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After you saw this, you wouldn't like to go to heaven!

I liked this film a lot. Christopher Walken was at his best. The story is very original. It's just one of the best films I ever saw!

Walken rocks the Horror World

I may be no saint, but this movie questioned even my faith. I am by no means an active outdoorsman, I am the kind who likes movies and good movies.

Walken, off the red-hot Pulp Fiction, was signed as the lead character, Gabriel, and did one helluva job. I never doubted for a second that the second Prophecy movies would be as bad, but this is the one to see.

Finally, if you doubt me, rent the movie yourself. Thank you

This movie is a complete time suck

I can't believe that I wasted an hour or so of my life watching this god-awful movie. The acting is stilted and the dialogue is complete tripe. I tend to have a "thing" for these kinds of movies but I can't really say anything gracious about this movie. There have been some great concepts and ideas with respect to the legends and myths of the war in heaven. It's just a shame none of them managed to make it into this movie. I know that it was 1995 and Viggo and Christopher Walken have done some great work before and since and I'm clinging to the hope they they lost a bet and had to star in this thing as a "community service" or some other form of penance.

this movie was good, and i don't like religion!

This movie was awesome, it had a great story line, the acting was cool, and the powers given to the angels were inventive. I think it was cool that they took a different perspective in the horror genre. There are not many movies like this one. I do admit there were dumb parts, but the movie was pretty solid. Now, do they really need two more sequels? That we will have to see. (How many times do they need to kill Gabriel?)

Slow down, everybody's dead.

I was in the test audience in one of the original pre-release screenings in Seattle. A friend got me a ticket, and we went together.Well, I'm not a horror-movie freak, but free's free -- and it had Walken in it. I would watch the man in a dog-food commercial.The movie was billed as thoroughly chilling. But very soon, what with the snarky bit characters and the underlying current of grim humor...my friend and I began to giggle. Soon the whole audience was picking up on the grin.This movie is funny. In a sly, wicked way. Watch out for: "Slow down, everybody's dead." We loved this line so much we had t-shirts made. We thought it would be a good thing to keep in mind these days. The coroner who says it is a classic in the tradition of his forerunners in The Big Easy -- and of course, Gillian Anderson in her Pizza Yearning Over The Entrails moment in the X-files.Coroner lines (oh, so many!): "Yeah, you can be impotent AND frigid at the same time." "It must be the teacher's edition." The cop sergeant looking for eyeballs in the radiator grill.Walken's zombies (in Prophecy II: "You kept me alive because you don't do DOS!?"). "My favorite." "Can't drive." And who but Walken could make "HI!" so terrifying and so incredibly funny at the same time? I can never watch the snot-moment.Viggo Mortensen -- you've never seen a man eat a rose-hip with such relish. Knowing how sour and bitter those things are -- and that Viggo actually crunched the thing up in his teeth without grimacing -- well, I was impressed. I'd never seen the actor before, but the soft breathy delivery was spot-on. He sounded as though he'd been breathing too much smoke.His devil lent a lovely commentary to the whole movie. "You think I'm bad? These are the guys who kicked me out! The whole system is rotten: I'm just the B team." Brings in the whole creeping terror of dark monolithic religion.Or, as Elias Koteas says: "You have to ask yourself -- do I ever really want to meet an angel?" And yes I have my own copy.And watch it -- ahem -- religiously.

This movie is good G.O.O.D

I have heard alot of mixed reviews on this movie. Basically the acting is superb. Walken is even more enjoyable than usual(Anyone who has seen more than one of his films knows what I mean). And the movie offers great thoeries on the hoax that is religion. SEE IT!.

