The Prophecy (1995)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	93:26
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Gregory Widen
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Christopher Walken Elias Koteas Virginia Madsen Eric Stoltz Viggo Mortensen Amanda Plummer Moriah Shining Dove Snyder Adam Goldberg Steve Hytner J.C. Quinn Emma Shenah Albert Nelson Shawn Nelson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Sebastian Bach Dennis Michael Tenney David C. Williams

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    During a routine murder investigation, ex-Clergyman turned Homicide Detective Thomas Dagget (Elias Koteas) stumbles upon an apocalyptic religious prophecy that could ultimately destroy mankind. For thousands of years, the Arch Angel Gabriel (Christopher Walken), unhappy with God's love of man has rebelled against Heaven and has waged war with the Divine Order to restore his place in God's grace. To achieve this end, Gabriel must find an evil soul that could decide the outcome of the war. The soul in question resides in a recently deceased military man, who committed vile war atrocities during his service. Thomas Dagget, with the help of a Primary School Teacher (Virginia Madsen), must prevent Gabriel from possessing the deceased soul and fulfilling the prophecy.

    The Prophecy is a well made thriller from director and writer Gregory Widen. This film marks the directorial debut of Widen, a successful screen writer whose previous work includes Highlander (1986) and Backdraft (1991). As a director, Widen proves that armed with a very small budget you can deliver an intriguing, visually polished film that delivers on its concept. The story does lack pace in several areas, notably the first third of the film, but delivers enough thrills towards the end to make the journey worthwhile. The acting from the leads is first rate, with Christopher Walken as Gabriel stealing the show. Elias Koteas and Virginia Madsen are engaging as man's would-be saviours. A cameo from Eric Stoltz as Angel Simon rounds out the cast nicely and adds further class to the film.

    The Prophecy was financially successful when released theatrically in 1995 and has spawned two direct to video sequels that are very poor cousins to the entertaining original.

Video

    The Prophecy has been given a pretty flawless transfer in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness levels are excellent with no obtrusive edge enhancement problems. Shadow details are also superb, with a wonderful depth of field and strong black levels. There are no grain or low level noise interference problems.

   Cinematographers Bruce Johnson and Richard Clabaugh make great use of the desert locations and fill the film with a wonderful colour palette, both moody and rich in texture.

    Film artefacts are at an absolute minimum.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The film has been given a solitary English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.

    Dialogue is always clear and is never lost during the more destructive scenes. There were no audio sync problems, except for post changes in ADR.

    The film's music is fairly non-descript, but carries the film well enough and doesn't intrude.

    Surround channel usage is well orchestrated, with the rear channels utilising directional effects appropriately when required. Gun fights and vehicle chases are the most obvious examples of directional sound placement.

    The subwoofer adds the necessary reverberation when needed.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The R4 version of this DVD misses out on;

• Nothing

    The R1 version of this DVD misses out on;

• 16x9 enhancement
• 5.1 audio

    The clear winner is the R4 version.

   The Prophecy is an entertaining thriller with a great performance from Christopher Walken. The disc has a wonderful transfer with absolutely no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall