Messenger of Death is a 1988 American vigilante action thriller film starring Charles Bronson.

The movie marks the eighth collaboration between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson (following 1976's St. Ives, 1977's The White Buffalo, 1980's Caboblanco, 1983's 10 to Midnight, 1984's The Evil That Men Do, 1986's Murphy's Law, and 1987's Death Wish 4: The Crackdown).

Arriving on the scene with the chief of police, Barney Doyle is a Denver newspaper reporter, Garret Smith.

Garret, aided by a local editor named Jastra Watson, begins to investigate if Zenas could be behind the killings.

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.

Still, Mr. Burns is a skillful and sensitive writer, and The Avenging Angel moves in a big, logical curve up to its wingding ending.

"[6] Marilyn Hassett said "It's nice to be playing just an ordinary, all-American girl after a career cast as serious, emotionally disturbed or crippled people.

"[7] In the New York Times, Richard F. Shepard wrote that if the film "were a novel, it could be called a decent page turner, one that holds the eye and makes one wonder whodunit... Mr. Bronson is more a messenger of peace, an intermediary between the warring factions who is more shot upon than shooting.

There are enough bodies, car-crushings and lingering scenes of victims crossing over into death to slake any aficionado's thirst for blood.

"[8] In the Los Angeles Times, Kevin Thomas called it "a solid, efficient mystery, crisply directed by J. Lee Thompson...a genre piece from start to finish, nothing more, nothing less.

But its cast is effective, and it gains from its Colorado locations, which include two religious communities that have the look of the real thing.