Prophecy

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!

...... but the creature itself isn't half bad considering that this was made in 79'- pre CGI. The film has some great expansive wilderness scenery and an effective score by Leonard Rosenman. It has a great opening which in a sense promises more than the rest of the film delivers—quite plodding for the most part—but this is really a minor quibble. The acting is decent and there is enough tension generated by the opening sequence to keep ones interest throughout the proceedings.

There is minimal gore, but the tone of the film is relatively intense and serious, with a violent undercurrent that is more implied than expressive and adds to some well mounted terror sequences. The last half hour certainly isn't dull and is filmed with panache and a great deal of swampy atmosphere.

This is a very hard US PG rating (pre - PG13 days). A brief fight scene involving a chainsaw and an axe (although by no means graphic) is like something seen in a more exploitative hardcore action film. Had the film makers pushed a little stronger and bloodied a little more and went for an R' rating, this film may have become a minor horror classic considering the talent involved. As it stands, its still a hoot and well worth a mention in your DVD creature feature collection.

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!"

I saw this picture on Betamax in '81 or '82 and it really got under my skin. Frankenheimer's monster movie is partly responsible for me getting into the business (along with Jaws, Alien, Raiders, Blade Runner, not that I'm really inviting such comparisons). I actually had occasion to have a smoke and chat briefly with Robert Foxworth about the making of the picture when I was grip on a made-for-TV suspense pic in Atlanta. He was approachable, friendly and enjoyed talking about that show. He said that they had lost a stunt driver, and narrowly escaped losing a cast member or two when their first construction truck/picture car (the 4wd monster truck our ensemble try to escape in) took a dive off a cliff. They had to scramble to find another one and finish the picture. RF also said that Frankenheimer was an accomplished chef and had occasionally treated the DP and Cast to gourmet meals.

Prophecy is now on DVD, presented the way it was originally shot. I think I bought my copy for less than $15. All of the criticisms of this film are true, and it does not belong in the first Frankenheimer potential box set with "The Train," "Manchurian Candidate," and "Seven Days in May." But with this marginal script and genre, bound together with a tired, preachy and inaccurate environmental message, Frankenheimer managed to put together a monster picture that has surprisingly stout legs. Remember, Paramount released this monster muppet against "Alien," arguably the best film of its kind ever made. The monster grizzly is enraged, frightening and unpredictable. It is key to the film's suspense. If the Emmerich/Devlin team gave 'Zilla the same qualities, suddenly that film is worth watching for more than the effects. Prophecy had virtually no effects by today's standards. They had to make up for this with shooting and editing; a.k.a. conventional, hand-crafted filmmaking. I may indeed be prejudiced, but I still like this movie with all of its problems.