Blu-ray Review: THE SEVENTH SIGN
Spoilers ahead.
The Seventh Sign is a very strange movie. The 1988 film starring Demi Moore, Michael Biehn, and Jurgen Prochnow has its fans, but I can't say that I'm one of them. Directed by Carl Schultz (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles), the film follows the very young Abby Quinn (Moore), a pregnant woman and housewife who rents out part of her home to a mysterious and weird lodger, David (Prochnow).
The acting is good, but the script... well, there's A LOT to unpack in The Seventh Sign. Abby's baby is due on February 29, a leap year, and the date turns up as a weird omen. She tries to tell her husband Russell (Biehn) about it, but like most sane people, he isn't having any of it.
Moreso, Russel is a lawyer defending the "Word of God Killer," a teen named Jimmy who killed his parents because God told him to. (Apparently, he's also the last martyr, according to prophecy, and must be saved even though he's a murderer. That happens later on, though.)
David begins acting even weirder, Abby has nightmares, and there are lots of ominous, religious things --- Old Testament kind of occurances --- that begin the happen. Don't step on any ancient scrolls with wax seals and break them, because you might just cause an earthquake, by the way.
The Seventh Sign takes its name from the seven signs of the impending apocalypse in the Book of Revelations and borrows freely from Christianity and Judaism. Also, creepy David is revealed to be Jesus, who loves to travel through time messing with people and demanding sacrifices, apparently. Vatican investigator and priest Father Lucci (Peter Friedman) is also one of Pilates' goons, doomed to wander the earth for his role in terrorizing Jesus.
And of course, Abby was around when Jesus died too, but didn't want to "die for him" then. She then sacrifies her only child, like God did, for Jesus, and to save the world --- even though God and Jesus could put a stop to all of this drama, being omnipresent and all-knowing, and being gods... except that just like Greek mythology, the gods are jealous and needy and must have validation and sacrifices. So much drama, really.
The Seventh Sign is out tomorrow here in North America on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, and you can check out their page for the film here. The film looks good enough and sounds fine.
As for bonus features, there are a few interviews and TV teasers:
- NEW Interview With Actor Michael Biehn
- NEW Interview With Director Carl Schultz
- NEW Interview With Actor Peter Friedman
- NEW Interview With Actor John Taylor
- NEW Interviews With Screenwriters Clifford And Ellen Green
- TV Spots
It was cool to see Biehn talk about the film, and director Schultz seems like such a nice guy that I feel a little guilty knocking the movie. But that's not to say that you won't like it. The Seventh Sign is an odd little time capsule of a film, made in the Eighties during the the tail end of the Satanic Panic. It almost feels like the Eighties version of Rosemary's Baby, except kinda awful, and undoubtedly messed with by the studio. Who know? Make it a double feature, and watch both back to back, maybe even throw in The Omen and The Exorcist for a full weekend of religious horror.
