The Eighteenth Angel (1998)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

William Bindley

Writer (WGA):

David Seltzer (written by)

Release Date:

8 January 1998 (Singapore)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Adventure | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The Crow Flies, The Clock Strikes And the Devil is Due.

Plot Keywords:

Cat | Train | Impalement | Monastery | Human Experimentation

Cast

Christopher McDonald	...	Hugh Stanton
Rachael Leigh Cook	...	Lucy Stanton
Stanley Tucci	...	Todd Stanton
Wendy Crewson	...	Norah Stanton
Maximilian Schell	...	Father Simeon
Cosimo Fusco	...	Florian
Venantino Venantini	...	Clockmaker
Ted Rusoff	...	Benedetti
Federico Pacifici	...	Dark-Eyed Cleric
John Crowther	...	Mangram
Vanessa Crane	...	Museum Guide
Linda Cerabolini	...	Milla Pagano
Orso Maria Guerrini	...	Paolo Pagano
Linda Gucciardo	...	Stewardess
Fabrizio Vitale	...	Customs Agent

MPAA:

Rated R for horror violence and gore.

Runtime:

Netherlands:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Germany:18 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | UK:15 (video premiere) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Rysher Entertainment

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Although the hospital in the final scene is supposed to be in Rome, the label on the hydrogen peroxide bottle on the dressing tray is in English.

Movie Connections:

References Les yeux sans visage (1960)

Soundtrack:

Theme from "The Twilight Zone" (1959)

The Great Book of Horror Clichés (part 513)

"The House of Yes", "Family Rescue", "She's All That": all decent movies starring Rachael Leigh Cook. That's why Rachael was the only reason I wanted to see "The Eighteenth Angel" (well, that and the fact it was shown just after The X-Files). The short version: not even Rachael (as Lucy) can save this disaster.

Here's the longer version: Some of the acting is so bad it's more frightening than the horror plot (a Satanic church wants the Antichrist back and all they need is a demon clock saying when they should sacrifice 18 angelic children). The worst performance is given by Maximilian Schell: instead of acting like a satanic priest he acts like he's the evil penguin in a children's story. When he recites the satanic verses, you think he's reading the recipe for pork chops. The more the story evolves the more ludicrous it gets. If you know the horror cliches, all you have to do is make a list and wait for it to come. Oh look, spikes: somebody's bound to get killed by them. (check) Oh look, nice horses: they are probably going to kill someone. (check) Let's wait for the cameo of a cemetary. (check) Etc etc. (check) Watch out for painful mistakes: father Simeon is praying to the Devil in a pentagram (check), but apparently the makers of this movie didn't know what a pentagram is. It certainly isn't what they used a movie. (If you don't know what a pentagram looks like: watch Jacob the Liar: in that movie they needed a Jewish star, but they used a pentagram.) Add the final ingredient: referring to and stealing from other movies. Maybe they can get away with referring to Brian de Palma's Obsession (the church scene), but it's hard not to spot they borrowed some ideas from The Exorcist. Once again: bad copying only makes a bad movie worse.

So it's best to skip this movie? Yes, unless you like watching Rachael Leigh Cook. In this movie she is a teenage model, so there's lots of posing and looking nice. But she was much better in the movie list I started this review with, so that's not really an argument. Also, skipping The Eighteenth Angel means you don't have to see the ending of a movie which gets worse every scene. You'll clap your hand when the titles get there: not because the movie was good, but because it's finally over.