''The Eighteenth Angel'' is a

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

American horror-thriller

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, starring

Christopher McDonald Christopher McDonald (born February 15, 1955) is an American actor. McDonald is best known for playing the villainous professional golfer Shooter McGavin in the 1996 comedy '' Happy Gilmore'', a role he’d later reprise in 2025’s sequel '' H ...

Rachael Leigh Cook Rachael Leigh Cook (born October 4, 1979) is an American actress and model. She has starred in the films ''The Baby-Sitters Club (film), The Baby-Sitters Club'' (1995), ''She's All That'' (1999), and ''Josie and the Pussycats (film), Josie and ...

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor. Known as a character actor, he has played a wide variety of roles ranging from menacing to sophisticated, earning numerous accolades, including six Emmy Awards and two Golden ...

Wendy Crewson Wendy Jane Crewson (born May 9, 1956) is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film ''The Doctor''. Crewson has appeared in many Hollywood films, inc ...

, and

Maximilian Schell Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was a Swiss actor. Born in First Austrian Republic, Austria, his parents were involved in the arts and he grew up surrounded by performance and literature. While he was still a child, his fa ...

. It was directed by William Bindley and written by

David Seltzer David Seltzer (born February 12, 1940) is an American screenwriter, producer and director, perhaps best known for writing the screenplays for ''The Omen'' (1976) and ''Bird on a Wire (film), Bird on a Wire'' (1990). As writer-director, Seltzer' ...

Plot

An ancient

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

prophecy claims that the return of Satan will be precipitated by the arrival of eighteen physically perfect beings. To enable the prophecy to come to fruition, a secret sect of monks joins an obsessed geneticist to create the perfect specimens artificially. Music scholar Hugh Stanton lives in America with his wife Norah and their teenage daughter Lucy. Lucy's good looks are beginning to attract attention, and she dreams of becoming a professional model, but Norah is opposed to this. Norah dies in an unexplained fall from the roof of a tall building, seemingly a suicide, after a brief meeting with a mysterious Etruscan priest, Father Simeon. In the aftermath of her death, Hugh receives an invitation to visit a Roman church which allegedly contains "the world's oldest church organ". He and Lucy move to Italy, where they settle down in the former Etruscan areas north of the Eternal City. With little to do while her father is at work, Lucy begins to explore her surroundings - in particular an old monastery, despite warnings from locals. A scientist (who was fired after performing unethical experiments on corpses) now works in the old building. As it transpires, he has been hired by the Etruscan priest who, it is insinuated, may have arranged the death of the girl's mother, in order to trick Hugh and Lucy into visiting the ancient land of the Etruscans. In the old building, seventeen young girls are clinically brain dead, but kept alive by the scientist. The scientist, unaware of his employer’s true intentions, is just glad to be able to continue his questionable experiments, regardless. According to the Etruscan prophecy, the number of eighteen special girls are required for it to be fulfilled. Could Lucy be number eighteen?

Cast

as Hugh Stanton *

as Lucy Stanton *

as Todd Stanton *

as Norah Stanton *

as Father Simeon

Reception

Nathan Rabin of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' was critical of film writing that the "mixture of the Satanic and the mundane results in a number of conceits and juxtapositions generally more silly than terrifying" and that it fails "to create the atmosphere of Old Testament dread that the material so desperately needs."

References

External links

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PopMatters
1997 films American horror thriller films 1997 horror films 1990s English-language films Films directed by William Bindley Films with screenplays by David Seltzer 1990s American films English-language horror thriller films {{1990s-US-film-stub