| “ | Have you ever been killed before? | „ |
| ~ Thomas Cray as he prepares to kill Martin. |
Inspector Thomas Cray is the main antagonist of the 1997 thriller film Nightwatch. He is a homicide inspector investigating a series of necrophiliac murders that he himself is committing. In order to get away with his crimes, he tries to frame Martin Bells, the night watchman at a morgue.
He was portrayed by Nick Nolte, who also portrayed David Banner in Hulk, Vincent in Over the Hedge, Burt Johnson in Arthur, Frank Stockburn in The Ridiculous 6, Wade Whitehouse in Affliction, and Mulgarath in The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Biography[]
Cray first meets morgue night watchman Martin Bells to ask him about a break-in at the facility that is connected to a necrophiliac serial killer who is active in the city. When a series of coincidences implicate Martin in the murders, Cray begins following him and, mid-way through the movie, reveals himself as the killer.
He frequently patronizes a prostitute named Joyce, and pays her extra to bathe in ice water before they have sex so he can pretend she is dead. When she meets Martin and tells him about her "weird" client, Cray fears being exposed, so he kills her and frames Martin for her death.
When Martin finally figures out who the killer is, Cray kidnaps his girlfriend Katherine and his best friend James in order to lure him into a trap. At the last moment, however, Martin grabs Cray's gun and shoots him dead, and rescues Katherine and James.