Gregory Widen’s “The Prophecy” (1995) is a type of style sleepers that was dismissed by most critics, shortly discovered an appreciative viewers as a rental choice and garnered a cult following that led {that a} slew of sequels.
Widen, one of many creators of “Highlander” (1986), shapes “The Prophecy” as a extra non secular, good vs. evil spin on his Connor McCloud/“There Can Solely Be One” system. The outcomes are each goofy and riveting.
Elias Koteas performs Thomas Dagget, a would-be man of the fabric turned police officer who finds his caseload is abruptly mirroring the theology and classes he carried from his days as a seminary pupil dropout. In the meantime, the angel Simon (Eric Stoltz) begins showing, adopted by the ruthless Gabriel (Christopher Walken), who leaves destruction wherever he goes.
Viggo Mortensen performs the Satan for good measure.
It’s all very “Highlander”-esque, in that the moments that are fairly superior counter bits the place the filmmakers could not have been conscious how unintentionally humorous a few of that is.
Think about John Travolta’s “Michael” (1996) as a horror movie, and it might play like this.
“The Prophecy” epitomizes a B-movie, in that it’s a foul film with sufficient nice scenes and go-for-broke performances to counter its shortcomings. I favored the angle that Dagget loses his religion as a result of he sees an excessive amount of and initially can’t deal with the theological fact he faces.
FAST FACT: “The Prophecy” wasn’t a field workplace hit ($16 million world), however it nonetheless sparked 4 direct-to-video sequels: “The Prophecy II” (1998), “The Ascent” (2000), “Rebellion” (2005) and “Forsaken” (2005).
The wacky finale features a Wile E. Coyote-worthy truck crash, Native American rituals, Walken smashing by a door and, a lot later, exploding right into a flock of doves.
Most significantly, we get a Viggo vs. Walken showdown.
Walken’s usually wild and classy efficiency is likely one of the greatest causes to see this. He has a Corridor of Fame bit the place he walks previous a corpse, stops in entrance of the digital camera, makes a dramatic gesture and the physique within the background bursts into flames.
The best way Walken performs it, with the showmanship of his gesture and pleasure in his eyes, it’s like watching an evil circus ringleader.
Walken, like Nicolas Cage, has a number of B-movie gold within the midst of a decent physique of labor on stage and movie. When it comes to discovering his most enjoyably subtlety-free and unhinged, that is up there with one of the best of the lot.
Stoltz has scenes the place he converses with a small youngster alone, and it’s creepy. Sure, we all know he’s an angel, however it doesn’t make these bits any simpler to observe. I want Stoltz’s pure heat as an actor was sufficient to promote these scenes however, whether or not intentional or not, I wished his spooky, smooth voiced intruder to exit the movie faster than he does.
In his final scene, Stoltz is as soon as once more coated head to toe in elaborate make-up, his third time after “Masks” (1985) and “The Fly II” (1989).
What a trooper.
Virginia Madsen, throughout her “Highlander II: The Quickening” (1991) and “Candyman” (1992) profession interval, is absolutely good on this. So is Adam Goldberg, Amanda Plummer and particularly Mortensen, chilling and interesting in his tackle the satan.
For a movie with a restricted price range, the leisure worth is beneficiant.
The weekend “The Prophecy” opened in my native theater, the homeowners hedged their bets and made it the second invoice on a double function with the forgotten Tom Berenger drama, “Final of the Dogmen.”
What a weird double function!
General, “The Prophecy” is an formidable B-movie. It’s usually silly however man, does it ship.