La séptima profecía

The picture concerns a pregnant woman (an actually pregnant Demi Moore) living with her husband (Michael Biehn). She realizes the strange boarder (Jurgen Prochnow) at home and the fantastic goings-on happening are united to the ¨Book of Revelation¨ and some prophecies connected to her unborn son . She gets drawn into a cobweb of mysterious events . Nowadays , she only can stop the destruction of the world like is said in ¨The commentaries of the Apocalypse of Saint John¨. All around the world various signs emerge from Biblic omens . A Vatican emissary priest (Peter Friedman) is dedicated to investigate the bizarre deeds . As the seals have been broken. The prophecies have begun. Now only one woman can halt the end of our world. An ancient evil has been awakened and there is nothing you can do to stop it... except pray.

It's a spiritual triller skillfully narrated with bit action but quite entertaining . Strikingly designed and well paced with little exterior scenarios , being exception for the frozen village and African outdoors . This polished film provides chills , supernatural events and thrills in lively mystery . It's rich and dark , though confusing , at times . The film belongs to supernatural prophecy sub-genre (along with : ¨The omen¨and its sequels , ¨The Body¨ , among others) . Good main and support cast , even Ellen DeGeneres played a bit role, but it was cut from the film before releasing . Esoteric musical score and excessive use of synthesizer by composer Jack Nitzsche (Starman , Jewel of Nile , Razor's edge) . Colorful cinematography full of shades and lights by excellent Spanish cameraman Juan Ruiz Anchia (Close range , House of game , River runs black) . The motion picture was well directed by Carl Schulz (a regular television picture director) . It's one of the most unusual supernatural movies from the 80s and certainly one of the most unsettling .

Unlike many others, I thoroughly enjoy this movie, it has many inconsistencies and it is no fair representation of The Book of Revelations or Christian mythology. However, the acting is good on most parts and the story in itself is thrilling. The best part is the end, though! My guess is that the producers did not use a test audience or they would have chosen a much sweeter and uninteresting ending.

I've come to this movie late, and have no idea how I missed it on its release as it's the sort of film I like to watch. In fact, it was far better than most movies of this genre, and not only was I gripped by the clever weaving together of the various complex threads of the plot, I was also very moved, particularly by the ending. Demi Moore was better than usual as the pregnant Abby, but it was certainly Jurgen Prochnow's performance as the strange boarder that Abby and her husband take into their home, that turned this into such an extraordinarily gripping and ultimately uplifting movie. Try and catch it.

Abby Quinn (Demi Moore) is a polite, caring, young woman. Which she's married to a hard-working lawyer (Michael Biehn) and Abby is also expecting her first child. But then an mysterious stranger by the name of David (Jurgen Prochnow) comes to rent their studio apartment. But Abby slowly realized that David isn't what he seems to be and David is actually an avenging angel bringing seven signs of the Apocalyspe to come.

Directed by Carl Schultz made an intriguing supernatural thriller with strong performances by Moore and especially Prochnow. This slick looking production has an terrific, haunting music score by Oscar-Winner:Jack Nitzsche (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Stand by Me, Starman) and great looking cinematography by Juan Ruiz Anchia (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Jungle Book, Spartan).

The original DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) and an good Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound. This film was an box office disappointment in the spring of 1988. But it somewhat went on to be a Cult Classic. "The Seventh Sign" is slow-moving at times but it's occasionally eerie and unexpectedly touching as well. "The Seventh Sign" may not be the greatest supernatural thriller of all time but it's certainly better and smarter than most. Panavision. (****/*****).

In Haiti, the sea and the life-form die; in the Middle East, a town is frozen. These are signs of the Apocalypse and the Vatican is investigating, but Father Lucci (Peter Friedman) advises that these omens are hoax or technologically explained. In California, the housewife Abby Quinn (Demi Moore) is pregnant and the delivery is scheduled to February, 29 in a leap year. Her husband, the lawyer Russell Quinn (Michael Biehn), is defending a weird case of the teenager Jimmy Szaragosa (John Taylor) that killed his parents telling that he was following the Word of God. Meanwhile Abby rents a garage apartment to the mysterious David Bannon (Jürgen Prochnow). The hopeless Abby has strange nightmares and soon she finds that around the world there are signs of the Apocalypse in accordance with the Book of Revelation. She learns also that David Bannon is Jesus that has returned; Father Lucci is the Pilate's porter Cartaphilus that was doomed to wander on Earth for the eternity; and she is a woman that tried to help Jesus. Further, she is the Seventh Sign and the Apocalypse will happen when her baby is stillborn. What can she do to save her unborn son and mankind?

"The Seventh Sign" is an original film about Apocalypse, with a complex story. There are flaws that should have been explained, such as Abby let a stranger in her house when she was alone, but it seems that she has already discussed with him the rental. Invinting him for dinner is part of etiquette and politeness with the tenant. Curiosity killed the cat and explains her behavior snooping around his apartment. There are many other criticism to this film, but if the viewer do not pay attention to the flaws, he or she will find an enjoyable supernatural movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Sétima Profecia" ("The Seventh Prophecy")