You know a monster
movie has delusions of politically correct grandeur when the male lead
is a beardy white doctor who dashes into ghetto slums
to save poor black babies, and his wife is a sensitive cellist who is
afraid to tell him she’s pregnant because, gosh darn it, he’s
just so dedicated to his work.
The doctor in question is one Robert Verne, and he’s distracted
from the task of saving poor ghetto kids by a friend from the Environmental
Protection Agency. His friend thinks Robert is the perfect guy to head
to the forests of Maine where a conflict is brewing between the native
Indian tribe and the logging company that owns a paper mill smack bang
in the middle of their land. All other legal attempts have failed, so
now the Indians are trying to prove that the mill is polluting the river.
Quite why a random medical doctor is deemed the right guy for this job
as opposed to, say, one of the many professional environmental biologists
employed by the EPA is a mystery for another day, as Dr Verne swiftly
heads to the wilds of Maine, and takes his brooding cellist wife, Maggie,
with him. The character of Maggie comes courtesy of Talia Shire, sister
of Francis Ford Coppola, aunt of Nicolas Cage and mother of Jason Schwartzman.
While her name may not ring bells immediately, you’ll already know
who she is thanks to an iconic bellow of slurred vindication from Sylvester
Stallone. Yes, Talia Shire was Adrian (or “Ay-dwee-em” in
Stallonese) in the Rocky movies, as well as Connie in The Godfather trilogy.
Thus, by the time she signed on for Prophecy, she’d already been
Oscar nominated. Twice.
This impressive achievement is undermined somewhat by the fact that Prophecy
is, when all is said and done, a movie about a 10-foot tall mutant bear,
and no amount of earnest hooey about Indians or the environment can change
that.
It turns out that the logs the mill uses to create its paper pulp are
treated with mercury to protect them as they float down river to be processed
and over the decades this chemical pollutant has had a terrible effect
on the local fauna. The mercury has infected the whole food chain, and
this causes no small amount of distress for Maggie, as she’s eaten
the local fish and the mercury molecules could very well be turning her
unborn child into a mutant in her womb.
Meanwhile, Dr Verne continues his haphazard investigation, with a giant
salmon and a tadpole the size of a small dog (yes, really) as the first
signs that something is badly amiss. It’s the fate of a family
on a camping holiday that kicks the threat into high gear though. They’re
ripped to shreds as they flop around in their sleeping bags in a scene
that is probably meant to be more tragic than hilarious, but the sight
of a teenage girl zipped up in a bright yellow sleeping bag, hopping
away from a man in a large rubbery mutant bear costume before exploding
in a flurry of feathers and stuffing, spoils the sombre mood a tad.
Heading to the site of the deaths the next day, Dr Verne and company
discover two mewling rubbery mutant bear cubs and decide that this
is the evidence they need. Of course, this act of baby snatching
attracts
the attention of the mutated mummy bear and she stalks the humans through
the woods, making mincemeat of the disposable supporting characters
along the way. The final showdown takes place at the Verne’s
cabin, which is swiftly reduced to splinters by the beast.
Shotgun blasts have no
effect, nor do arrows. Eventually, scooped up in the monster’s
claws, Dr Verne calls on all his medical expertise and knowledge of
anatomy to scream like a girl while stabbing the bear repeatedly in
the face.
The beast tumbles into the river, and the good doctor jumps in after
it, planting another couple of good stabs in the unconvincing furry
carcass before it sinks forever.
And what of Maggie’s potentially mutated baby? Um…we never
find out. That’s just one of many seemingly important unresolved
questions – such as why the film is called Prophecy in the first
place - left blowing in the breeze to make room for more rubber monster
nonsense.
Need to know: Prophecy was directed by John Frankenheimer, who also
helmed the original Manchurian Candidate, The French Connection II
and the superior
De Niro thriller, Ronin. He did, however, have another close encounter
with woeful wildlife horror in the 1996 howler, The Island of Dr Moreau
(see: David Thewlis). Frankenheimer’s Prophecy shouldn’t
be confused with the 1995 religious horror, The Prophecy (see: Viggo
Mortensen).
Honourable mention: Talia Shire also had a smallish role as Nurse Cora
in the Lovecraft adaptation, The Dunwich Horror, in 1970. Produced
by Roger Corman, it starred Quantum Leap’s Dean Stockwell as
a half-demon who kidnaps Sandra Dee and forces her to take part in
his evil rituals.
The Dunwich Horror also marked the first screen credit for screenwriter
Curtis Hanson, who would later write and direct the 1997 Russell Crowe
hit, L.A. Confidential, for which he took home an Oscar.
