Detective Russell Logan (Lou Diamond Phillips) has been on the trail of serial killer Patrick Channing (Jeff Kober), who has been scattering pentagram-scarred victims all over LA.
When Logan finally captures Channing, and he is executed for his crimes, he assumes the menace is over.
But more bodies turn up, scarred with the familiar pentagram symbol.
Is there a copycat loose?
Or something more satanic?
Sometimes a movie works like junk food. It is not giving you anything beyond a specific taste and sensation.
Such is The First Power.
There is nothing about it which is particularly original: it is assembled from bits of The Omen, The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, Angel Heart, Halloween and The Hidden.
If you are familiar with the latter, The First Power may be rather familiar - just replace the alien with a satanic ghost and you are most of the way there.
The First Power was and is not treated as a critical success - I only watched it after being intrigued by the How Did This Get Made episode on it.
I can see why people dismissed it - and yet something about it makes it compelling.
Part of the reason is the villain - Jeff Kober is so compelling as the grinning satanist. His deep voice, piercing eyes and too-wide grin are living special effects, and more uncanny than any of the films' attempts at the diabolical.
The biggest problem with the movie is how underwritten it feels.
The film has a vague sense of mood, with a disconcerting, minimalist score by Stewart Copeland and eerie location photography by Theo van de Sande.
But Phillip's lead character lacks depth and a sense of internal development. His relationship with psychic Tess Seaton (Tracy Griffith) never really develops. The only change he experiences is realising that the villain is a demonic body jumper.
The movie almost feels like it could work as a mood piece - if it was not so plot-dependant.
It does not help that the film never really defines the antagonist - so the attempt at a cliffhanger ending lacks any bite.
It is not completely lifeless - a late set-piece involving a possessed unhoused woman stalking our heroes is genuinely effective - but it never comes to life.
A real oddity, The First Power feels like the perfect jumping-off point for a remake.
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