Watch for revival of The Seventh Sign
Amid the various current releases with themes relating to the turn of the millenium and the Apocalypse, The Seventh Sign is a thought-provoking and scary sleeper from a more than a decade before (1988) that's bound for a revival in 2000.
A very pregnant Abby Quinn (Demi Moore) has a disturbing, recurring dream of a Roman soldier (Peter Friedman) striking a condemned Jesus Christ to the ground and demanding, "Will you die for him?" Little does she know the future of the world rests on her answer to the question after the Messiah returns to Earth as David Bannon (Jurgen Prochnow), a mysterious traveling teacher of ancient languages who rents a Venice, California garage apartment from Abby and her husband Russell (Michael Biehn).
Prochnow (Das Boot, The English Patient) puts on such a convincing performance as Christ it's very easy to believe he is indeed the Messiah returned to the present to unleash the wrath of God as he breaks the seals of the Seven Signs...
A Charismatic Role for Jurgen Prochnow
I would give this film three stars, but five for Jurgen Prochnow's remarkable performance. It is almost tragic that Hollywood has never known what to do with this intelligent, charismatic actor, so brilliant in "Das Boot," and demonstrating such a quietly compelling presence even in this apocalyptic melodrama. As for the film itself, intriguing scenes alternate with others that don't add up. Demi Moore's character is cited for her kindness, but in actuality, she seems completely oblivious to the sensitivities of others. We see her obsess and invade her tenant's privacy to the point of actually stealing (and even casually destroying) possibly priceless artifacts, with her only "excuse" a morbid curiosity and an ignorance threatened by what she can't immediately explain, and to which she gives the most self-obsessed interpretation. As for the movie's question, "Would you die for me?" - it is truly not answered by the ending, as most mothers would die for their children: as presented...
One of the better apocalyptic thrill-rides from Hollywood.
Most have never even heard of this movie, which is a true shame, for The Seventh Sign is a nice little look at what will happen, or might happen, when the seven signs of the apocalypse come to pass. Demi Moore plays Abby Quinn, a woman in the last month of her pregnancy who meets a man intent on renting the apartment above the Quinn's garage. This man is seen earlier in the film walking among different places, cracking seals that unleash ruin on the lands and seas. Abby, after much deliberation, begins to discover that her tenant is not what she originally saw him to be, and suspects that he may want to bring harm to her unborn child. She dreams of a man being struck, and a soldier yelling, "Will you die for him?" This movie definitely has a factor of suspense which is evident throughout most of the picture, and the conveyance of each of the seven signs is very haunting and original. Acting is an added plus, especially in the most tense of situations. Do not be...
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