Michael Biehn plays a liberal-minded DA forced to ask for the death penalty for a particularly evil serial killer in this dark crime and courtroom drama, intensely directed by William (The Exorcist) Friedkin. He needs to persuade the jury that the man (Alex McArthur) who slaughtered a family is legally sane, or they may agree he's mentally unbalanced, leaving him eventually free and possibly able to kill again. The difficult issues involved are well aired in a surprisingly intelligent script - though you may not agree with its right-wing viewpoint - and Biehn again shows he could have been a big star. Adapted from William P Wood's book, distantly based on a real-life case involving Richard Chase.

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