THE SEVENTH SIGN (1988)
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Carl Schultz
Cast: Demi Moore, Michael Biehn, Peter Friedman, Jürgen Prochnow
Synopsis: Demi Moore stars as Abby Quinn, a young woman who discovers that she and her unborn child play a terrifying part in the chain of events destined to end the world. Already troubled with a difficult pregnancy, Abby grows more distraught once she and her husband (Michael Biehn, The Terminator) rent their studio apartment to David (Jürgen Prochnow, In The Mouth Of Madness), an enigmatic drifter. As Abby becomes ensnared in a series of otherworldly experiences, it becomes apparent that David is carrying out the mythical prophecies of Judgment Day ... and that she has been chosen as the instrument of the Seventh Sign. But can Abby — or anyone — stand between the wrath of God and the future of humanity?
This review for The Seventh Sign (1988) is not so much a review of the film, but more a fond remembrance of the night I saw it, so keep that in mind. This is a movie that brings up a lot of teen memories for me, none of them having anything to do with the movie, but of a rather steamy night I spent with a girl who was babysitting a pair of kids in my neighborhood. I met this girl named Gina years earlier at a Sunday school I got roped into attending because some kids in my neighborhood would go, and I was pretty bored on Sundays when they would all go to church and I would be left alone without a play pal, so I tagged along hoping for some kicks. We would have field trips sometimes, going to the local roller-rink and have hayrides with cider and donuts on cold Fall nights, it was cool hanging out and meeting kids from around the area that went to other schools, but the message of the Lord was lost on me, I never paid attention to the sermons or the teachings, and I would often bring books on magic incantation that I checked out from the library just to draw the ire of the elders, which it did. One day we were reading scripture or some such thing in a classroom when by foot bumped that of the girl across the table from me, her name was Gina P., and our accidental foot bump turned into a regular session of footsie and kissing on the hayrides. While that part of it was awesome I quit coming not too long after and Gina became just a fond memory of my first pre-teen experimentation in flirtation.
Flash forweard years later, now in our early teens Gina's highschool was playing against my school's basketball team (Go South Seneca Falcons!) and I ran into her at the game, we exchanged very brief and blushed 'how-have-you-beens', and just like that the sweet memories of adolescent hormones came sweeping back into my mind. That summer I was walking through my neighborhood when someone called out my name, it was Gina! She was babysitting a pair of kids in my neighborhood just a few blocks from my house, the kids parents were out of town attending an Aersomith concert (with Guns N' Roses opening!) in Weedsport, NY. That concert connection is hows I creepily remember it was August 9th 1989, I tried to win tickets on the local rock radio shows all that week, I was way into GNR and had probably worn out mt cassette playing it on my Walkman over-and-over. Obviously I didn't win any tickets to the concert but she invited me over to watch some movies that night, a double-feature of The Lost Boys (1987) and The Seventh Sign (1988) on VHS, it was a first time watch of both for me. We snuggled up next to each other on the couch holding hands and discreetly kissing, both the kids were there, and we were both totally entranced by The Lost Boys, so we didn't do much canoodling at that point. However, after the kids were sent to bed we put on The Seventh Sign, and the biblical end-times thriller didn't really pull us in, so we started making out pretty heavily and copping feels, ending up on the floor dry-humping, whispering lord knows what and kissing deeply, it was definitely my first serious make-out session and I was shocked and pleased with how and where it was heading.
Feeling somewhat out of control and youthfully lustful I began unbuttoning her pants, at which point she said "what are you doing?" ...and I have to admit I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, I was on hormone auto-pilot, I blushedly and stopped and we both decided it was probably time I went home. So off I went into the night with a new sort of ache in my groin and fresh masturbation fantasies embedded in my mind. She babysat a few more times afterward, and I would come over to watch movie and some make-out, but having established some parameters it never did get as out of control as it did that night, and not long after she was once again a sweet lustful memory of my teen years, never to be heard from again.
