The Rook (1994)

In Eran Palatnik's The Rook, Martin Donovan plays John Abbott, a religious detective investigating the murder of a young woman named Wain Shepard. He travels to the village of Sutheridge in a horse-drawn carriage and meets Police Chief Bob Brice (John A. MacKay), who shows him the body. There is sand under her nails, she's bald, and her stomach bears an odd design, a spiral with crosses. In her room, there is a picture of Abbott himself, with another note, "Beware, beware, the circle in the square." The rest of the film is ... Read More

In Eran Palatnik's The Rook, Martin Donovan plays John Abbott, a religious detective investigating the murder of a young woman named Wain Shepard. He travels to the village of Sutheridge in a horse-drawn carriage and meets Police Chief Bob Brice (John A. MacKay), who shows him the body. There is sand under her nails, she's bald, and her stomach bears an odd design, a spiral with crosses. In her room, there is a picture of Abbott himself, with another note, "Beware, beware, the circle in the square." The rest of the film is rife with codes, ambiguous messages, and cryptograms, each more puzzling than the last. Robert Firsching, Rovi Read Less