Crescent City Review – Riveting, A Suspenseful Thriller

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Tuesday, 20 August 2024 15:27

Written by Janet Walker

Crescent City, from Lionsgate Films, presents a fast paced, suspenseful thriller as a sadistic, serial killer, is targeting sex addicts from a local church, and the dedicated detectives working to catch the monster before he kills again.

The film begins with voice over, as the radio announcer explains police have found another body, and police are asking residents to stay inside and be on the alert. We see the car winding through a wooded area, Ricky McCallum, played by Eduard Osipov, arrives. He walks to the house, a note sitting under a drink, reads, I made you a drink meet in at the pool. Even before our victim begins to feel the effects of the drugs in the drink, audiences will be aware that he is being drugged.

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He walks around to the pool house, which is filled with mannequins, all women, he touches the hair, walks around, the anticipation building. Soon, as he is woozy, a figure dives into the pool, and climbs out the other side, and walks up to the man and begins to seduce him, and suddenly we see a knife, and his throat is slit.

In the next scene we meet our detectives, Brian Sutter, played by Terrence Howard, at church with his wife, Elena, played by Reema Sampat, and daughter, Mila, played by Madonna Akhtar. He is intently listening to the sermon and suddenly he turns and sees a boy, in a red hoodie, the hallucination shakes him, and he is noticeably upset. As the congregation is limited, his reaction to the vision is noticeable.  

It is his daughter's birthday, and he is on call. Suddenly, his beeper goes off, and he is called to the scene. Another body is found, this one as gruesome as the others, a headless corpse, with his hands duct taped to the steering wheel. His partner, Luke Carson, played by Easi Morales is also at the scene. A police officer notifies name that the car is registered to name. He understands it is a member of his church.

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Now, with a highly intelligent serial killer on the loose, Captain Howell, played by Alec Baldwin, summons the detectives into his office. The brass has decided they need additional help, and Jaclyn Waters, played by Nicky Whelen, has been assigned to ride along with them. Their protests are overruled.

Soon the three are visiting the church and speaking with Pastor Lawson, played by Michael Sirow and telling them that name has murdered. They mention the sex website, and a woman, Sabrina, played by Rose Lane Sanfilippo sitting at the church, who looks innocent enough, asks the detectives about the website and explains that her roommate was one the site and she has been missing for three days.

One they realize she was able to ping the car's location on her phone, they all rode out to the location. This is when she explains she is a member of the Sex Addicts self help group that meets at the church. When the detectives arrived, the odor of death is obvious, and they find another body.

Detective Waters, decides it is time to build a profile on the sex website and see if anyone answers. She arranges a date, the detectives set up the sting. A man, in full S&M costume, leather pants, a studded facemask which made it impossible to see his face, picks her up and drives to a wooded location, it gets rough, and he rips her shirt, and the wire is exposed. The detectives are right behind him, he escapes and runs through the woods, and Brian chases him, corners him, and then he is overcome with a panic attack, and the perp escapes.

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We begin to understand the panic attacks stem from a bad call, when Brian and Luke, who have been partners for a dozen years, chased a suspect who ended up dead. And as the mind absorbs the gruesome violence that police officers see, sometimes, daily, the idea that any of the three detectives could become unhinged for any reason, PTSD, jealousy, rage, is very real.

What follows is a riveting, unpredictable story, with unexpected plot twists and turns and even as the illusions fade, it is impossible to figure out the identity of the killer, until the very end.

The lead talent, which could all carry a film on their own, add depth and dimension with their versatility as actors. The film is engrossing, with an interesting, fast-paced storyline that delivers heightened suspense, and a labyrinth of shocking developments and surprises.

Crescent City, an entertaining spellbinding thriller, is in theaters in select cities and is available on digital and on demand. See it.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 103 minutes.

Director: RJ Collins.

Writer: Rich Ronat.

Executive Producers:  

Angie Sanfilippo, Cole Garson, Paul Swigart, Richie Hill, Barry Brooker, Stan Wertlieb, Josh Spector, Matthew Hechinger,Nat Mccormick, Brian O'Shea, Rick Dugdale, Sean Lydiard, Eric Brenner, Anjul Nigam, Jeff Rice, Michael Sirow, Mira 

Park Howard, Andrea Collins, Inna Tuler, Vladislav Lapidus.

Producers: Denise Lsoren, Eduard Osipov, Vince Jolivette, David Lipper, Robert A. Daly Jr.

Cast: Terrence Howard, Esai Morales, Nicky Whelan, Alec Baldwin, Michael Sirow, Weston Cage, Nikita Jahn, Anjul Nigam, Rose Lane Sanfilippo, Reema Sampat, Maria Camila Giraldo, Madonna Akhtar, Eduard Osipov, Dani Druz, Rocky Myers, David Lipper, Vince Jolivette, Ciel Shi.