The Prophecy movie storyline. “Some people lose their faith because Heaven shows them too little,” says Thomas Daggett. “But how many people lose their faith because Heaven showed them too much?” Daggett nearly became a priest; now he’s a cop. He may want to put religion behind him, but one morning a weird, eyeless, hermaphroditic corpse turns up.
Suddenly he is on a path that will put him right in the middle of a war in Heaven. And once again, Heaven will show him too much: gore, blood, charred flesh, living corpses and much worse. Even more central to the heavenly war effort is a young girl. This American Indian child has something Gabriel wants. And Gabriel is willing to kill her and anyone in his path – or even reanimate a corpse or two – to get it.
The Prophecy is a 1995 American fantasy horror-thriller film starring Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. It was written and directed by Gregory Widen, and is the first motion picture of The Prophecy series including four sequels. The film tells the story of the Archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) and his search for an evil soul on Earth, and a police detective (Elias Koteas) who unknowingly becomes caught in the middle of an angelic civil war.
About the Story
Thomas Dagget, a Catholic seminary student, loses his faith when he sees disturbing visions of a war between angels. Years later, Thomas is a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Two angels fall to Earth: one, Simon, enters Thomas’ home and warns him of coming events, before disappearing. The second, Uziel, a lieutenant of the angel Gabriel, is killed in an altercation with Simon.
Investigating the disturbance, Thomas finds in Simon’s apartment the obituary of a recently deceased Korean War veteran named Colonel Arnold Hawthorne and the theology thesis about angels which Thomas himself wrote in seminary. Meanwhile, in Chimney Rock, Arizona, Simon finds the dead veteran awaiting burial and sucks the evil soul out of the body.
The medical examiner informs Thomas that Uziel’s body is like nothing he has seen before: it has no eyes, no signs of bone growth, hermaphroditism, and the same blood chemistry as an aborted fetus. Among the personal effects found on the body is an ancient, hand-written Bible, which includes an extra chapter of the Book of Revelation that describes a second war in heaven and prophecy that a “dark soul” will be found on Earth and used as a weapon.
Unknown to Thomas, Gabriel arrives on Earth. Needing a human helper, Gabriel catches Jerry, a suicide, in the moment of his death and keeps him in a state of limbo. Unhappily dominated by Gabriel, Jerry retrieves Uziel’s belongings from the police station while Gabriel destroys Uziel’s body in the morgue. After finding Hawthorne’s obituary, Gabriel and Jerry head for Chimney Rock. Before Gabriel arrives, at the local reservation school Simon hides Hawthorne’s soul in a little Native American girl, Mary, who immediately falls ill and is taken care of by her teacher, Katherine.
After finding Uziel’s burnt body, all evidence of its oddity now lost, Thomas hurries to Chimney Rock. When Gabriel realizes Hawthorne’s soul is missing, he confronts Simon. Gabriel says Hawthorne’s soul will tip the balance to whichever side possesses it. Should the rebellious angels win, Heaven will become like Hell with earth in its thrall. Simon refuses to reveal its location, and Gabriel kills him, ripping out his heart.
Mary shows signs of possession by the evil soul; she suddenly recounts an incident from Hawthorne’s harrowing war experiences in first-person perspective. Meanwhile, Thomas examines Simon’s remains and questions Katherine. In Hawthorne’s home, he finds evidence of war crimes. Thomas visits a church to reflect and is shaken by a verbal confrontation with Gabriel. He is beginning to understand the nature of the jealous angels who hate humans because God loves them most.
At school, Katherine finds Gabriel questioning the children. After he leaves, she rushes to Mary’s home and finds Thomas there. As Mary’s condition worsens, Katherine takes Thomas to an abandoned mine where she had seen Gabriel. Inside, they find angelic script and experience together a terrible vision of the angelic war.
They rush back to Mary’s home, only to find Gabriel and Jerry there. Thomas kills Jerry, who thanks him for the release. Katherine stops Gabriel temporarily when her wild gunshot misses him and blows up Mary’s trailer home. The three protagonists flee to a Native American site where Mary can be exorcised. In a hospital ICU ward, Gabriel recruits a new unwilling assistant, Rachel, just as she dies of a terminal illness. He needs her because he doesn’t know how to drive.
The Prophecy (1995)
Directed by: Gregory Widen
Starring: Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, Amanda Plummer, Viggo Mortensen, Moriah ‘Shining Dove’ Snyder, Adam Goldberg, Emma Shenah
Screenplay by: Gregory Widen
Production Design by: Clark Hunter
Cinematography by: Richard Clabaugh, photography, Bruce Douglas Johnson
Film Editing by: Sonny Baskin
Costume Design by: Dana Allyson
Set Decoration by: Michele Spadaro
Music by: David C. Williams
MPAA Rating: R for violence and gore, and for some language.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: September 1, 1995
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