
Jesse tries to call his father several times during his investigation, but his father is still not back from the field. Jesse locates the uranium mine and calls his father telling him that he found the killer, but the reception fails. Broderick accesses Jesse's computer and finds out the name of the killer and the
Cast
- Scott Glenn as FBI Special Agent Stephen Broderick
- Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus as Jesse Broderick
- Darlanne Fluegel as Susan Broderick
- Sheila Tousey as FBI Special Agent Roxanne Lemar
- Jan Broberg Feltas Cindy Lockerby
- Elizabeth Johnson as Stephanie Lockerby
- Zitto Kazann as Mordecai Booth
- Terri Hawkes as Ellen Jenkins
- Kevin Sorbo as John Willison
- J. Stephen Brady as Bobby Martel
- Tim Colceri as Warden Bates
- Armin Shimerman as Dr. Mort Seger
- Aaron Eckhart as FBI Special Agent Ken Reynolds
- Linden Ashby as Officer Ben Olmon
- Henry Brown as Stanley Moorehead
Production
Parts of the film were shot in
Release
Slaughter of the Innocents originally aired on HBO on December 2, 1993.
In April 1994, the film was released on videocassette and special edition LaserDisc by MCA/Universal Home Video. In 2004, it was released on DVD by
Reception
The film was described as ’A gripping FBI procedural about a serial child rapist/killer.”[3]
References
- ISBN 9781423605874.
- ^ Slaughter of the Innocents Blu-ray (Special Edition), retrieved 2023-12-25
- ISBN 978-1-4668-6782-6.