Prophecy (film)



"It is not an offspring of witchcraft or Satan. It was created by man. It will grow to be 15 feet tall. It will have huge eyes, webbed hands, hooked claws. It will walk upright. And it will mindlessly, mercilessly, kill every living thing it meets."

Prophecy is an ecological horror film from the year 1979. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and it stars Robert Foxworth, Talia Shire and Armand Assante.

It is a story of a medical doctor Rob Verne who is sent to Maine to ivestigate a dispute between Native Americans and the local papermill. Taking his wife with him, he discovers that the area is heavily contaminated by methylmercury and encounters the mutations it has caused.

Especially one certain bear...

If you were looking for the Christopher Walken movie, go see The Prophecy.

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 * The Archer: John arms himself with a bow and arrows for the last stretch of the film.
 * An Axe to Grind
 * Barrier-Busting Blow: This bear doesn't give a shit about your "walls" and "roofs".
 * Chainsaw Good
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Isley. Though he sees the folly of his ways when he is shown what the pollution has done to the local wildlife.
 * Did Not Do the Research: Native Americans of Maine didn't live in teepees.
 * Don't Go in The Woods
 * Everything's Worse with Bears: Did we mention the giant mutant bear?
 * Eye Scream
 * Groin Attack
 * Hollywood New England
 * Horrible Camping Trip: Small subplot deals with a family who ventures into the woods and never return.
 * Infant Immortality: Inverted in the film's funniest moment.
 * Informed Attribute: Ramona's bravery.
 * Jump Scare
 * Let's Split Up, Gang!
 * Mama Bear: The literal one.
 * Mighty Whitey: At the end of the movie, heroic white doctor Rob Verne is able to kill the mutant bear with a bow and arrow... after John used it repeatedly to utterly no avail.
 * Misplaced Wildlife: Maine actually don't have any grizzly bears in it.
 * Moment Killer: Tender moment between Rob and Maggie is interrupted by a crazed raccoon.
 * Mutants: Some animals due to pollution.
 * My Secret Pregnancy: There's a subplot consisting Maggie's sudden pregnancy and her attempts to tell Rob about it.
 * Narm: The exploding sleeping bag!
 * Off with His Head: Two people get their heads bitten off.
 * Ominous Fog
 * One Word Title
 * Rain of Blood
 * Redemption Equals Death
 * Scenery Porn: Maine New Columbia sure has nice forests.
 * Scream Discretion Shot
 * Space Whale Aesop: Don't let the papermills pollute the nature, because it creates killer mutant bears that will come after you.
 * The Stoic: John Hawks.
 * Super-Persistent Predator
 * Super Window Jump
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: When the bear is finally taken down, Verne goes for its throat to just make sure it's dead.
 * Too Dumb to Live: The decision to take the bear cubs to M'rai's camp. Even if they were mutated, anyone with common sense should know that the mother bear will set out to look for them.
 * Trailers Always Lie: Trailers (and the poster above) give an impression that the monster is a Mix-and-Match Critters -kind of thing, which it was set about to be early on. Frankenheimer decided to go with a mutated bear instead.
 * Two-Faced: The bear.
 * Vapor Trail
 * Wet Sari Scene: Provided by Ramona when the gang escape the bear through a river.