Prophecy

This film had the potential to be a rare echo-horror that actually tackled the subject of men tempering with nature. It was apparently inspired by a real environmental disaster in Japan and since it was directed by John Frankenheimmer, I was genuinely intrigued to check out this film that I had been dismissing for so long mainly because of the infamous exploding sleeping bag scene.

It starts out nicely with a violent sequence that proceeds to set up the main characters and plot; Native Americans are demonstrating against loggers working on a paper mill and taking away their land. The protagonist is a doctor who is called to the affair as an adviser and soon finds out that the plant is poisoning the water, the fish and the people who live of the land. To make matters worse there's something in the woods feeding on loggers and campers.

Now, I know this is a creature feature and the monster deserves a fair amount of screen time. It is kept in wraps throughout the film, making up for some genuinely suspenseful scenes. At first it's a mere side effect of the much bigger tragedy that the land and people are suffering. But by the end it takes over the movie, turning it into a gore fest and depriving it of its original atmosphere. All the subplots are dropped, characters vanished and the movie abruptly ends.

All in all, as far as echo-horror goes this is one of the most decent and fans of b movies will certainly be entertained. More stuff to look out for is the gorgeous Victoria Racimo, a young Armand Assante, those adorable mutated bear cubs and of course, the exploding sleeping bag scene.

PROPHECY is the kind of movie that makes you go, "Aw, man!" Not because it just plain sucks, but because the movie never once lives up to its potential. It repeatedly pulls its punches and draws back just as it's getting good.

The poster is probably the best thing about it, showing a creepy little mutant fetus floating in a womb. A movie about that thing? As an eight year old kid, I was the first on line! And, as an added bonus, it was PG, so I knew I could get in. Not to mention the fact that this was when Hollywood still had some balls, and a PG movie could still contain some hefty doses of gore and T&A.

I remember finding individual scenes to be pretty scary. A family is slaughtered while camping in one scene. A guy in an overturned jeep gets his head ripped off. And the giant mutant bear is, at times, genuinely freaky.

But even I, as a little kid, could tell that the movie was uneven and poorly paced. When the monster isn't attacking, it's yawn city, with Robert Foxworth pontificating endlessly to the point where, even though I agreed with every word he said, I wanted to bash his face in. And Talia Shire's eye-bugging and whining got pretty tiresome after a while as well.

You rarely, if ever, get a good look at the monster. That technique worked in ALIEN, but, whereas ALIEN kept the monster hidden through stylish photography and sly editing, PROPHECY is just poorly shot, badly lit, and sloppily put together.

Ridley Scott wanted to keep the alien partially hidden, so all you saw was teeth and claws and could put the thing together in your mind. I think John Frankenheimer just couldn't figure out how to hide the seams in the dime-store monster costume he had to work with, so just lit everything so dimly you could barely see anything. The monster is pretty grotesque and occasionally looks fearsome, but usually looks like nothing more than a big gray blob.

The baby monster bear that Shire cradles through the second half of the movie is much more freakish looking. PROPHECY is watchble enough if it shows up on cable one rainy day when there's nothing else to do. Just remember to watch it through an eight year old's eyes.

Maybe it's because the setting of the movie- New England- is where I spent many an idyllic vacation with my family, but to see this creepy-looking mutant bear running around in the forest is really terrifying. John Frankenheimer directs a nighmarish film that should not be seen alone.

I saw "Prophecy" on a double bill with the original "Friday the 13th," another bloody romp in the forest. The Jason film was second on the bill, and would've been unimpressive on its own, but was rendered especially impotent to this viewer after having all the bejeezus scared out of me by "Prophecy."

Highly recommended!

I know of and truly admire the genius of John Frankenheimer, who gave us The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May, Seconds, The Train, and more recently, Ronin. He also gave this ridiculous eco-monster movie enough discipline and artistic snap to raise it above the level of mutant frogs, bunnies, and snakes, all croaking, hopping, and slithering around the late 70s.

I don't dwell on plot in my reviews; I like to talk about what makes the movie worth expending your precious minutes or not, so here is what one geek loves about this silly, fun flick: Even with the overly intense performances, the Marcus Welby music, the clichéd-to-the-point-of-exasperation mean, old corporate polluters, the fact that Talia Shire's face seems to be melting off her head (cheap shot, I know), and the monster--think of Shaq in latex, p.o.'d, with fangs and Mad-Eye Moody peepers--you have a scary, fun, and interesting movie.

Hey, Stephen King liked it, although he was right in pointing out how silly it was to put the Indians in teepees in Maine.

I wonder if Robert Foxworth, Shire, and Armand Assante get fan mail for this 8th grader of a movie. Frankenheimer, God bless him, made this movie work, and passed away a few years ago (no causal relationship, of course). He was so serious and deep, a really, really skilled artist, but I also wonder how he would have responded to fan mail for Prophecy.

I hope all involved had or have senses of humor and when confronted with a request for an autograph on the VHS box, respond with, "Hey, thanks for your support, you geek!"

Kind of an under-rated creature feature that is mostly forgotten and was poorly reviewed at the time of release. Coming after 'Jaws' and in the midst of the "pollution causes monsters" subgenre. In this one a doctor (Robert Foxworth) takes his wife (Talia Shire) to the Maine wilderness to collect samples to settle a dispute between a paper mill and the local Indian tribe. They stumble onto a series of mutated creatures and a web of deception designed to hide the true horror that stalks the woods.

This is a big budget B-movie that is expertly made. Director John Frankenheimer, always a professional, handles the material perfectly. The actors act their asses off and Leonard Rosenman's score is so intense that it is instrumental in creating much of the tension. There is some really smart writing and great scenes: a sequence where a family is killed in the forest is unexpected and shocking; an exposition scene involving a tape recorder is clever in its efficiency; some nice setups involving the wife being pregnant that are paid off nicely. Just watch all the cinematic tricks on display as a group of characters are hiding underground after a brutal attack. Not something you would get in a lesser film.

A main source of criticism seems to be the monster itself. Created by The Burman's Studio who did the effects for such classics as 'Planet of the Apes' and 'Star Kid.' The monster is a bit goofy but is mostly shot to hide that fact and is pretty effective. The parts where it's clearly a guy in a suit are silly to be fair, even though the creature is played by Kevin Peter Hall who would go on to be a different Predator a few years later. The monster in 'Prophecy' is fun and certainly not the worst ever committed to film. Another problem is the casting of non-Native American actors to play members of the Indian tribe. I mean Armand Assante, really?

So as Halloween approaches, I'll try to throw out some largely unseen horror films to add to the scares. 'Prophecy' is a good example of a slick monster movie, very well done by talented people in front of and behind the camera. It's not great but is more entertaining than it has any right to be. 7/10.