Mother Nature chomps back in director John Frankenheimer's stab at horror with PROPHECY, on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Frustrated with the futility of working as a health officer in the ghettos, Rob (Robert Foxworth, DAMIEN: OMEN II) takes an assignment in Maine with the Environmental Protection Agency who hope to break a stalemate between a local Native American population and a paper company over a hundred thousand acres of forest. The paper mill tries to ingratiate themselves to Rob and his wife Maggie (Talia Shire, WINDOWS) by furnishing them with a car and a house on the lake but the couple also witness a violent confrontation between safety officer Isley's (Robert Dysart, THE THING) men and a Native American blockade lead by highly-educated John Hawks (Armand Assante, LITTLE DARLINGS) and his girlfriend Ramona (Victoria Racimo, DAY OF THE DOLPHIN). Despite village elder M'Rai (George Clutesi, NIGHTWING) claim that their land is the Garden of Eden, Rob realizes that something is very wrong when he observes duck-eating giant salmon, squirrel-sized tadpoles, and murderous raccoons; and he suspects it has something to do with the mill's chemical usage despite tests coming up negative. Something bigger is lurking in the woods and it has already claimed a number of lumberjacks and a search party sent out to find them: is it a hideous mutant or the god Katahdin, a dragon with cat's eyes that the local lore believes will arise to protect its people.

Scripted by THE OMEN's David Seltzer and helmed by action man Frankenheimer, PROPHECY is really no more polished in story, ecological concerns, its treatment of Native American mysticism, or exploitation elements than the lower budget but it benefits from strong performances and an eclectic cast from Assante miscast but persevering to Dysart as the company man believably shaken when discovering the truth. Production values are also high with striking photography of Vancouver standing in for Maine, dynamic staging of the film's action sequences, some stunning Panavision compositions by Harry Stradling Jr. (DAMNATION ALLEY) – particularly in the scene of the survivors of the massacre sheltering underground composed in depth with layers of actors between the background and foreground – and effective scoring by Leonard Rosenman (THE CAR). The gore effects of Tom Bruman (CAT PEOPLE) are suitably grisly and the mutant bear cub puppets are truly disturbing. Mama bear, on the other hand, just looks like scarred by nuclear waste rather than embodying the chimeric qualities of both the Indian god and the possibilities aroused in the imagination in Foxworth's expository dialogue about mercury poisoning's potential to freeze or retard the development at the fetus at different stages of evolution. The use of a mime and a seven foot man in a suit is also a failure, making the running beast seem more balletic than hulking when seen in full body (a bit involving a sleeping bag meant to demonstrate the velocity of the monster's claw swipes is more comical than horrific). Although Frankenheimer does drama and action well, he demonstrates no more affinity for horror here than when he took over THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU after Richard Stanley (DUST DEVIL) was forced out. It would also be nearly two decades before Seltzer did another horror screenplay with the derivative THE EIGHTEENTH ANGEL.

Released to panned-and-scanned VHS by Paramount in 1980, PROPHECY had little love even when Paramount started bringing their catalogue titles to DVD with a barebones but anamorphic widescreen edition in 2002 and an identical edition with a different cover in 2013. Scream Factory's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray utilizes the newish HD master that popped up on streaming venues a couple years ago. Colors are vibrant in the scenery, bloodshed, and wardrobe, grain has been retained in the night scenes and dark interiors, and the detail in the rustic settings, close-ups of performers, and the bear cubs suggests that it was the filmmakers' choice not to capture the mama bear monster as crisply. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0-encoded Dolby Stereo track is effective in delivering dialogue and music while the sound design seems deceptively sedate but coming to life in busier scenes and attack sequences. Optional English SDH subtitles are also included.

Samuelson Studios has lined up some fine extras even though this is not one of Scream Factory's collector's editions. In "All of Our Sins" (18:59), actress Shire recalls being asked by Frankenheimer to do the film when they met by chance at a television studio, and that she admired him from his years directing live television. She reflects on the ecological issues raised in the script, the exertions of location shooting, and her memories of her co-stars. In "Bearing Up" (10:02), actor Foxworth also recalls being asked by Frankenheimer to take a role in the film without an audition or communication through his agent, and shooting on location in Vancouver and farther out in the middle of nowhere. Unlike Shire, he finds that the monster was underdeveloped and hard to take seriously, suggesting that the city scenes worked better because Frankenheimer was more comfortable with human drama. In "Bear and Grin It" (13:13), screenwriter Seltzer reveals that Frankenheimer contacted him wanting to make a horror movie but with no idea what it was to be about. Seltzter took inspiration from the woods around his Maine cottage, ruminations on the mystery of pregnancy, forestry concerns, the witting and unwitting poisoning of the environment, and the effect the novel version of ROSEMARY'S BABY had on him. While Frankenheimer was enthusiastic about his involvement on location, Seltzer failed to see any of that realized on film including a lack of chemistry between the actors, and being particularly disappointed by the monster ("a very tall ballet dancer in a bear suit") and Frankenhiemer claiming that it will be made scary by "freaked out angles."

In "Hard to Bear" (19:34), special make-up effects designer Burman notes that the company he co-founded with John Chambers (DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK) initially was a cover for designing disguises for the CIA, and that he had worked with Frankenheimer on BLACK SUNDAY before PROPHECY (although Frankenheimer had approached Rick Baker and Stan Winston before him). He recalls the laughable original creature design, coming up with the "pizza bear" version (a full suit version was built by Jack Shafton when Frankeheimer came up with the idea to have the monster walk through the lake during the climax), and suit actors Tom McLoughlin (who hired Burman for his later directorial debut ONE DARK NIGHT) – who did all of the suit work requiring articulation of the mechanics – and former basketball player Kevin Peter Hall (PREDATOR 2) who wore the other non-articulated suit. In "Prophecy Prodigy" (21:14), special make-up effects artist Allan Apone (DEADLY EYES) recalls getting an interview with Burman through the artist's nephew, being the least experienced of the crew during PROPHECY where he picked up a lot of techniques by doing them, including molding and sending pieces up to Canada during the location shoot, and helping articulate the bear during the studio scenes. He comments on Frankenheimer's lack of connection with the material including looking away during the shooting of the death scenes.