Prophecy is one of those films I'd never heard of, went entirely under my radar. I can confidently say it has aged remarkably well and it's astonishing that it was made in the 1970's.

Starring Talia "Adriiiieeennne" Shire & Armand "One facial expression" Assante this tells the story of a doctor and his girlfriend who venture to the forests of Maine to bring peace between loggers and native Americans.

Trouble is something's out there killing folk and the loggers believe its the native Americans! Well it's not in fact it's a great big creature that I'm sure must have been Trey Parker & Matt Stones influence for South Parks very own Manbearpig. The likeness is truly uncanny.

Essentially a mystery film with a creature feature addition this is actually a perfectly watchable film and looks great. Practical effects, memorable story though a bit of a lackluster finale.

If you like your beastie films you can do worse and Al Gore is super serial about this one.

The Good:

Looks great

Manbearpig

An excellent though ridiculous death scene

The Bad:

Couple of weird writing decisions

Assante is just terrible

Lead was very lifeless as was Shire

I was rooting for the monster

Now this is what a monster movie should be like: an interesting story that doesn't rely on the creature to keep things moving along; realism wherever possible; a decent cast of B-movie types who you can play "who's gonna die next?" with.

Much of the success of PROPHECY lies in the presence of director John Frankenheimer, who brings a sheen of professionalism to the proceedings that many other minor monster flick directors can't hope to equal. This is a film which inhabits the same ecological disaster type territory as LONG WEEKEND and FROGS, and proves to be just as entertaining: the story of a mutated bear-creature rampaging in the woods as a result of industrial pollution is a good one, and PROPHECY never disappoints.

Along with the interesting story, this film benefits from a strong leading cast who bring life to what could be otherwise rote characters. Robert Foxworth is the bearded, wild-haired leading man, but Talia Shire (riding high from the success of ROCKY) is of the most interest, facing a dilemma that is irritatingly never resolved. Armand Assante plays perhaps the world's most unlikely Native American and Richard Dysart bags the great role of the company man responsible for the pollution.

The monster effects are great – I'll forever take prosthetic and model effects work over CGI – and the horror scenes ultra effective, with the bit with the boy in the sleeping bag an example of 'one seen, never forgotten'. The most chilling thing, though, is is the implication of the environmental pollution, as evinced by the film's coda, with far more disturbing implications than an in-your-face out of control rampaging bear mutant.

The idealistic Dr. Robert Verner (Robert Foxworth) is invited by his friend Vic to travel to the Maine with his wife Maggie (Talia Shire) working for the Environmental Protection Agency to prepare a report about the dispute between Indians "Opies" (meaning the original people) and the lumberjacks. Maggie is pregnant but she has not told to Robert since he does not want to have children. Robert and Maggie are welcomed by the director of the paper mill Bethel Isely (Richard Dysart) that drives them to their cabin in the woods. However they find an Indian blockage of the road and witness a conflict between the leader of the Opies John Hawks (Armand Assante) and Isely and his men.

On the next morning, Robert goes fishing and he sees a huge salmon in the river. Then they meet with John Hawk and his wife Ramona (Victoria Racimo) and they tell that their people are ill and most of their babies are born with deformation. They also hear about the legendary Katahdin and visit the Garden of Eden of the Opies, where Robert finds weird plants with roots on the surface and a huge tadpole. Robert continues to investigate and discovers that the industry is using methyl mercury in the process that is causing the mutagen in the environment.

"Prophecy" is a movie directed by John Frankenheimer with a lame ecological journey to the Garden of Eden of the original people. The politically correct idea of showing the pollution of a paper industry is one of the worst movies of this director. There is one specific scene that is ridiculous, when the boy that is camping is thrown to a tree. The conclusion is also terrible. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): Not Available