La septième prophétie

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.

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. (****/*****).

"The Seventh Sign" is an intelligent and atmospheric horror film, although "religious thriller" would probably be a more apt description. It is has many creepy moments, and what's interesting is that the fear caused by the film is God-inspired, unlike so many films in the genre. This is a movie that has a thoroughly disturbing tone, the same level of pervading dread that made "The Exorcist," "The Omen," and the underrated Roman Polanski film, "The Ninth Gate" so successful. The acting and writing are solid; there are good performances from Demi Moore and Michael Biehn. Peter Friedman is excellent as a tortured priest. If you're in the mood for a thought-provoking thriller, check out "The Seventh Sign."

Let me say this right off the bat: I'm not usually a fan of religious films. Although The Seventh Sign has heavy undertones, I can't help but love it for being a really well crafted, atmospheric thriller that let's it's fantastic cast go to some truly tough emotional places, that would still be captivating in a film without religious roots. Demi Moore, who I've always loved a lot, plays Abbey Quinn, a tortured girl whose pregnancy only brings forth dark memories from her past and troubles her more. As ominous biblical signs intrude on her benign everyday life, a charismatic, intense stranger (Jurgen Prochnow) rents a room from her, and right away we know he ties into the phenomena somehow. Prochnow rarely gets a chance to play outside of the Soviet terrorist psychopath prototype, but here he brings sincerity, depth and a warm heart to a role that isn't easy to play without lookin like a preachy moron. Michael Biehn give a fiercely touching turn as Abbey's husband, a realist who finds himself out of his element with the supernatural elements that begin to creep into his life. Biehn has a scene at the end that he just nails, and is a highlight of his career. All religious paraphernalia aside though, the themes presented, about sacrifice, love, and finding the one tiny ray of hope in a world cluttered with scum and degenerates are concepts that can be universally applied to any story, be it Christian or not. It's a moody, exciting, heartfelt film that's well worth checking out.

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.