Prophecy (1979)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I love the look of films from this time period. This is another take on poisoning the environment that leads to nature fighting back (ex. Empire of the Ants, Squirm, Ants, Kingdom of the Spiders, Day of the Animals, etc.).The movie starts off good enough, but unlike Jaws when it was horrifying when you first saw the shark, this movie has the opposite effect when the grizzly bear is revealed. The bear is too fakish to scare. It looks like it has no skin and should have died of an infection a long time ago. But since the bear looks terrible, it makes the end of the movie disappointing and not terrifying like Jaws was.Other problems: For an Indian tribe ingesting mercury all this time, not one Indian showed any deformity of any kind in the village (effects dept. ran out of money?).Why did Foxworth need the 2 cubs to prove the poisoning? Couldn't he used the giant tadpole or catch one of the giant salmon to prove it? It sure would have been more safe than dealing with Mama bear.The movie showed other animals became aggressive like the raccoon (how did Foxworth know it wasn't rabid?) Why weren't there other attacks by other animals on people? Would've made the movie better.How was Talia Shire happy in the end when her cello got destroyed? And when she played the cello, why didn't one of the insane animals attack her? The paper mill owner never reached the tower to radio for help, so how did the plane know to come the next day to pick up the survivors? What talent agent believed Armand Assante would pass for an Indian? With mercury in the ground at the mill, how did none of the workers get sick or have deformed kids? If I saw a salmon the size of Jaws out in the lake, I would quickly get back to shore and report right away! Not keep fishing like the Dr.How did the bear know to destroy the car so no one could drive away? All those guns at the camp in the end and not one able to shoot the bear? But yet the Dr, the most unskilled shooter gets 2 shots off into the bear. Also, the bear dies from being stabbed numerous times in the face by an arrow? Really? That bear would've of crushed him in a second.With that bear mutilating its victims, how do the authorities believe its the Indians r doing the killing? Wasn't it plain, even back then, when someone gets killed by an animal? Funniest part: Dr going on and on and on and on and on about the effects of mercury to a fetus. Classic! In conclusion, with today's advancement in effects and with an R rating, this could easily be remade into a much better, scarier, and effective movie.

Saddles somewhere between Snowbeast (1977) with Clint Walker and Intruder Within (1981) with Chad Everett came this offering, tho those were TV movies and this one was in the theatres. Nevertheless, they were all movies in which half the film was over before something happened, then you were lucky if you got a good view of the monster (before anyone saw the zipper on the rubber costume, of course). Prophecy to me, for some reason, has stand out scenes (the sleeping bag and I think this is the movie where the old Indian didn't realize his cigarette was burning his hand, which truth be told, can happen to anyone who has excessive drug use, but the insinuation was he was mutated and oblivious to pain, due to the poisoning chemicals as well). Yet the title always made the movie lost in all the other titles of a similar vein; The Legacy, The Truancy, The Dichotomy, The Buoyancy, The Sweltering, The Relinquishing, The Compilation, etc. Yes, Legacy is a real movie (don't know about the others. I was just trying to make them up as I went along) Legacy and Prophecy were the big two to me, but I have always managed to remember Legacy. Prophecy, I forget the title, the stars. In the end, it was like watching Stephen King's It. It's a giant monster spider. So that's it. Prophecy was the mutated bear movie. Pretty much what it should have been called. More people may have seen this movie, but like me, they don't recall what it was called.

When a city health specialist trades the ghettos for the serenity of a mountain landscape to investigate an apparent health hazard at a timber refinery, he (Foxworth) and his wife (Shire) find a disturbing by-product has evolved from the toxic pollution, putting the local Native American community and their rival logging employees at risk. A giant mutation (akin to a bear) has become the apex predator of the local wilderness, forcing foes to join forces to combat the threat.Picturesque and generally well-developed tale of nature gone awry, combines an initially sobering dose of environmentalist pathos, indigenous injustice and commercial greed with the common monster-on-the-loose theme to reasonably satisfying effect. The principle characterisations are well drawn, and generally played to type, benefiting from a talented cast, well accustomed to dealing with aggressive animals (see Foxworth in "Ants"). Frankenheimer strays from the conservation cause in the latter half, instead concentrating on the action, where the characters forgive one another's sins, in common struggle against a more immediately present enemy.The monster (portrayed here by future "Predator" Kevin Peter Hall) and its not so cute as a button offspring are such an unfortunate looking consequence, that one can't but feel sympathy for its mindless fixation with mayhem. Naturally, the protagonist (Dysart, as the logging manager) claims redemption for his company's misdemeanour, and is appropriately exorcised by the unholy creation, but the sub-plot involving Shire and her suspect foetus is never fully developed, lost amid the action of the second half. As such the audience is left to ponder the outcome, although, as is formula for these types of films, the door is left open for a film franchise to be borne.While the sequel never materialised, the message remains clear – mess with nature, and trouble you shall get. "Prophecy" isn't especially prophetic, but it is entertaining, and easy to absorb on a basic level. And for the conscientious film buff, the scene in which the monster walks under water apparently inspired the hilarious scene from an episode of the "The Simpsons" when Skinner is hunting a truant Bart Simpson, terminator style.

