A nutty would-be priest puts aside "Thou shalt not kill" in favor of THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT on Vinegar Syndrome's Blu-ray of this little-seen eighties thriller.

Robert Knight (Bernie Wright, THE MATRIX) has been committed to a mental institution over his claims that his uncle Charles (BEWITCHED's Dick Sargent) murdered his father and raped his mother, and no amount of treatment from paid-off Dr. Young (Frank Whiteman, SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION) and extra electroshock treatment from corrupt nurse Boucher (Oceana Marr, THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS) will disabuse him of that belief. With his uncle determined to have him declared mentally incompetent – more so for failed seminary student Robert wanting to break up the family's companies and share with the poor than for his accusations – and more concerned with getting control over his other brother's share of the business interests from his widow Joanne (Marilyn Hassett, THE BELL JAR), Robert determines that it is his mission to rid his family tree of rotten vines and save his nine-year-old cousin Deborah (ALIEN NATION's Lauren Woodland) from being contaminated by greed. When Robert escapes, Charles bribes alcoholic police lieutenant Chernoff (Thomas Ryan, SUMMER SCHOOL) to preferable capture Robert dead than alive, while Joanne is too distracted seducing Charles' assistant (Steven Ford, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) and plotting with her lawyer (Greg Mullavey, THE SINGLE GIRLS) in outmaneuvering Charles to be show half the concern of housekeeper Kim (CHINA BEACH's Haunani Minn) when Deborah disappears.

Had THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT been made in the seventies, it might have been passed off as a proto-slasher, but it seems oddly old-fashioned for 1987 – it is possible that the screenplay attributed to William W. Norton (BIG BAD MAMA, DAY OF THE ANIMALS) may have been kicking around for some time – not violent enough to pass as a slasher and not sleazy or sexy enough to fit in with the burgeoning erotic thriller trend to come. White gives a studied performance as a madman who is fully confident in his moral convictions, and child actress Woodland is able to find a balance between being credulous of her cousin's claims while also suspecting that something is off. Sargent also manages a combination of ruthlessness and pettiness that makes his character seem more pathetically venal than villainous, but Hassett is the more entertaining as the opportunist who take advantage of an incidental murder to her own ends. It is hard for Robert to keep audience sympathy since more than a few of his victims are innocent in that their only crime is informing on him to Chernoff, including a junkie informant at a soup kitchen when Robert and Deborah visit or the night clerk of a motel who tries to seduce Robert in order to distract him. THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR's James Avery has a prominent supporting role as an asylum orderly. Director Paul Leder got his start with grindhouse films like I DISMEMBER MAMA, APE, and later VULTURES – which seems like a thematic precursor to THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT – and followed up this film by adapting to the direct-to-video thriller market with films like THE FRAME-UP and THE BABY DOLL MURDERS.

Released directly to VHS by Forum Home Video (EDGE OF THE AXE), THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT wound up with MGM through international sales agent Manson International, and Vinegar Syndrome has been able to access the studio's 35mm interpositive for their 2K restoration. The photography is generally bland and evenly lit but it shows off the film's production value. Reds pop and the film's few opticals like the credits are a little coarser looking, but this overall is probably the best the film has looked on video. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track benefits from the crisply-recorded dialogue and scoring, including the opening violin solo in which the high notes pierce the ear without obvious distortion. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the feature.