Prophecy – 1979
Director
John Frankenheimer

Writer
David Seltzer

Cast
Talia Shire
Robert Foxworth
Armand Assante

Review by Wayne Malin

A laugh a minute,

Toxic wastes are mutating bears (or something) in the Maine Woods. Robert Foxworth and pregnant wife Talia Shire go to investigate.

I saw this piece of crap back in a theatre in 1979. It was wall to wall kids (the film is PG rated) and they tore it apart. The basic plot itself is not bad and Foxworth and Shire give pretty good performances–that’s why I’m giving it a 2. Everything else about the movie blows. It was boring and the scary parts were just laughable. When the monster was first shown in the movie, the audience I had exploded with laughter. KIDS were laughing at it! That should give you an idea of how bad it looked. Also the monster kept changing size! At one point it’s bigger than the trees–at others it’s half that size. When filmmakers can’t even keep basic things like that straight something is seriously wrong. Then there was the baby monster which was SO obviously a hand puppet!

Give Talia Shire credit for keeping a straight face while holding it. And the chase sequence at the end was just ridiculous–every single “scare” was telegraphed. The only part that got a reaction from the audience was when a guy got his head chewed off (not shown). They actually applauded (probably because it sounded real gruesome). Then we get the silly “it’s not over” ending which had me groaning.

I also read the book–the book isn’t bad but the movie really is pathetic. Director John Frankenheimer was all wrong for this. He kept making it clear that this was NOT a horror film. That’s always the kiss of death here, when a director makes it clear he wouldn’t lower himself to make a horror film…but that’s just what he’s making. “Exorcist II” is another example. He himself dismissed this film in later years…and I haven’t heard Foxworth, Shire or Armand Assante gloating about being in this film.

As a horror film it’s lousy—but it IS funny as a comedy.