A government health inspector is dispatched to assess the damage a logging company is causing to a patch of forest claimed by Native Americans, and comes face to face with true terror wreaki... Read allA government health inspector is dispatched to assess the damage a logging company is causing to a patch of forest claimed by Native Americans, and comes face to face with true terror wreaking havoc in the woods.A government health inspector is dispatched to assess the damage a logging company is causing to a patch of forest claimed by Native Americans, and comes face to face with true terror wreaking havoc in the woods.
- Kelso
- (as Everett L. Creach)
- Black Woman
- (as Lyvingston Holms)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaKatahdin, the mutant bear-monster, is portrayed by 7"2' actor/stuntman Kevin Peter Hall who went on to play other memorable man-in-a-suit monsters of the 80s including the giant egg-headed alien in Without Warning (1980), the titular creature in Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990), and Bigfoot in Harry and the Hendersons (1989).
- GoofsWhen Maggie Verne is seen leaving the helicopter during the rain storm there is a wire visible holding her handkerchief in place so it doesn't get lost in in the winds when she purposely lets it fall out of her pocket
- Quotes
Maggie Verne: Rob, what is it?
Dr. Robert Verne: It's methylmercury poisoning, that's what it is. This whole place has been contaminated.
Maggie Verne: How do you know?
Dr. Robert Verne: The Indians eat the fish, and they behave like they're drunk when they haven't had a drop of liquor. That raccoon convulsing and turning vicious, its brain turned to mush. Even that old man, that Indian, you saw the burns on his fingers.
Maggie Verne: Is that from mercury?
Dr. Robert Verne: It's from cigarettes; the reason he didn't feel it is from mercury. You see, it acts on the nervous system; it destroys the brain.
- Alternate versionsUK cinema and video versions received 8 secs of mandatory cuts by the BBFC to remove the shots of the raccoon writhing on the floor outside the cabin before the attack scene (the animal had been genuinely poisoned).
- ConnectionsFeatured in Sneak Previews: Prophecy/Bloodline/Moonraker/Dracula/Nightwing (1979)
- SoundtracksSweet Ride
Written by Lionel Job and Delwin Gillman
Performed by Southroad Connection
Courtesy of Fourth World Productions
Prophecy is, at best, a) a departure for John Frankenheimer, b) a 70's horror movie with a social conscience and, c) not withstanding amateurish special effects, predictable dialogue and long-view shots of Talia Shire looking petrified beyond speech, an actually entertaining, somewhat surprisingly satisfying film. The novel created an intelligent, often compelling case for early environmentalism and the frightening consequences of doing nothing in light of the dangerous contamination of the Earth. Prophecy as a film suffers from a deplorable special effects deficiancy (case in point: at one point in the film, the monster is clearly "walking" on the dock with the courtesy of a mechanical dolly and hydraulic levers...uggh) as said before, but looking beyond this, the film's plotline does build tension, though it loses steam in the end, concluding with a rather lamely tacked-on "surprise" ending that is more befitting of the TV networks in the 70's. Frankenheimer captures a "land-locked" Jaws-like eating machine on film with a vengeance, and the subsequent carnage is, while unfortunate, in light of the circumstances that created the beast, understandable. The focal point of the movie, the beast itself, operates as a deranged ecological locomotive ( actually sounding like one onfilm at times ) hell-bent on taxing mankind for its misfortune.
Remarkably ( and most likely accidentally) the film achieved a perfect "of the moment" time slice capture of the late 70's era, replete with the worries, political movements, ambiguities and uncertainties of the time all woven within the backstory of the Indian's struggle against the papermill, global overpopulation, bigotry and commercialization at the expense of nature.
Beautiful scenery ( courtesy of British Columbia, circa 1978/1979), believable performances, particularly from Richard Dysart and Armand Assanti, combined with circumstances and sequences never actually realized on film before combine to make a pretty meaty B movie. Case in point, the opening sequence with the dogs and the cliff, the tunnels of the Indian village and their subsequent use later in the film. I saw this film when I was 11, and the memory of the camping family and their fate in the film has YET to leave me. Don't think I've ever camped again without recalling that scene...
I recommend the film without taking it as seriously as it seems to take itself, though the message of environmentalism is one worth listening to. The plot device of methyl mercury poisoning in Minimata, Japan is based on true life actual events, and is considerably more frightening than the sum of this movie, but is worth researching sometime.
- Monstergarp
- monstergarp
- Jan 20, 2001
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Prophecy: The Monster Movie
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $8,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $18,389,402
- Gross worldwide
- $18,389,402
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1