Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Humanitarian Dr. Robert Verner (Robert Foxworth) is asked to help out the Environment Protection Agency in a bitter land dispute between a paper mill and the neighbouring native Americans. While investigating, Verner discovers that a chemical leak from the mill has been causing mutations in the wildlife, resulting in a massive, monstrous, bear-like creature that roams the land killing at will.In early Hollywood movies, the Red Indian was a whoopin' and a hollerin' savage intent on scalping heroic cowboys, but by the '70s, the white man was feeling a tad guilty about stealing the Indians' land and then depicting them as bloodthirsty brutes, and so tried to atone for their actions by thereon portraying the native American as a peaceful, noble breed, living in harmony with the environment, while showing Caucasians to be untrustworthy rogues. Director John Frankenheimer's Prophecy is not only guilty of this ridiculous politically correct reversal of stereotypes, but it fails to offer horror fans much to get excited about: the plot is predictable eco-warrior garbage, there is little to no gore, and the monster is utterly laughable.Several scenes do, however, make this one just about worth a watch, albeit for the wrong reasons: brave Native American John Hawk (played by Italian/Irish actor Armand Assante) locked in a chainsaw vs. axe battle with a lumberjack, a hilarious attack by a raccoon on the doctor and his wife (Talia Shire), and the unforgettable sight of a kid in a sleeping bag being swatted like a fly by the creature are all guaranteed to make you smile.

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.

Hard to believe that political thriller specialist John Frankenheimer ("The Manchurian Candidate", "Seven Days in May") is the man in the directors' seat of this sometimes silly, sometimes effective shocker. It's definitely a horror film with a message, an ecological one, although it's laid on with an awfully heavy hand.Written by David Seltzer of "The Omen" fame, it spins a yarn about classical musician Maggie (Talia Shire), who accompanies her doctor husband Rob (Robert Foxworth) to upstate Maine where's he to do some investigating at the advice of a friend. What they and others discover is that methylmercury poisoning has turned the local wildlife into big mutant killers - one bear in particular."Prophecy" begins extremely well, with an intense chase sequence at night, and delivers some good moments as it plays out. It also has more than enough moments where it's possible that the audience is going to burst out laughing - that legendary sleeping bag sequence in particular. The creature effects by the Burman studio may well be a source of amusement for the viewer, even in attack scenes that should be exciting and scary. The location shooting is excellent, the scenery is wonderful, and Leonard Rosenmans' music score is majestic.Shire is likable, bringing some humanity to the proceedings as the young woman who's worried about the effect that eating contaminated fish will have on her developing fetus. Foxworth is good, but his character is pretty damn sanctimonious. In an interesting inversion, the paper company boss (Richard Dysart) - who usually would be undoubtedly the villain in this sort of thing - is actually more engaging an individual than the stubborn Indian activist (a ridiculously cast Armand Assante) fighting for his people. Trivia note: future director Tom McLoughlin ("Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI") and actor Kevin Peter Hall ("Predator", "Harry and the Hendersons") are among those taking turns playing the mutant bear (or, as Leonard Maltin puts it in his annual guide, the "giant salami")."Prophecy" is decently entertaining. Some viewers may appreciate it more as a so-bad-it's-good type of affair, but it still must be said that at least it's not boring. Monster movie lovers might enjoy it.Six out of 10.

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.