Waiting for the Antichrist

Since there can be no Armageddon without the Antichrist, it’s a little unnerving that a new image from the mysterious Lars Von Trier project of the same name has just popped up. The film stars a still fit Willem Dafoe as a psychiatrist who retreats with his wife, played by Charlotte Gainsborough,  to a cabin in the woods after the death of their child. Whom the arms belong to is unknown, but some have speculated on what might have been the source inspiring the image. Guesses range from Polanski’s "Repulsion" to Cocteau’s "Beauty and the Beast" and a 1927 silent version of "Dante’s Inferno."

Meanwhile, we might catch a glimpse of the Antichrist in Ron Howard’s latest Dan Brown adaptation, “Angels and Demons, which also features the Illuminati, antimatter and Tom Hanks. The Vatican is having none of it, and is pondering calling for a boycott, as it had done previously with Howard’s “The Da Vinci Code.” Demonstrating that papal authority is not what it used to be, “Code” ended up grossing $760 million worldwide, or about 70 cents per Catholic.