The Eighteenth Angel

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"Satan will no longer be beast... but beauty!" That declaration comes early in The Eighteenth Angel, signaling the kind of horror movie we're in for: thick and cheesy. When that line (and others like it) is uttered by mad monk Maximilian Schell, it's even creamier. Schell is ushering in the return of the Antichrist by genetically engineering Satan's minions, but he needs the transplanted faces of beautiful humans to complete the task. Enter Rachael Leigh Cook (pre-She's All That), who travels with dad Christopher McDonald to Italy, perilously close to Schell's monastery-laboratory. The movie has lots of Omen- style devilry, and it's somehow reassuring to see Omen screenwriter David Seltzer still flogging the old 666 gimmick. The genre has its kicks, but the execution here is pretty clumsy, and Cook is a clueless heroine. For pure camp value, however, Maximilian Schell approaches Rod-Steiger-Amityville-Horror status. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

SATAN HAS GOT A FACE OF A ANGEL........2006-03-22

Yet another film showing the becomeing of Satan or the Antichirst all wrong, but still the film is interesting. The film is base on somes facts but a lot of the film is base on fiction.

I wish I could give this film a 2 and a half stars rateing not a 3 stars rateing .

Ive see a lot of much worst horror films than this, but ive see a lot of much better horror films then this as well. A lot of horror films are a fun ride to be on, but this film is NOT a fun ride and I think this film does not want to be a fun ride for the viewer. This film is dark and moody and films which is dark and moody there are not fun rides for the viewers at all.

(THIS IS TO TELL ALL CHIRSTIANS WHO ARE READING MY REVIEW, YOU CAN USE THIS FILM TO WITNESS TO YOUR NON CHIRSTIANS FRIENDS AND THIS IS HOW YOU CAN DO THIS.)

1. Before you and your non chirstian friends see this film, you FIRST tell your non chirstians friends that Satan is very MUCH REAL and the Antichirst is very MUCH REAL and the Antichirst is really going to come someday and the Anichirst will be born a man just like Jesus was born a man.

2. After when the film is finish, you can tell your non chirstians friends that the film is base on fact and fiction and tell your non chirstians friends about Jesus and Jesus our lord can save them by his blood and he die on the cross because he love us so much.

For the glory of God.

Y'all seem to be missing The Point........2005-10-29

What seperates this movie from others of its genre is threefold:

1. The Satanists see themselves as the *good* guys.

2. They have good philosophical arguments for same (how many people does Satan kill in the Bible? God kills millions...)

3. Erm. The ending. Can't tell you; spoiler.

Trust me, though: the subtleties of the above make this movie, to me at least, completely unlike any other movie in this genre that I've seen, and I've seen my share.

-Robin

So bad it's good.......2005-01-11

Alas, modern filmmakers can produce something that looks pretty good, even when the movie is God-awful. Otherwise, the Eighteenth Angel would be another "plan 9," full of camp, awful acting, and a plot so dumb that it almost defies description.

Watching Maximillian Schell pretending to be a deranged Italian Abbott, and trying to fake English with an Italian accent, despite being German--well, that's worth the price of the disk. My wife and I have been immitating him for years, explaining every bizzare occurence with his meorable line: "its-a the-a-marriage of-a science and-a Satan."

You'll blow milk bubbles out your nose at the storyline where Max foolishly concludes that some demented midieval glockenspiel maker has determined the hour of Satan's return. Max has won over all the moronic monks of his abbey and they are now busily preparing the way, apparently having scraped up a few hundred million dollars from the collection plate to fund a mad genetic scientist. An assenine American father and his dumb daughter make an insane decision to go to Italy and live by the abbey and are so crazy that the witless teenager lets herself get sucked into the plot as a potential pretty face for the devil. Did I mention that everyone appears stupid and nuts?

It's a hoot!

Worth a Watch, but not up to par .......2004-12-09

Not up to par in what this film COULD be.
Maximillian Schell totally makes this film.It's his malevolent presence that adds the tinge that takes this from a below average scare, to a nice supernatural piece.
There are parts where the scare could be beefed up, but it feels like the studio who made this piece may have either intervened, or someone toned down what could have been a seriously excellent scare.

BEDEVILED.......2004-02-02

In watching this okay thriller, I found myself wondering just how many different ways Satan is planning to come back to earth. This new one about the eighteen angels is one of the wackiest so far, coming supposedly from the Etruscan Book of the Dead. First of all, they get eighteen angels, but only need one? And then when 17 of them are burned to a crisp, what did the purpose serve?
Writer David Seltzer must still harbor Satanic feelings, as he is the one who created Damien Thorpe in "The Omen." While that seventies film provided lots of chills and great actors, "Angel" gives us an undebatedly beautiul Rachael Lynn Cooke, a sturdy father in Christopher McDonald and an overacting Maximilian Schell, but it's all been done so much in the past, there's little suspense or thrills involved. Only Wendy Crewson's spiraling fall is disturbing and upsetting.
David, if you're going to write more Satanic resurrections, try some more imagination, and maybe let the good guys win every once in a while.

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