In order to seize control of the family business, Charles Knight (Dick Sargent) murders his own brother and commits his nephew, trainee priest Robert (Bernard White), to a psychiatric hospital. Undergoing electro-shock therapy on the orders of Uncle Charles, Robert has become genuinely unstable; when he manages to escape from the hospital, killing the head nurse in the process, the bona fide religious nutter goes to see the one person he still loves and could never hurt, his 9-year-old cousin Deborah (future The Young and The Restless star Lauren Woodland), taking her on a day out (but still killing a few people on the sly).
Robert returns Deborah to her home the next day and turns his attention to his wicked uncle; meanwhile, alcoholic cop Lt. Chernoff (Thomas Ryan) is not far behind, having followed Robert's trail of victims.
Bit of a weird little thriller, this one: the viewer is expected to be sympathetic to Robert's plight, and to like him for his tender treatment of little Deborah, but at the same time he is getting stabby with all kinds of people, none of whom are particularly nice, but most of which don't really deserve a blade to the gut. Robert kills the family chauffeur, a motel night manager (who turns tricks on the side), a police informant at a soup kitchen, Uncle Charles' butler, and a lawyer. In a twist, his uncle is actually stabbed by conniving Aunt Joanne (Marilyn Hassett), who sees an opportunity to get her grubby mitts on the family fortune and blame her heinous act on Robert.
The Eleventh Commandment is a fairly mediocre movie for the most part, with unexceptional performances and not much in the way of suspense or thrills, but the final act leaves things on a high, with quite a large body count and plenty of bloody stabbings and bullet squibs.
Robert returns Deborah to her home the next day and turns his attention to his wicked uncle; meanwhile, alcoholic cop Lt. Chernoff (Thomas Ryan) is not far behind, having followed Robert's trail of victims.
Bit of a weird little thriller, this one: the viewer is expected to be sympathetic to Robert's plight, and to like him for his tender treatment of little Deborah, but at the same time he is getting stabby with all kinds of people, none of whom are particularly nice, but most of which don't really deserve a blade to the gut. Robert kills the family chauffeur, a motel night manager (who turns tricks on the side), a police informant at a soup kitchen, Uncle Charles' butler, and a lawyer. In a twist, his uncle is actually stabbed by conniving Aunt Joanne (Marilyn Hassett), who sees an opportunity to get her grubby mitts on the family fortune and blame her heinous act on Robert.
The Eleventh Commandment is a fairly mediocre movie for the most part, with unexceptional performances and not much in the way of suspense or thrills, but the final act leaves things on a high, with quite a large body count and plenty of bloody stabbings and bullet squibs.