Messenger of Death is a 1988 American crime-action thriller film starring Charles Bronson about an attempt by a water company to start a family feud among fundamentalist Mormons to take the family's land for the company. The movie marks the eighth collaboration between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson.
Plot
Children play outside a rural Colorado home. They belong to Orville Beecham and his three wives. Two masked men pull up in a truck and wait for the childrento go inside. They proceed to kill the three mothers, who are sister wives, and the children. The police arrive before the father, Orville, who returns to find his family massacred. Arriving on the scene with the chief of police, Barney Doyle is a Denver newspaper reporter, Garret Smith. They were having lunch with a wealthy local businessman, Homer Foxx, to discuss how to get Barney elected Denver mayor when Barney was called about the murders. Garret does a news story on the massacre. Orville is in a local jail, there "for his own protection." Orville is reluctant to talk to Garret but does reveal that his father, Willis Beecham, may have been involved. Willis lives in a compound with his followers. He is an excommunicated fundamentalist Mormon who practices polygamy, as do his son and followers. Willis is the sect's prophet. Willis tells the reporter that he believes that it was his brother, Zenas Beecham, who killed Orville's family. Willis and Zenas are alienated from each other by a doctrinal dispute. Garret, aided by a local editor named Jastra Watson, begins to investigate if Zenas could be behind the killings. Zenas lives in a different Colorado county on a large farm that happens to sit on an artesian lake that a large corporation, The ColoradoWater Company, has wanted for years. Zenas tells the reporter that Orville probably killed the family of his own son because Willis preaches blood atonement. The symbol of both brothers is an avenging angel, which is alleged to be an early Mormon symbol with a doctrinal counterpart reflecting the idea of blood atonement. As soon as Orville is released from jail, he returns to his father's compound and plots to attack Zenas in retaliation. Garret tries to warn Zenas, but it's too late. Armed men back each man and they open fire. Garret gets them to agree to a cease fire, but a third-party shoots Zenas and the shooting begins again. Zenas and Willis both are killed. Garret realizes what is happening—The Colorado Water Company is behind everything. The company has hired an assassin and a junior partner to murder Orville's family, counting on the feud between the brothers to eliminate the rest. Garret is approached by the junior assassin to make a deal, but the senior assassin kills his partner. It turns out the person who hired the assassin is Foxx, the businessman trying to get the policechief elected mayor. The assassin shows up at a fundraising party for Doyle thrown by Foxx, where he attempts to kill Garret. The reporter gains the upper hand and gets the assassin to reveal that it was Foxx who was responsible for all of the murders. Foxx steals the chief's gun and kills himself.
