Voice from the Grave (1996) (TV)

Director:

David Jackson

Writers (WGA):

Bill Phillips (story)
Bill Phillips (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

20 March 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A segment from the 'Unsolved Mysteries' TV series inspired this story, in which a nurse (Megan Ward) claims that she's possessed by a murdered co-worker's spirit which identifies the killer. |

Plot Keywords:

Co Worker | Nurse | Murder Investigation | Male Nurse | Earring

Cast

Kevin Dobson	...	Detective Joe Sraccula
Megan Ward	...	Renee Perkins
John Terlesky	...	Bill Perkins
Michael Riley	...	Adam Schuster
Kim Dickens	...	Terry Deveroux
Tim Grimm	...	Jeff Deveroux
Robert Knepper	...	Milosh
Kelli Williams	...	Yvonne Shuster
Darryl Theirse	...	Detective Ephron
April Grace	...	Jennie
John Carroll Lynch	...	Prosecutor O'Gane
Michael Mantell	...	Attorney Smith
Billie Neal	...	Donna Larson
Eric Menyuk	...	Nate Bradshaw
Andrew Hawkes	...	Eric Sylvester

Also Known As:

Crimes of Passion: Voice from the Grave (USA) (series title)
From the Files of 'Unsolved Mysteries': Voice from the Grave (USA) (series title)
Unsolved Mysteries: Voice from the Grave (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Germany:12 | UK:18

Company:

Cosgrove/Meurer Productions

Guilty Conscience

(Some Spoilers) From an episode of the popular TV show "Unsolved Mysteries" the movie " Voice from the Grave" is based a a true story that happened some time ago in Chicago. A young medical assistant Terry Deveovoux, Kim Dickens,is brutally murdered and made to look like she was raped and then her apartment is set on fire by her killer to cover up his crime. The crime goes unsolved until a friend of Terry's Rene Perkins, Megan Ward, who also works at the Lakeshore Hospial were Terry was employed starts to get visions of Terry's murder and not only sees what happened to her, that the Chicago Police kept from the public, but sees the person who murdered her.

The movie plays out like a supernatural thriller but what makes it so unusual is that it's based on a real event. The movie shows how the police the hospital staff and even, at first, Renee's husband Bill, John Terlesky, a doctor at Lakeshore Hospital find Renee's visions almost impossible to believe until she uncannily reveals information that only the killer could have known. Renee's attempts to find the killer is aided by the ghost of Terry herself who is reaching out from the grave to get justice for her killer and eternal rest for herself when he's finally made to pay for his crime.

Like the famous quote by Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle "When you dismiss the impossible that what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth" and that's how the movie "Voice from the Grave" plays itself out. Renee can't explain why she's having these visions from the dead Terry Devevoux but their dead on to what happened to her and who the killer is.

The Chicago police detective on the case Joe Sroccula, Kevin Bobson, who at first is skeptical of what Renee is telling him slowly becomes a believer when the evidence starts to pile up and fall into his lap because of her revelations about Terry's murder:1.Terry wasn't raped 2.Terry's jewelry was stolen by the killer and given to his girlfriend as a present.3.The killer not only knew Terry but lived within two blocks from her apartment.4.The initials on a slip found on the dead Terry Devevoux matched the person that Renee said was Terry's killer.5.The killer worked not only at the hospital with Terry but also worked part-time as a TV repairman who was called to fix Terry's television the night she was murdered.6.And even more incredible the killer's unique lighter, that he set her apartment on fire, was described down to the emerald green crocodile eyes on it by Renne.

Even with all this evidence it looked like the killer would get way with Terry's murder, even after he willingly confessed to it, because no jury would believe Renee's visions and voices from the grave. Since they defied modern physics and were beyond the understanding of any logic. Withdrawing his confession at the urging of his lawyer the killer seems to be home free as the jury is hopelessly deadlocked relying only on the evidence of Renee's contact with Terry to convict him. In the end it's his own conscience that gets the better of him.

Seeing, in his mind, Terry in the courtroom and on the stand her killer realized that he if found innocent will never have a moment of peace as long as Terry's murdered remained unsolved. With that he again confessed in open court. With Terry's killer knowing that he'd be much freer in a jail-cell then outside as a free man as long as Terry's ghost was there relentlessly tormenting him for what he did to her.