Prophecy

A log company’s waste mutates the environment, creating a giant killer bear-monster.

• Director: Gregory Widen
• Genre:Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
• Runtime:97 minutes

Cast

Talia Shire : Maggie Verne
Robert Foxworth : Dr. Robert Verne
Armand Assante : John Hawks
Richard Dysart : Isley
Victoria Racimo : Ramona Hawks

Tracking two lost lumberjacks through the night, a rescue team nearly follows the trail over a cliff. One of the hounds is attacked and the team abseil down to investigate. There they are attacked and killed by a ferocious beast.

Dr Robert Verne (Robert Foxworth) is fed up with dealing with the squalor of city tenements. He does not feel he is making a difference. He accepts a job from the Environmental Protection Agency to write a report on a logging operation near Androscoggin in Maine. The loggers are in dispute with the local American Indians who are the Opies (O.P.s), the original people.

Dr Verne’s wife Maggie (Talia Shire) accompanies him on the trip. She is pregnant but is apprehensive to tell her husband as he is set against having children. When they fly in, they meet a man, Travis Nelson (Burke Byrnes) and his two children Paul and Kathleen who are embarking on a trek into the wilderness. They also meet Bethel Isely (Richard A. Dysart), the director of the paper mill, who is to be their host. He tells them about his missing rescue team and lays the blame at the feet of the Opies. They have their own explanation: Katahdin, a vengeful spirit of the forest that has been awakened by the activities of the loggers. Isely describes Katahdin as “larger than a dragon with the eyes of a cat”.

As Isely drives the couple to their cabin, their path is barred by a party of Opies. They refuse to let Isely’s people pass and a fight ensues between the leader of the Opies John Hawks (Armand Assante) and Kelso (Everett Creach), one of Isely’s heavies. The heavy is armed with a chainsaw while Hawks has only a broadaxe. The scuffle ends with Hawks laid on the ground with the chainsaw at his throat. The Opies relent and let the cars pass. Verne and Maggie are visibly shocked by the incident.

While fishing, Verne sees a huge salmon devour a duck. Later, after he and Maggie have eaten his catch, they are attacked in their cabin by a deranged raccoon. Verne kills it and sends a tissue sample to be tested. Read more