Great Movie, BAD ending

Overall, I would have to say that I enjoyed this movie very much, although it did leave quite a bit to be desired in some areas. A Second Angel War in Heaven, the lost chapter in the Bible -- excellent ideas, but the movie didn't use their full potential. And the ENDING?!?! Come on. I almost barfed. I haven't seen an ending like that since the theater version of Bladerunner. You can almost see them saying, "Well, the ending is really great, but the mindless American crowds can't think for themselves, so we gotta TELL them what the consequences would be, rather than just leave it to their own interpretation." Don't get me wrong. Like I said, I do enjoy the movie. I just stop the tape five minutes before the movie ends.

This movie was great

How can you not like this movie! The premise of a second angel war in Heaven, Christopher Walken as the Arch-Angel Gabriel and Satan helping man to save his Hell. This movie kicked!

This is a pretty good horror movie. Some negative user comments are misleading

I just want to react to the user's comment that calls the movie BAD, and to other than one can access at the top of the comments as of 5/2000. Admittedly it is not a masterpiece, but it is scary and works fine for a genre picture. The story has a solid theological background and a very original spin to it. Walken is superb, one can only regret he will be cast forever in such roles. If you don't like gore this is not for you, if you feel any interpretation of the bible that portrays a war between evil and good angels is heretic, then you don't know what art is.

Walken is a true Master!!

A friend rented this in college and, being a "cult-movie" freak, I knew I had to watch. I was addicted. In a time when our cherrubic views are closer to "Touched by an Angel" and Clarence from "It's a wonderful life", it's a nice change to see the true nature of these creatures. Walken is excellent, Mortensen is the best Lucifer I've seen, and the rest of the cast only accentuates the film. Definately a must-see for any film lover.

Great Chris Walken flick

You should love this film, if for no other reason than because Leonard Maltin (a man who would not know a good horror movie if it hit him in the face) didn't get it. Christopher Walken and Eric Stoltz are perfect in their parts, and the other main actors do fine as well. The script is terrific, with a nice edge to it expressed especially well in the cutting humor throughout the movie. This film even has spawned bigger-budget imitators... like the inferior FALLEN, the Denzel Washington offering from 1998. It bugs me to see people praising that film for being so original when THE PROPHECY came out three years earlier. Oh well.Although I am not a religious person, I enjoyed the theme of this film. The angels and mortals involved are interesting characters because none of them are either completely good or completely bad... not even Lucifer. It makes some interesting commentary on the concepts of heaven and hell which I suspect may offend some Christians, but nothing is done in bad taste. Well, not TOO bad anyway.The look and feel of this movie was terrific. The desert/southwest setting has been used in some other horror movies recently to interesting effect (see John Carpenter's VAMPIRES for one). The harsh landscape and sparse population make for a sort of apocalyptic mood, which of course is entirely appropriate here.9/10. A solid, underappreciated film with a creative, coherent story and something to say.

Impressive, given the topic

A lot of people are bound to find this film offensive, or will hate it because it touches on delicate subjects. But, if you can get past the initial shock of things like impaled angels and stuff, then there is a wonderful film underneath. Perhaps some of the subjects are unnecessary, (paedophilia, Hitler), but they are mostly dealt with in good taste and are well justified. Christopher Walken is, as always, a treat to watch, and the part of Gabriel was almost certainly written for him. Eric Stoltz is equally amazing, although the character gets killed off far too early in the film. Oh, and casting Elias Koteas in the lead role was a stroke of pure genius. The making of this movie took nearly three years because of budgeting problems and other assorted obstacles, but it is hard to notice in the finished article. The narrative is good, the characters solid and the overall atmosphere is almost blinding. In my opinion, however, the film suffers slightly from the director. They should have gotten either Alex Proyas for the mood, or Michael Bay for his sheer brilliance.

Great film - heavy spiritual message.

I had to override the "B.A.D." comment. This film is only "Bad" in the "cool" sense of the word. Recognizing the battle between good and evil in this film makes it a must for those on a spiritual journey. One need not be Christian to feel the vibes of the eternal God vs. Satan message in this great film. Chris Walken does an excellent job as the evil(?) angel Gabriel. See Prophecy 2 for a beautiful surprise ending.

