Absolutely Fantastic

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The best part of the movie is the end. Unfortunately, it looks like there were 4 sequels. I got this movie in a pack of 8 films for 7.36 + tax. So, it cost a $1 and time. Here's the first problem. It is in super wide shot. On my TV 1/3 on top, and 1/3 on bottom is black. The center of the screen, 1/3 is the movie. This sucks.From then on, I noticed the audio is crap. Hard to understand the dialogue. The music, sound effects and dialogue had a serious mix problem. OK. Now, the story. Basic idea, some of god's angels are not satisfied and want to turn Heaven into another Hell. I guess that right. Now, the simple idea is fine. The details of the story and the execution sucks. We have a fallen priest that becomes a cop. This guy sucks as an actor. Plain and simple. Then we get Eric Stoltz as Simon as a good angel. He is a decent actor, but his dialogue and character sucks. We get the bad angel Christopher Walken as Gabriel. This guy is probably one of the best actors around. However, his character is one of the worst around. So, he's another fallen angel, via Brooklyn Mob circles. What the hell is up with that Brooklyn tough guy accent? Give me a freaking break. Then we have some school teacher and a little girl. All crappy actors. Satin shows up, because he doesn't want another Hell to compete with his. One more thing. The fx suck too. This thing sucked. It's a sad joke. Christopher Walken fans should not see this. Please don't. No one should see this.Complete failure. F. 1 star. Garbage.

The angel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) comes to Earth to collect a soul which will end the stalemated war in Heaven, and only a former priest and a little girl can stop him.It can be challenging to make a good religious horror film. Especially when you are trying to create a new mythology without destroying the classic or traditional views. This film is among the best in the genre, and it is no surprise it received multiple sequels. The idea of an ongoing angel war, backed up by a holy book? Clever.Of course, you also get some good actors involved and that helps. Walken is among the best (or at least he was), and Elias Koteas is vastly underrated. He is not a household name but should be.

Almost 20 years after his explosive debut in Deerhunter (if you have not see it, SEE IT) Walken (who by this stage of his career had become something of a caricature and was a popular subject for comic impressionists doing standup) takes the role of an "angry angel" looking to get payback for God's decision to honor "monkeys" (humans) above his original creations (angels). Walken is mesmerizing. If they gave Academy Awards for horror movies (and I think they do ... IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE!) he would have taken one. His portrayal is unforgettable. All we needed was a strong script and a good supporting cast to make this a winner ... and LO! we got them both. The story moves smartly. The viewer is engaged. Elias Koteas is excellent, and gives the audience a character to empathize with. Ironically, the hallmark of a major film these days is the number of awkward and successively weaker sequels it generates. This one hit the "trifecta" -- one mainstream sequel and a final entry produced in Canada -- which is where good franchises go to die. A must see for horror fans.

Years and years ago when I first fell in love with horror films, this is a series (I think there were only three at the time) that I discovered and remembered being decent. So I'm going to go through it again. The Prophecy walks a seriously thin line between campy horror and twisted story that could have fell flat on its face. The amazing thing is that it works and works so incredibly well. It turns in the type of film that was likely instantly a cult classic. There are some incredible and truly quotable lines in the film and scenes that will stay with you (hauntingly so) for a long time after that. There are some cheesy moments and yet the film is so dark and twisted that the cheese somehow blends in together and provides you with an eye opening and unique horror flick that I really enjoyed. I think great horror/thrillers can come out of Christian theology (some of Stephen King's most brilliant stuff certainly does) and The Prophecy does an incredible job of spinning this yarn around that and laying the groundwork for a series. The casting works so well and everything in this puzzle just fits together right. It is one of those films I think that you can't necessarily pinpoint why it works but it just does.Christopher Walken is a legend in his own right so I will start with him. Is he a great actor? Honestly, no I don't think that he is. But you cannot deny his unbelievable on screen charisma. He seems just a perfect fit to play this almost campy and yet dark and twisted evil Angel. This is probably one of his most memorable roles to me and for good reason. Walken is very Walken in the role and it works really well. Under-rated character actor Elias Koteas is disgraced Priest turned cop Thomas. This character is just fantastic. He is the perfect hero and Koteas does this brooding cop who is having the ultimate crisis of faith. His dialogue in the film is so well written and this script is shockingly smart at times. Koteas and Walken have this awesome rivalry that really drives this film. Virginia Madsen plays a character that is both necessary to the story and yet I felt she got in the way in some ways. She doesn't give as strong of a performance as everyone else but I understand why she's there. She doesn't really stand out though. Eric Stoltz, Viggo Mortensen, Adam Goldberg and Moriah Snyder deserve mention amongst the supporting cast. Stoltz and Mortensen border on being amazing and yet their roles are painfully small and not to be repeated by them in future instalments of the series.The one thing I took from The Prophecy more than anything else was the imagery. My God! Writer and director Gregory Widen had some messed up vision for this film and it translates onto the screen and gets under your skin. Whether its the tortured angels, the death scenes, the war, or the transferring of souls...the metaphorical imagery is deeply disturbing and effective. I'm shocked Widen didn't have more of a directing career after or before this and even more shocked that a writer actually managed to translate this into something really great. I have no doubt the series will gradually fall apart with future parts but I am going to stick with all of them and review each one because I thought this first one was just excellent and will absolutely remain high on my list of horror classics. 8.5/10