Friday, July 13, 2012

The Eighteenth Angel



Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: William Bindley

Starring: Christopher McDonald, Rachael Leigh Cook, Stanley Tucci, Maximillian Schell

From: Rysher Entertainment

Yep, I am continuing the RACHAELAPALOOZA for today by talking about one of the rare ventures into the horror genre that she did, and this is a perfect day to talk about that genre. Note that judging by the dates you see in the movie, she had to be like 16 or 17 at the most when this was filmed, so you shouldn't watch this to oogle her... unless you're a perv, that is.

The plot: A sect of the Etruscan's turn out to be evil bastards. They are led by Schell (it's no surprise to me he was evil, nor that he hammed it up). They set up a cloning program and such things as evil cats, a mutated rat and other strange crap happen, all in the pretty Italian countryside. They need eighteen young people (explaining the title) to set in motion alongside an ancient clock plans to bring Satan back to Earth. Cook's character was found and judged to be a perfect angel (certainly understandable, I say) so under the guise of modeling she and her music professor dad (McDonald) go to Italy and you see various things happen.

This movie isn't awful but it isn't that good either. There are some creepy moments, the villain was hammy and Rachael tried her best with the material given, but the script just isn't too good. There are plenty of plot holes that made things more bumpy than the rural Italian roads you see in the motion picture. And as others have noted, it seemed derivative of other movies, most of them better than this one. I mean, I am talking about such films as Eyes Without a Face and The Exorcist

Not to mention, it's not really scary or terrifying at all. There were some creepy moments but that's about it. It's hardly bloody at all so you shouldn't watch it if you're a gorehound.I thought it was more dull than anything else, so there's no reason to see it, unless you're a Cook completist. Not even the unintentional humor-of which there was some-made this worthwhile.

Hopefully everyone has a decent Friday the 13th today; I'll be back Monday night.

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