Good Film

First of all, I want to make it perfectly clear that I like this film to a certain degree, but even with films I like there are still minor problems. Here's a list...- Film is too short - All the actors have American accents prompting the question, 'Are Angels American?' - Elias Koteas is too wooden in this role - Amanda Plummer is underused - What is the point of Adam Goldberg's character? - Viggo Mortensen in one of his worst roles - Virginia Madsen doesn't deliver the goods in her post-'Candyman' role - Christopher Walken is more comic-book scary than 'I am the Angel of Death, behold my flaming sword which destroys nations'-scary - The character study of Col. Hawthorne doesn't have much depth - The death of Uziel, why would a car be driving 70mph+, without stopping, down a dead-end alleyway? - Why would the Sioux Indians play a part in the exorcism of Mary's evil spirit when the spirit itself isn't of Sioux origin? - The relationship between Simon and Mary, and the questions about their relationship, aren't very realistic - The dialogue and exposition is some of the worst I've ever seen, lots of plot holes, essentially - The score plays a much too prominent role - The film clearly takes its premise from 'The Paradise Lost' by John Milton yet never makes reference of this - It was made into a franchise Apart from these problems, the film itself isn't that bad and the idea of the film is quite good and original. Not many films draw attention to the idea that was set about in 'The Paradise Lost', about how the Christian God cast out the angels because they were jealous of his devotion to the creation of mankind. As I mentioned, one of the problems with this film is that it never says in the titles or in the credits that it was an interpretation of John Milton's literary masterpiece yet it is clear that the film takes influence from it. Without 'The Paradise Lost', this film wouldn't exist, and I think the filmmakers are in the wrong for not making light of this. The visuals are quite good and the matte paintings are beautiful, the production and sound is also quite good, and some of the sequences (the dying angels particularly) are hauntingly astonishing. A sequence that sticks out in my mind is the death of the angel Uziel, and the following set-piece (an autopsy), something which is truly horrific, though this itself is not without film-making error.I am quite harsh on Viggo Mortensen by saying this is one of his worst roles - his role as Lucifer is actually quite good but not without fault. As with Christopher Walken's character, Viggo plays Lucifer in a more comic-book villain way as opposed to a deeply horrendous and truly scary way, something which you would expect of such a noteworthy villain. My interpretation of Satan would be cold, he would be calculated and he would be meticulous, he wouldn't be pro-active, he wouldn't be running around like a maniac, his words would do far more damage than his physical actions, which is why half of his performance is quite good, particularly the 'introduction of Lucifer' sequence where he says 'I can lay you out and fill your mouth with your mother's faeces or we can talk' to Virginia Madsen who plays Catherine. Obviously, given such a script, Viggo has little to work with so it's not entirely his fault.The film also features Eric Stoltz in one of his better performances, slightly more subdued than what you'd usually see him as (take 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Killing Zoe' for example), playing the good angel Simon. The role also required Eric to kiss passionately both a grown man and a small, female child, something which you wouldn't see Tom Cruise or any other A-list mega-star doing in the future, but don't let these two things shroud the other noteworthy performances that Eric makes in this film.The main problem with this film, I find, is the character study of Col. Hawthorne. What we learn about Hawthorne is that he was a Colonel during the Korean War and that he was responsible for various inhumane acts of cruelty against the Koreans in the town of Chozin, but we never go into depth with this. We also learn that the same spirit that possessed Hawthorne has been transported via Simon into Mary, but we never learn that much about the spirit. What would have made this film all the more interesting is if we'd have had a full analysis of Hawthorne's presence and the significance he plays in the war between the rogue angels and the humans. After all, we see in Thomas' dream Hawthorne standing behind Mary, why? This is never really explained and the story leaves a very large plot-hole that goes unsolved.But anyway, overall I'd say this film is not bad and it's worth watching if you have and hour and thirty minutes to spare.5 out of 10

One of my favorites

I have the trilogy on VHS of this and just today decided to upgrade and bought the individual DVDs of this series.