One of those - How did they screw this up so badly? films. A doctor and his wife leave the big city and take refuge in the Maine wilderness, only to find just as much, if not more, conflict. The corporate lumbermen harass the local Indian tribe, who resent their treatment of the land. The local lumberyard is pumping toxic mercury into the environment leading to an outbreak of birth deformities, but are more interested in covering it up than cleaning it up. And somewhere in the woods is an enraged gigantic beast that is attacking campers and the local populace.There is a lot of juicy tidbits here, yet director John Frankenheimer (responsible for the amazing The Manchurian Candidate) somehow lets the film get completely away from him. The film is really just a straight horror thriller with topical political overtones, but it rarely engages on any level. The conflict between the corporate interests and the Indians remains static at best. The film's groundwork for the revelation of the giant monster consists of a giant trout that swims to the surface of a lake and gobbles a duck and a large piece of rubber that someone proclaims a "tadpole", all of which are borderline laughable. The subplot of the local deformities in human babies is underplayed.Yet for all of this the film should really work on a visceral level as a horror film. There is something inherently frightening about the dark forest at night, with strange sounds emanating from all around. This is something that the film never really takes advantage of. The latter third of the film is basically a lengthy pursuit of a diversity of eclectic characters trying to escape the onslaught of the rampaging monster, and this works much better than what has proceeded it, but it still does not work as potently as it should. Some of the earlier attack scenes are too few and far between - including a bungled opening sequence that is no where near as effective as the film seems to believe and a borderline laughable assault on a camping family memorable for the hilarious burst sleeping bag and feathers moment. The film pushes the then PG-rated boundaries with some surprising violence in the latter portion, but we are not especially invested in any of these characters at peril and when the creature finally emerges it looks nothing like that depicted on the poster. Rather it alternates between looking like a guy in a rubber suit, a slimy bear, a stuffed slimy bear and a huge knockwurst. In short, nothing to remotely frighten one despite the severity of the attacks. The fact that the film is able to generate some decent suspense in this third is largely because of some level of professionalism in Frankenheimer's direction and the promise still inherent in the material (which is largely undeveloped).The dreadful acting also does not help this film. Talia Shire spends much of the film looking bored and spends the final moments appearing as though on the verge of slipping into a Valium-induced coma. The film throws her character some drama with a plot revelation, but instead of emoting she restrains herself to the point of lifelessness. Armand Assante probably contributes the best performance as a local Native American activist whom the powers-that-be initially try to pin the attacks on.The worst performance comes courtesy of Robert Foxworth as Shire's husband, and he deserves his own paragraph. It is a straight-forward straight-arrow good guy role that just requires someone solid and appealing. Instead, Foxworth contributes a performance that would be too broad for a Greek amphitheater. In scenes where he is to appear sympathetic, he positively drips with self-righteousness. In scenes where he is disturbed about the trials around him, he sputters, blusters and waves his arms all over the place. When Shire tells him a late plot twist, he stares with such intensity at her that it is a wonder she is not burned to a cinder. He has absolutely no chemistry with Shire and every time a character asks for his opinion as a doctor, he strides as though heading center stage and begins to pontificate as though launching into a soliloquy from Shakespeare. His final confrontation with the creature should be played in acting classes as a perfect definition of how NOT to act on screen. It is a dreadfully laughable performance that degenerates into a mockery of hammy-ness that completely overwhelms the role, the people around him and the film itself.On an aside, this is definitely a story that would be ripe for a remake. With better special effects, a more polished screenplay, tighter direction and (arguably most important of all) a better leading man, this could transform itself into a amazingly scary thrill ride.