The Seventh Sign

I'm not going to lie: "The Seventh Sign" is one of my Top Ten Favorite Movies of all time. I know, I know. It's not "The Godfather" or some other big, smart movie that I'm supposed to profess my undying love for, but I don't know what to tell you. I love it. I like the look of it. I like the script. I like the idea. I love the music. And I think it's a terrific performance by Demi Moore. It also made me bawl like a baby when I first saw it in theatres. Therefore, it's a thrill to finally get a good release of the film on Blu-ray, especially from Scream Factory who knows a thing or two about treating cult classics respectfully.

"The Seventh Sign" might look like a horror/thriller on the outside, but it really isn't. It's a religious thriller that takes an emotional turn in the third act and has a powerful message at the center of it. You don't have to be religious to enjoy it either. In fact, writers Christopher and Ellen Green are Atheists, but found something compelling about the biblical apocalypse and a woman's desire to stop it to protect her unborn baby.

There are five brand-new interviews on the disc, one of which is with original screenwriters who, at the time, went by the pseudonyms W.W. Wicket and George Kaplan - not their real names. It's fascinating to hear why they two decided to use pseudonyms on the film after they were disappointed by the film's restructuring and the lowering of the age of the protagonist. What's fascinating about this is that the two (who are at least in their late 50s) sound whiny and bitter about changes that - looking back - were pretty small. Scripts constantly change nowadays and when the two described the changes the studio made, they were fairly small (and perhaps even smart). So for them to remove their names sounded a bit petty. Christopher Green did say he doesn't think he would do the same thing today and perhaps they overreacted. Ellen Green said it's still her favorite script. And it is pretty good.

There are things in the film that seem potentially silly (a Roman guard cursed to walk the earth for hitting Jesus Christ, and a Hall of Souls in Heaven called The Guf), yet all of that is factual. The screenwriters did a lot of research and none of the facts used in the film were made up.

Other interviews include actor Michel Biehn (who admitted to not totally understanding the movie), director Carl Schultz, actor Peter Friedman (Father Lucci), and actor John Taylor who played the boy with Downs Syndrome sentenced to death for killing his parents.

Other than that, there are two cheesy TV spots, and of course the film which looks spectacular and still holds up. This is still a surprisingly moving film and it's too bad that Moore didn't partake in the interviews as this is a really good performance from an actress at the beginning of a long and celebrated career.

THE SEVENTH SIGN
Blu-ray
$26.94
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