Nature Bites Back With Extra Cheese in Eco-Horror Cult Movie Prophecy

In the deep woods of Maine, the Pitney Mills Paper Company preys upon the land, emitting chemical substances so poisonous they trigger the wildlife to mutate into monsters. Cult eco-horror film Prophecy, which is new to Hulu this month, needs to outrage you with this storyline—however it can also’t resist giving into some main monster-movie tropes.

Director John Frankenheimer had loads of notches on his belt previous to 1979’s Prophecy, together with 1962’s The Manchurian Candidate and 1975’s French Connection II. Scriptwriter David Seltzer had penned horror smash The Omen in 1976. Just previous to Prophecy, star Talia Shire had been Oscar-nominated twice, for The Godfather Part II (1974) and Rocky (1976). Somehow all three of those people lent their skills to Prophecy, a creature function with aspirations of telling An Important Message, although all anybody ever remembers about it’s the creature itself: a hulking, rampaging bear (effectively… apparent stunt man in a bear costume) so affected by environmental evils it has no fur or pores and skin overlaying its hideous visage.

Prophecy goals to boost its Important Message by pitting the paper firm towards indigenous individuals who’re attempting to guard their forest, although that is mitigated a bit by the casting of Armand Assante—who’s Irish-Italian, not Native American—as Hawks, the primary activist. Caught in between are Dr. Robert Verne (Robert Foxworth) and his spouse Maggie (Shire), an expert cellist whose most defining attribute is that she’s pregnant however isn’t certain inform Robert, since his lengthy profession of coping with public well being crises has entrenched him within the “why would you want to bring children into this fucked-up world?” mindset. Eager for a break from coping with a system that’s all too desirous to stomp on susceptible inner-city households, he agrees to move to rural Maine and examine the paper mill state of affairs on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, with Maggie (and her cello) in tow.

Of course, because of Prophecy’s opening scene, we all know there’s one thing lurking within the woods past (rightfully livid) indigenous individuals—although that’s who the paper firm blames when a bunch of lumberjacks goes lacking, adopted by a search social gathering that additionally goes lacking. After witnessing an axe-on-chainsaw conflict between the 2 sides, the Vernes don’t know who to imagine. Complicating issues additional, the grandfatherly Hector (performed by Canadian First Nations actor George Clutesi) maintains native lore a couple of fearsome creature often known as “Katahdin” is completely actual, whereas the sleazy paper mill director dismisses the legend as “sort of a Bigfoot I guess, only it’s uglier.”

Honestly, they’re each proper, which we ultimately see when Katahdin makes itself identified. There’s some further build-up as Robert and Maggie spot some alarming anomalies, together with a comically giant salmon, an apparently rabid raccoon, and a few outsized claw marks on tree trunks; we additionally comply with the couple as they study extra in regards to the forest from Hawks and his individuals, and take a tour of Pitney Mills that yields some worrisome findings regardless of the paper firm’s reassurances that they’re a wholly pollution-free operation. This is all simply filler to get to the killer that we all know is coming—apart from that opening scene, the tag line on Prophecy’s poster identifies it fairly actually as “the monster movie”—and the film begins its shift from ecological warning story to full-on shriekfest simply previous the midway mark.

Regrettably, Prophecy is rated PG, so if it’s gore you’re after, you can be disenchanted by its sheer variety of, for example, cutaways from screaming victims as they’re about to get bought. But the lumpy, glistening, bellowing power of nature at its heart (properly filmed largely in night time scenes and/or by thick foliage, although unintentional hilarity owing to its look nonetheless abounds) has an plain star high quality, particularly when it demonstrates it can slaughter any human that will get in its method—even those attempting to defend its residence turf.

Animal-attack motion pictures had been all the fad after Jaws, and Prophecy is completely a part of that wave; even with its eye-popping central creature, it’s in some way not the silliest film produced by the development. But the surprisingly hefty names concerned, and the truth that it stays so deeply dedicated to its tone—ensuring you know the way improper all of that is, although Pitney Mills’ villainy is crystal clear from the get-go—helps make it a extra memorable entry within the style. Its mutant bear, nonetheless, lifts it excessive, and can stay burnished in your mind ceaselessly.

Wondering the place our RSS feed went? You can choose the brand new one up right here.