DEADLY SINS

US, 1995, 90 minutes, Colour.
David Keith, Alyssa Milano.
Directed by Michael Robison.

Deadly Sins is a potboiler set in a girls' school and an isolated convent. Girls are disappearing, there is a sinister superior. David Keith is the rebellious policeman who is sent to be the local authority. Alyssa Milano is the superior's secretary, but really a private investigator. There are the expected clashes, sexual tensions, mysterious murders - and a culprit who is not too difficult to work out.

1. Entertaining potboiler? Murder mystery? The touch of the exotic with the religious overtones and the convent?

2. The island setting, its beauty? Isolation? Musical score for this kind of thriller?

3. The title - the reference to confession, the villain overhearing the confessions, the guilt and innocence of the girls? Her own guilt?

4. The use of religious symbolism? The convent, the nuns and their old-fashioned habit? Religious ceremonies, the singing of hymns? The chaplain? The prayers? The girls studying Latin? Crucifixes and crosses? The chapel?

5. The basic situation: the girls as orphans, disappearing, the girl hanging with the cross on her stomach? The pursuit of the other girls and their killings? The investigations? The dangers?

6. Jack as the investigator, his rebellious background, ex-wife, coming to the island? The laid-back approach? The doctor? His interrogations, the attraction of Cristina? The ambiguity of her being a nun? The discussions with the superior? Keeping guard, protecting the girl who fell in the open grave? With Rita at the hotel? The confrontations, the dangers, Emily? The happy ending? A rugged policeman?

7. Cristina, as the superior's secretary, helping with the investigations, the interrogations? The attraction to Jack? The revelation that she was a private investigator? The final confrontations and dangers?

8. The doctor, the vet, laid-back, police information, coroner's report? His presence in the school? Suspect?

9. Father Anthony, his intellectual background, at the school? Ceremonies? Choir? His secrecy with the superior? Hearing confessions?

10. The superior, her married background, joining the convent? The devotion to Mother Bernadette? The secrecy? The mystery about Mother Bernadette's presence? Her discussions with the investigator?

11. The townspeople, their hostility towards the nuns, the convent, wanting the convent to become a tourist resort? Their suspicions?

12. The girls at the school, Beth and her provocation, with Eric the delivery boy? The murdered girls? The Latin classes? Jack investigating the background of the teacher, his guilt? The suicide of the girl?

13. The contrived situations - suitable for this kind of easygoing potboiler?