The three movies are great entertainment (the first being my favorite - Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer is just totally creepy and to go from Lucifer to the King of Middle Earth is quite a feat). Christopher Walken is wonderful in his role as Garbiel. I personally was a fan of a book called "To Rein in Hell" a great Fantasy novel but is very similar to this movie in its content of how some angels are just unhappy with their situation in heaven. This movie and its sequels do capture the overall frustration of the angels and the helplessness of the humans in their wake. If you only see one of the three I do recommend at least seeing the first one to get the true flavor.

Incredibly bad movie gets uplifted by its performances.

In all fairness, this is one totally bad straight-to-video looking B-flick, that gets only made worthwhile by its amazing cast and performances.This movie is a good example of how not to tell a story. Halve way through the movie we still have no idea of what's going on and what the main plot line is and who wants what. And while the first halve of the movie focuses mainly on Elias Koteas, the second halve is all about Christopher Walken, Christopher Walken and Christopher Walken. Not that I mind though, it just makes the storytelling pretty incoherent.On top of that it's not like the story itself is also actually much special. Like I said, it takes too long for things to finally really start off and when it does it's just mostly disappointing. I mean, it's about the second battle in heaven but yet all we get to see is Christopher Walken against occasionally a different angel. You can say that this movie is a bit of a lackluster.All the more reason why this is obviously a B-movie. Also thing with this movie is, is that it's really made as a B-movie, so with bad and predictable editing and camera-work. And director Gregory Widen must have really counted his blessings when he learned that all those fine actors agreed to appear in this movie, since he himself obviously is not the most talented director around.So the movie gets only mainly purely uplifted by its actors. I just can't believe how many fine actors there are in this movie. This is of course one big fun role from Christoper Walken, who plays the fallen angel Gabriel. It's a delicious fun villainous role, with which he obviously can go over the top with at times. I'm not really accustomed to seeing Elias Koteas play a big role but he is a capable actors so he definitely pulls it off alright. Besides that the movie also features Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, Viggo Mortensen, Amanda Plummer and Adam Goldberg. What a cast list! Although yes it's true that most of them at the time were still fairly much unknown actors but that doesn't make them any less good to watch in this movie.I can't really say that the "The Prophecy" is a recommendable movie, although when you watch it you'll probably enjoy it for its acting. I can't believe they made 4 more sequels for this movie!5/10

One of the best!

One of the best movies I've seen. Elias Koteas stars as Tom Daggett, a former deacon in the Catholic Church who lost his faith on the day of his ordaining. He is now a police officer, investigating the murder of an angel. He learns of a war in heaven, being fought because some angels resented the fact that God loved humans more than they. These angels are led by the archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken), and their goal is to destroy the human race. Now he must stop them before they fulfill a prophecy that would mean the destruction of the human race.

** out of ****

This movie was boring. Sure, it had a few clever moments such as when Gabriel had the little kids playing the trumpet to see if any of them had that guy's soul in them, but the movie couldn't hold my attention. It just wasn't interesting. Slow moving, uninspired film that was a surprisingly bad waste of time.

Thin line

There is a thin line between exploring new fields, and simple trash. "The prophecy" is moving on this line, and it doesn't decide itself for none of both sides. It isn't trash because of the interesting theological question (how can we love god if he is absent?) and the strong appearance of Christopher Walken and Viggo Mortensen; it isn't convincing either because of the non-development of the supposed main character, the unsatisfying end and the absolutely not convincing nexus between celestial and secular business.

The War In Heaven Is No Joke!!

This movie is phat! Jealous angels wanting to get rid of humans and the faithful ones stayed by the Lords side to stop them. It was cool for Lucifer to jump in because Cool Chris tried to get evil on us. That's Lucifer department. This is a good movie and everyone should check it out.