Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I only have one complaint about this movie. Really having to listen closely to understand the dialogue of the British actors. Too many had really thick accents and they talked too fast. Really annoying. Had to keep rewinding to understand what they were saying. Turning up the volume didn't help. It reminded me of George C. Scott in "Patton" when he said British and Americans were "Two people separated by a common language." Aristocratic British accent is easier to understand, perhaps because they draw out their words, but these actors were speaking with the accents of the common British. I liked the opening sequences with the dogs, it was reminiscent of "Damien" with those vicious and Satanic Rottweilers.

In order to understand this fourth movie of "the Prophecy" series it is probably best to have seen at least one of the three movies that preceded it. If that isn't an option then I will attempt to give my view on what this movie is all about. In the first movie it is learned that there has been a war in Heaven between those angels loyal to God (with the archangel Michael as their leader) and those who want to compel God to reverse his favoritism to humans (led by the archangel Gabriel and his angels). Lucifer and his demons comprise the third faction and don't favor either side. Yet another element is added by this particular movie when a demon by the name of "Belial" rebels against Lucifer in order to create a literal hell on earth. In essence then there are 4 factions that now exist and at least two of them are after a book known as "the Prophet's Lexicon" which predicts certain events which have great value to whichever side can acquire it. As it turns out, this book has been placed in the hands of a young woman named "Allison" (Kari Wuhrer) who is immediately targeted by Belial. In order to protect her from Belial a person named "John Riegert" (John Light) needs to first locate her and to do that he gets her long lost brother, "Dani Simionescu" (Sean Pertwee) to help him. Since the audience is not told which side John Riegert represents until the very end I suppose it would be best not to reveal that in order not to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it. I can say however that another angel named "Simon" also assists Allison but his human form is never seen and the faction he represents is open to interpretation. Be that as it may, I liked this film much better than the first three movies if for no other reason than that it doesn't get mired in bizarre pseudo-apocryphal mumbo jumbo which totally rewrites basic Scripture. This one stays more focused on the matter at hand. Unfortunately, the best asset the first three movies had was the presence of Christopher Walken (as "Gabriel") and he is noticeably absent from this film. Even so, I believe that a viewer can still enjoy this particular movie provided that they don't get too confused with what is going on. Hopefully my review helps somewhat. In any case, while this movie clearly won't win any major awards and has an uneven feel to it I believe that it's possibly deserving of an average rating. But not much higher than that.

It's true this movie has basically nothing to do with the previous ones in the series, but it is still quite good. The only ties to the previous Prophecy movies is a brief internet chat with someone who might be Joseph, the angel Simon, (we are supposing it is the same one who died in the first movie even though we saw his heart ripped out, and the black void where eyes should be. Of course there is the war between angels and the monkey references but in truth this could be an entirely separate film and might have done better if it were. Kari Wuhrer was fantastic. The new Satan while perhaps less evil feeling than Vito's is more charismatic and comes across as sincere, the essence of the devil as the greatest lier of all. The acting was by and large good, the scenery lovely and striking, the story rich and engaging. If you are looking for Gabriel and the other angels, they aren't here. Other than Simon, this one is about devils instead, but it really delivers in all the areas that matter. There is very minimal gore, quite a bit of bad language, no comedy to break the mood, and one or two disturbing scenes. If you like movies such as The Omen, The Rite, Perfect Creatures, and The Exorcist give this one a chance.

I began to suspect something was up when I found it impossible to obtain a copy of Prophecy Uprising from my local video rental outlet. Initially I chalked it up to the fact that they only had one copy in stock, as opposed to the bazillion copies most releases command. However, upon doing a tour of other outlets in my area I was consistently confronted with the same thing. Each store only carried one or two copies and all were perpetually rented.Curious, I checked what online reviews I could locate and most uniformly praised the film as a highly entertaining effort.Finally my luck paid off and I managed to score a rental copy, and based on my viewing I have to say that the reviewers were right. This is one heck of a tight and entertaining film.In fact, it's arguably the best by far in the entire series of Prophecy films, even though it doesn't feature the great Christopher Walken at all.I can only surmise that this film didn't get a theatrical release simply because the powers that be at Dimension Films must have concluded that the Prophecy franchise (if such could be said to exist) was on its last legs and had run its course. It would be a shame if true for this movie completely invigorates the concept behind the films, and lays the groundwork for at least one more film, one of which, I'm now of the opinion, could only be done justice if done by the same director (Joel Soisson) and writers as Prophecy Uprising.Make no mistake about it. This is not some hackneyed special effects blood and guts fright fest. Rather, this is actually a pretty clever and tightly written suspense film done from a detective perspective. The movie relies on viewers to be familiar with the concept behind the original Prophecy movie, but only in terms of the whole war in heaven issue. Beyond that the movie stands on its own and does a pretty clever take on the concept put forth in the original.Performances are sound all around. The direction, editing, scoring and production values are all top notch. In short, you really can't go wrong with this most fine of direct-to-video gems.Now I understand why this movie has been hard to obtain. It's good, pure and simple. Check it out and you be the judge.