The Prophecy (1995)

The Prophecy (1995) (see below for preview images)

Directed by Gregory Widen
 
Starring: Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, Viggo Mortensen
 
Ah yes.  The age old story of good versus evil, heaven versus hell, angels versus demons.  This time, the angels are waging war.  Frankly, it’s against the human race AND other angels.  The Arch Angel Gabriel and his band of warrior angels are jealous that God gave humans souls.  It seems he feels all kinds of negative emotions about it like being loved and revered less than the humans, always being sent to do God’s work and not getting the appreciation thought to be deserved, etc.  Gabriel has a REAL problem with all of the love being bestowed upon humankind.  So, he decides the best course of action is to get rid of them…us…humans.
 
So, there’s Gabriel (Walken) and there’s Simon (Stoltz).  These two are in an eternal battle, Gabe trying to kill off the human race and Simon trying to stop him.  There’s also a lapsed Catholic who was once on his way to priesthood and is now a homicide detective.  (Obviously life took a very drastic turn somewhere.)  Then, there is Katherine and Mary.  Mary is a little girl and Katherine is her teacher.  Mary seems to be part of a Native American tribe and goes to school on the reservation (I think) but, Katherine is not overtly Native American so, I don’t know if she is a tribe member or not.
 
Now, Mary finds Simon hanging out in the school building after he got injured in a fight with Gabriel. He quickly transfers a very important soul that he is holding inside himself to Mary before Gabriel dispatches him completely, for this life.  Soon, according to their conversation, it will all cycle through and Simon will be back to fight Gabriel once again.
 
Now that this important soul is inside Mary, Gabriel must find out who she is, where she is and get the soul out of her before our friendly Catholic cop stops him.  To do so, he must not only test his faith but, use it in ways he never would have thought of.
 
THE END
 
Okay, so I know that this film is a total hit with most horror fans and I LOVE Christopher Walken but, this film isn’t going on a favorites list any time soon.  Walken was great and truly the best part of the film. He’s got a few great lines and he’s the classic Walken we all love.  
 
I expected a bunch of religious jargon when I watched this but, I truly just felt overwhelmed and beat about the head with all the religion in this movie.  I personally feel they could have done the same thing with a lot less preaching.  You can still get the whole “fear Gabriel” point across without all the long-windedness. However, if God were to show up I would kind of expect that but, kind of not.  I mean, does he really have to drone on and on?  I mean, He’s God, right?  If he’s all knowing why doesn’t he know a simple way to speak.  The angels talking back and forth, at times, almost sounded like gibberish to me (felt like I was back in church as a kid…ouch).
 
I didn’t hate the movie but, it would not be a first recommendation if someone asked for a good 90s horror movie.  I can think of quite a few that were better.  Nonetheless, I chose this because of Christopher Walken, I watched this because of Christopher Walken and pretty much what I liked, was Christopher Walken.
 
There is also a lot of low talking and whispering that made it very hard to hear and sometimes follow. But it wasn’t all bad.  There were some pretty good fight scenes and like I said, there was some great sarcasm and Walken had some great lines.
 
RATINGS
3/5 Stars