The Seventh Sign (1988)

The Seventh Sign

Call No: TEMP 1652

Last week I reviewed a film called The Seventh Seal, which is in no way to be confused with this movie. The only similarity that can be drawn is that both make allusions to the Book of Revelation in the title. While The Seventh Seal deals more with the idea of death, the plague and human mortality, The Seventh Sign deals with recognizing signs of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation, and trying to find a way to stop it. It’s a little less “Philosophical Debate on Biblical Symbols” and a little more “Hitchcock does Bible Study”.

Despite a previous miscarriage, Abby is confident that the baby boy she’s carrying will be healthy and happy (and more importantly, a successful delivery). Soon after renting the garage apartment to a wandering stranger named David, Abby begins to notice strange things happening, things that seem to tie in all to nicely with the prophecies found in the Book of Revelation. When she realizes that her unborn baby holds the key to the final sign of the apocalypse, Abby must make a terrible decision: one that could determine the fate of all mankind.

A large part of the film in terms of its plot and its evolution comes from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. While having knowledge of it tends to add another layer of meaning and gives the viewer a demonstration of Bible narrative at its most entertaining, knowing your Revelations isn’t necessary. The film does a good job of setting up the story and filling in the blanks as it goes along. Stories that build up from well-known and established ideas are always intriguing (The Da Vinci Code) and The Seventh Sign is another example of that. If you want to make it interesting, read a summary of Revelation and watch the movie. It’s an interesting take, to say the least.

David is preparing to bring about the Apocalypse... but why?

The acting in this is believable. There’s nothing groundbreaking of Oscar-worthy in this film, but the cast works together well and everyone contributes to the overall story without getting in each other’s way. Demi Moore does a great job with Abby, making her sympathetic without becoming whiny. Jurgen Prochnow is excellent as David, and plays up his mysterious and seemingly sinister side without becoming comedic. And the usually exciting and rebellious Michael Biehn (known as Kyle Reese from Terminator) portrays Abby’s husband Russell well, with equal parts sympathy and strength.

The rating of R on the film surprised me. Aside from one scene of nudity (which I didn’t consider offensive at all), and the language you would typically find in the average 14A movie, there wasn’t really anything worth condemning the movie to such a firm rating. Whether the religious themes caused the high rating, don’t let it fool you – it’s an intriguing film to watch. It's not groundbreaking or particularly exceptional in any way, but if you're looking to kill a bit of time on a rainy afternoon, give it a shot.