Fallen and Can't Get Up

This will be the last review of the last DVD sent by Netflix in normal order. I kind of wish it had been better, but it could have been worse. Fallen (1998) is a supernatural thriller starring Denzel Washington.

It starts with police detective Washington viewing the execution of a mad killer. The killer is pretty cheerful about it all, cracking jokes, muttering in an occult language, signing Time is on My Side (not well). We inferred that he was being executed for Failure to Shut Up.

Back at the precinct, Lt. Donald Sutherland assigns Washington and his partner John Goodman to a case that looks like a copycat version of the guy who got the chamber. The investigation leads Washington to Embeth Davidtz. Her father, a policeman, was accused of a similar set of crimes, leading him to go up to his cabin by a lake and kill himself. Washington investigates the cabin and finds the name Azazel painted on the wall, and a big occult book.

Between the book and Davidtz, he works out the premise of the movie: The demon Azazel is possessing people and doing murders. Azazel can pass from person to person by touch, but can't possess Washington - unless his carrier is dead, then he can, even wothout a touch. But in that case, the person must be within 500 feet or something. Got that? Of course, these rules are reliable and ironclad, because they are in a book.

Once he knows what's going on, Azazel comes out to taunt him. Someone bumps into Goodman, and he starts singing Time is on My Side. He then touches someone else in the room, and that guy starts singing. As Washington tries to confront him, the demon passes from person to person, out of the station, into the street and mingles with the crowd. This is legit scary.

From reading the rules and remembering the suicide at the isolated cabin, I'm sure you can figure out the conclusion. You have all the clues. 

This is kind of cheesy, kind of scary, but Washington moves through it was a level of grace and intelligence that really elevates it. His detective lives with his mentally slow adult brother and his nephew, and he shows them real love and strength. When the demon threatens them, that's when he decides to get real.

Still, I wish my last regular NEtflix DVD was more memorable.