Search - The Prophecy on DVD

Samuel K. (Solvanda)
Reviewed on 6/9/2018...

One of the most awesome B movies ever made. A real treat!

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Maybe this bear was supposed to be Plan 10 from Outer Space?

Holly Apollyon | The Overlook Hotel | 07/27/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been watching this horror film epic a lot more lately, and I have accordingly removed it from the 'bad crap' list onto the 'good crap' list, because it has begun to grow on me. Prophecy has the virtue of presenting the fakest monster I have ever seen: Horribly transformed by a mutagenic agent derived from mercury-exposure, a bear has become a thundering and bloodthirsty 25 foot-tall monster!

At the beginning of the movie, a sanctimonious EPA investigator is recruited and dispatched to a local forest region to help calm a skirmish between the Indian populace and a draconian lumber mill outfit. Almost immediately, the EPA guy, Dr. Robert Verne, and Verne's wife Maggie (worried because she's pregnant and is afraid to tell her husband) are exposed to the reckless tactics of the Indians firsthand; one such tactic involves stringing a chain across the only road to the lumber mill. A much more effective tactic, in the long term, is the gigantic mercury-spawned bear, a violent and horrifying entity whom the locals have named Kataden. Kataden has recently set about the task of stalking the lumber mill workers and tearing them apart; early on an entire scout party is ambushed and massacred in the blackness of night. It should be noted, meanwhile, that Kataden, despite being a cardboard-stiff gigantic latex rubber bear puppet, despite the fact that she seemingly always walks erect, is 80% faster than even the most desperate human victim and can evidently cover eighty miles in less than twenty minutes.

Dr. Verne and Maggie, along with representatives of both the the lumber mill and the Indian Tribe, are stranded miles deep in the woods and left completely vulnerable to Kataden's predatory wiles. Eventually the small desperate remnant of the group reaches a lakeshore with the intention of reaching the cabin on the lake's far side. The idea, I guess, is that Kataden can't swim?

The group begins cutting across the black, mist-topped lake. Kataden hovers momentarily at the lakeshore and then matter-of-factly wades in; in the process of advancing towards the lake's center the giant bear submerges for maybe 32 seconds. Dr. Verne, automatically assuming that Kataden must have drowned, begins howling and cheering---"Whooooh, yeah, baby, whoooh, yeah. Choke on that, baby!!!"---although even the other cast members are staring at him like he's an idiot. Five seconds later Kataden simply reemerges with her original course completely intact. Verne and the others run inside the cabin and begin fortifying it against the now-furious Kataden. With the single swipe of a mighty paw, Kataden removes the cabin's entire roof. Now it's killing time, and it's screaming time for the few humans left in Kataden's bestial thrall. However, the spirited and blood-crazed Verne manages to kill Kataden by stabbing her with an arrowhead about two or three times. Man, that was a close one!

It is my theory that Kataden was actually listed as "Plan 10" in the conquest notebook of the same Ed Wood-spawned aliens portrayed in the science fiction epic Plan 9 From Outer Space. Plan 10, however, seems to have been as much of a failure as Plan 9. Either way, don't worry, because just before the movie's closing credits---when Verne and his wife (Maggie now ostensibly carrying a mutagenically-tainted child in her womb) are being evacuated via emergency helicopter---another slavering snapperhead monster, at ground level, lurches into frame. I'm holding out for the sequel, oh yeah, baby, oh yeah.


"

What?s that Huffing Sound in the Woods?

J. Hardy IV | Snohomish, WA United States | 02/07/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first saw Prophecy as a 10 year old in 1979 and it scared the ** out of me and caused nightmares for a few months. Looking back after seeing it again today, the shambling mutant bear doesn't pack quite the same punch effects wise; but this is still a decent horror flick. The Mambo King plays an Indian and Adrian is the weak pregnant wife along for the ride as a inner-city class conscious doctor attempts to study the environment in Maine and gets wrapped up in a tribal dispute with the local paper mill who has been logging near the village and yes, dumping mercury into the water supply for the last 20 years. This of course has an adverse affect on the flora and fauna, not the least of which is the 12 foot bear that is now chomping down on would be hikers. The exploding sleeping bag w/ feathers floating down is still an image that stays with you, as is the bear slowly sinking across the foggy water trudging towards its victims. The woodland setting is beautiful and Dysart makes a nice company man villain. A nice afternoon time killer."

Attack of the killer 70s!

Staci L. Wilson | USA | 02/13/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It's Gentle Ben as imagined by Clive Barker in this cautionary tale about what can happen when pollutants get into the forest animals' water supply. One big bear, in particular, is very angry about the whole thing and tries to eat Armand Assante, Talia Shire, and Robert Foxworth in one bite. A notable scene includes a vicious attack by some cute little raccoons.

Cheesy fun that drags a little too much, but is saved by a bang-up finale.

Staci Layne Wilson
"