So with that I am pleased to see that The Seventh Sign (1988) finally comes to Blu-ray from Scream Factory with some kick-ass extras. The movie is actually quite a solid religious thriller now that I've re-watched it with considerably less distraction. Demi Moore as the expectant mother is quite good, and I had completely forgot that Michael Biehn (The Terminator) plays her husband, it's an odd role for him but he does alright, his character is a lawyer who spends time defending a killer dubbed The Word of God killer, a teen with down syndrome who killed his parents because he said God commanded it, which figures into the long-view of the film. I had also forgotten that Jürgen Prochnow (In The Mouth Of Madness) plays a guy who rents a room for the couple, he takes an unusual interest in her unborn child. As the film plays out it seems her child's birth could herald the end times, and we also get an emissary from the Church sent to investigate the could-be end times happening around the world, Father Lucci (Peter Friedman, I'm Not There) who has ties back to the story of the Wandering Jew from the bible. As you might have gleaned from my story I didn't learn much in church so some of the biblical stuff might have went over my hea, but there's enough exposition and broad strokes that I kept up with it for the most part.
The special effects hold up pretty well, better than I expected, opening with some cool scenes of a sever freeze in the Middle East and a massive fish-kill in Haiti, but the more broad destruction scenes aren't too fleshed out, it keeps it simple with some Earthquakes and whatnot that aren't too large scale. At the end of the day it's solid, but the finale comes and goes way too fast for my tastes but the story is interesting and it goes to some unexpected places.
Audio/Video: The Seventh Sign (1988) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD 2.35:1 widescreen, not sure what the source of the HD Master here is but it's impressive, exporting grain and fine detail with some nice fine detail and textures throughout. Skintones and colors look natural and nicely dense, blacks are solid as well. The lone audio option is an English 2.0 DTS-HD MA Stereo with optional English subtitles. Everything is well-balanced and crisp, the Jack Nitsche score sound great.
Onto the extras Scream Factory really comes through with some great stuff considering this is not an official branded Collector's Edition, so we don't get a slipcover or a Demo Moore commentary, but they stack it with some quality extras, beginning with actor Michael Biehn speaks about originally be cast in in the film Prochnow's role and asking to be the husband character instead, liking the script, and admitting he doesn't quite get the whole "seventh sign" stuff about the film. He speaks about bow actors tear-up in scenes using menthol blow-guns, which was interesting to hear about, bringing up George C. Scott and Laurence Olivier during the conversation, and speaking about the special effects in the film and how they seem to hold up.
Director Carl Schultz gives us a career overview, revealing the original title of the project was "The Boarder" and explaining some of the studio interference that dampened the film in his opinion,speaking about the casting of the film.This is a bit of a low-energy interview, it's got some great info but Schultz is up there in years and not very energetic, but glad Scream got him for the extras.
The screenwriting duo of Clifford and Eileen Taylor speak about writing the film, the real-life inspiration of becoming landlords themselves, the duality of God, and having their names replaced with pseudonyms on the finished film as a way to voice their disappointment with the what was done with their script, even going into detail about how they chose their pseudonyms, they really go deep into the character motivations and narrative structure of the film.
Actor Peter Friedman shows up for 2-min speaking about his whole career, talking about how in the 70s he took a class to change the way he acted as he didn't like where he was headed as an actor, taking on the gig working for The Muppets and Sesame Street, becoming the ass-end of Snuffleuppugus for a period of time. He also speaks about being cast in the film, his own research fro the character,working with Demi Moore, and touching on how he felt the ideas in the movie weren't supported by the budget.
Actor John Taylor who plays the teenager with Down Syndrome (the actor was born with is) speaks about the role, and the screenwriters show up again to speak about the character's motivations and how it was important to the story
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a 2-sided sleeve of artwork, the a-side being the original one-sheet and the b-side featuring a scene from the film, not reversible artwork, just an image. The disc itself featuring the same key artwork.
Special Features:
- NEW Interview with Actor Michael Biehn (11 min) HD
- NEW Interview with Director Carl Schultz (20 min) HD
- NEW Interview with Actor Peter Friedman (20 min)
- NEW Interview with Actor John Taylor (11 min) HD
- NEW Interviews with Screenwriters Clifford and Eileen Taylor (30 min) HD
- TV Spots (1 min) HD
The Seventh Sign (1988) gets a solid HD release from Scream Factory with a strong set of extras. The film itself is sort of a low-key religious thriller with some cool threads throughout but the ending and apocalyptic visuals are somewhat lacking, but still a decent watch, iy you like late-80s' thrillers there's something here for you to enjoy.
