The Eighteenth Angel

The countdown is on...the devil is coming, the devil is coming. And, it wants some beauty, so let's kidnap some beautiful girls. From the phony somber stridency of the narrator's opening monologue, to the stupid clock that gives the countdown, this movie has the most implausible of themes. On first viewing, the movie was rated a 5, for some interesting camera work, and movie tone. But several months and several 100 movies later, a second viewing(why I wasted my time I don't know) warrants a lower rating. New rating: 4 As an aside, in one scene, the husband asks about his wife's work: It's "Etruscans" she says. "Ah, snails," he says. "No that's crustaceans," she says. "No sorry, that's mollusca," I say.

... a horrible mutated rat! LOL

Okay, it's not tooooo bad. Not, toooo bad. Nobody ever said raising a teenage daughter would be easy.

who thinks that this movie was completely lame? the only reason i watched the whole movie was because i expected a good ending at least. but even the ending is just so crappy and lame that i can't help thinking that i wasted my time on this boring movie. watch it if you are a raechel leigh cook fan, but even her performance didn't move me at all. rating - 4 out of 10 stars.

I re-watched THE EIGHTEENTH ANGEL some time ago because I was given an ex-rental copy of it. I remember watching it some years ago and thinking that it wasn't too bad, though I couldn't remember why. After revisiting it, I still think it's not too bad. And I still can't really figure out why. Let's see... The story was ambitious. The production values were okay. The film had a decent look and some visceral effects in the make-up department. The acting was good and so was the cinematography. That monastery up the hill looked creepy, just like it should in a horror movie... Ergo, this film ain't too bad.

It's along the lines of films like THE OMEN (1976) and BLESS THE CHILD (2000), but it's more on par with the latter than the first. Given the fact it has less star-power and was filmed on a smaller budget, I do consider THE EIGHTEENTH ANGEL and admirable effort. The only thing that really bothered me, were some plot holes I just couldn't wrap my head around. I won't go into it now and I'll steer away from writing a synopsis too. What matters is that I found it to be an okay movie and I've seen worse. Much worse.

Far from a great movie, but at least it's better than "The Ninth Gate" and "End of Days" (the two movies it reminded me most of). Rachel Leigh Cook is stunningly beautiful, and gives a performance that makes some poor writing almost work. Christopher McDonald is surprisingly good even though (perhaps because) he is not playing the comedic jerk character he's played in almost everything else he's been in. Maximillian Schell should have just stayed home; he doesn't bring anything new or even interesting to the film. All in all, it's worth renting (or buying for three dollars, as I was lucky enough to do), even though the ending is one of the most cliched, predictable bits of cinema I've seen in a long time. The menacing glare straight into the camera at the last shot just doesn't seem as clever as it used to be. For that matter, I'm not convinced it ever was clever.