This is a boring, time-wasting horror film, in which an interesting story is destroyed by poor direction, a lack of pacing, and a lack of actual horror ingredients. Instead, the film focuses on human characters and their relationships. Frankly, if I wanted to watch trash like this, I'd watch a soap instead. After an hour in which nothing much particularly happens, the pace does pick up a bit and threatens to become exciting, only to lapse once again into a boring ending which looks like it has been severely cut short - by a lack of budget, perhaps?
The acting is pretty bad from a bland cast; only the leading man, Christopher McDonald, displays much talent and even he is rather boring. One reviewer calls Rachael Leigh Cook's performance tremendous, but it's more like atrocious in my opinion. I don't like Cook and every time she appears, the film seems to go even slower as the cameraman concentrates on her blank face. Maximilian Schell is ineffectual as the chief bad guy, and while I think of it, Christopher Lee would have been perfect in the role (after all, he played a similar one in CITY OF THE DEAD). As for Stanley Tucci, his small part is pointless.
I did find the actual story, which mixes in Satanism, Christianity and genetics, to be an interesting one which should and could have been developed further. As it is, it's just an excuse to show some ugly old faces in a bid to shock the audience. Images of a Satanic clock keep recurring throughout the film, which is extremely irritating. Although it's shot well, and the authentic Italian location work is nice, each scene is marred by a lack of real action and the dragging pacing. The script is confusing, the climax non-existent.
The only thing to compensate for these major flaws would be some meaty gore scenes to enjoy, but with only a couple of brief deaths (by cat and by impalement), we don't even get those, which is a real cheat. THE EIGHTEENTH ANGEL's place in history stands as a minor precursor to the endless religious horrors that the Millennium stirred up (END OF DAYS, BLESS THE CHILD, etc.), and it fails totally as a horror movie.
The acting is pretty bad from a bland cast; only the leading man, Christopher McDonald, displays much talent and even he is rather boring. One reviewer calls Rachael Leigh Cook's performance tremendous, but it's more like atrocious in my opinion. I don't like Cook and every time she appears, the film seems to go even slower as the cameraman concentrates on her blank face. Maximilian Schell is ineffectual as the chief bad guy, and while I think of it, Christopher Lee would have been perfect in the role (after all, he played a similar one in CITY OF THE DEAD). As for Stanley Tucci, his small part is pointless.
I did find the actual story, which mixes in Satanism, Christianity and genetics, to be an interesting one which should and could have been developed further. As it is, it's just an excuse to show some ugly old faces in a bid to shock the audience. Images of a Satanic clock keep recurring throughout the film, which is extremely irritating. Although it's shot well, and the authentic Italian location work is nice, each scene is marred by a lack of real action and the dragging pacing. The script is confusing, the climax non-existent.
The only thing to compensate for these major flaws would be some meaty gore scenes to enjoy, but with only a couple of brief deaths (by cat and by impalement), we don't even get those, which is a real cheat. THE EIGHTEENTH ANGEL's place in history stands as a minor precursor to the endless religious horrors that the Millennium stirred up (END OF DAYS, BLESS THE CHILD, etc.), and it fails totally as a horror movie.