Customer Reviews

The Prophet's Game

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Prophet's Game has a unique plot with lots of action. The ending however could have been better. The game itself involves a game master (the killer) giving out obscure clues to all of the players. The players attempt to find out what dead celebrity the clues are referring so they can stay in the game. Eventually it is discovered by one of the players that some of the dead celebrities were not dead when the clue was given to them.

The method of operation turns out be a copycat of a serial killer in Seattle, who now-retired police detective Swan (Dennis Hopper) supposedly solved by killing the culprit. The killer lures Swan back into the mix with postacards and phone calls. Swan decides to help the LA police who definately do not want his help.

The movie spirals into a personal conflict between Swan and the Killer and several celebrities die along the way. The confrontation scene in the end is OK. The identity of the killer will suprise you, but the killer's final masterpiece has been done is several movies.

Overall I gave the movie 3 stars for originality and good performances by Dennis Hopper and Joe Penny (yes, from Jake and the Fatman) as Walter Motter (the person in charge of the police investigation). The other performances are pretty bland and cinematography is obviously low-budget. I would suggest renting the movie first unless you're a big Hopper fan.

The world seems to be separated into two groups of people.... those who like Dennis Hopper and those who don't. I am from the former rather than the latter so whenever he turns up in something new in theaters or on DVD, I check it out. Prophet's game, for some reason, is one movie that I didn't know about in its original release. If we are to believe there are as many serial killers out there as hollywood wishes for us to believe, society as a whole is in trouble. Sick of the serial killer movies as I am, I must say that Prophet's game is a very taut and well done movie overall, and that's great considering it was a straight to DVD release. Direction is good and the acting is also good, but the story could have used one more rewrite before going celluloid. Thats not to say the writing is bad, but some dialogue is questionable as is the case with many low budget films. Predictability wise, even fans of the genre will be surprised with the ending as it didn't end the way I predicted, and that alone almost merits another star in the rating. The reason I find it difficult to tack on one more star is the lack of star power other than Dennis Hopper. He really is a terrific everyman actor who deserves at least 1 more similar high caliber actor to play off of. I suppose though that I should be happy that Hopper is part of the cast at all as nowadays many of these features are hitting the video store shelves with nothing but no namers. Indeed, without Hopper, Prophet's game might have been a completely dismissable film, but with his charisma, it is elevated to a higher level, so kudos to the filmmakers for recognizing their movie needed Hopper. If you're not completely worn out from too many serial killer movies, go ahead and test run Prophet's game. Its a good thriller to use as a follow up to Seven or Kiss the Girls or Along came a spider or Saw or Bone Collector or Jill the Ripper or.....

The movie starts with a 1969 flashback before the credits. Any horror mystery watcher worth their salt know who the killer is before the credits is over. It is just a matter of figuring out which person that is years later. 10 minutes into the movie, you should know why they are killing. It is just that predictable.

Knife stabs- When you play the Psycho sound track and make cartoonish squishy sounds with each plunge are we to assume this is a comedy?

The killer sends Dennis Hopper a post card and calls him at home. Apparently the killer knows him. He gives Hopper the first clue..."I'll leave the light on for you." Immediately our minds race...Is it Tom Bodett?

There is an Internet game being played called the Prophet Game, based on kid's game I was not aware existed. The game consists of riddles and players are pitted against each other. Patrick Thomas, an admirer of Curly plays a character reminiscent of the more disgusting Curly Joe.

Dennis Hopper plays Swan a retired detective who is helping the LAPD find the copy cat serial killer who kidnaps the losers in the game and kills them along with celebrities. Overly predictable. The clues apply to fictional characters the audience doesn't know so you can't play along.

Brief Nudity (Zoe the stripper) no sex, no f-bombs

A fairly good suspense film, even a thriller, with a serial killer who comes back after having died on the scene of his last or latest crime. And he gets into a new series. We know from the very start who the killer or killers is or are. But we will only understand that very beginning at the end. It is a game among anonymous people with enigmas and riddles that prophesies the next victim. If you want the next victim to be saved you have to give the solution to the latest riddle you received. Of course the game is rigged. The killer gets some guarantee by menacing the players with some reprisal on some close relatives or friends. Of course the object of the game is to bring the cop who put an end to the first series of serial killings into the game to get some kind of vengeance. It's well done and it shoots in all directions with a few elements that will not get explained here and there. The riddles are obscure and the explanations are too quick for us to wonder what it really means and how they manage to get the solutions. We can also wonder how this killer can single-handedly kidnap or abduct an adult. But I guess everything has to remain slightly mysterious. The happy ending is of course very optimistic. The killer could have done a lot more damage if the end had not been too vain and had only considered vengeance. That killer being insane, definitely schizophrenic, does not explain why in the last moments of the adventure criminal reason departs and vanity takes over. But that's good entertainment.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

The Digiview Version of this title, all be it inexpensive, is an edited version. This decent "B" Title has been chopped to remove the nudity for this cheap DVD release.