The Prophecy (franchise)

The Prophecy film series
Theatrical release poster of the first film of the series
Directed by	Gregory Widen Greg Spence Patrick Lussier Joel Soisson
Produced by	Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein Gregory Widen Robert Little Matt Greenberg Joel Soisson W.K. Border
Written by	Gregory Widen Matt Greenberg Greg Spence Carl V. Dupré Joel Soisson John Sullivan
Starring	Christopher Walken Elias Koteas Virginia Madsen Viggo Mortensen Jennifer Beals Brittany Murphy Eric Roberts Vincent Spano Kari Wuhrer John Light Sean Pertwee Doug Bradley Jason Scott Lee Tony Todd
Distributed by	Buena Vista Home Video Dimension Films
Release date	1995–2005
Country	United States
Language	English

The Prophecy is an American fantasy horror-thriller film franchise, which focuses on Angels fighting each other to protect the survival of the human race on Earth. Produced by Dimension Film, the series was established in 1995 with eponymous first installment, The Prophecy, which has since been followed by four sequels. In 2005, its latest sequel The Prophecy: Forsaken was released on DVD.

The first of what became a series of films, The Prophecy was directed and written by Gregory Widen. The Archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) searches for an evil soul on Earth, while another angel named Simon (Eric Stoltz) warns Detective Thomas Dagget (Elias Koteas) of coming events, before disappearing. Gabriel’s second-in-command, Uziel (Jeff Cadiente), tracks Simon down and attempts to kill him, but Simon kills him instead.

Investigating the disturbance, Thomas goes to Simon's apartment and finds an obituary for a recently deceased Korean War veteran, Colonel Arnold Hawthorne, clipped from a newspaper in Chimney Rock, Arizona. More puzzling, Thomas finds a copy of a theology text that he himself wrote years ago. In Chimney Rock, Simon, who is badly wounded after his fight with Uziel, finds the veteran and removes the soul from the body, and in desperation to hide, he passes it on to a small schoolgirl, Mary (Moriah Shining Dove Snyder) whom he befriends. Mary immediately falls ill, and is cared for by her teacher, Katherine (Virginia Madsen).

Gabriel later finds Simon and kills him by ripping his heart out, after discovering that he does not have the soul. The police detective and the teacher unknowingly become caught in the middle of an angelic war. As the film progresses, Katherine is confronted by Lucifer (Viggo Mortensen), who tells her that since the creation of man, no soul has been allowed to enter Heaven due to the war waged by Gabriel. He knows that if Gabriel wins, Heaven will ultimately devolve into another Hell, and that doesn't sit well with him because it is "one Hell too many". The next day, Lucifer appears to Thomas, telling him about the nature of Hell, and then advises him to use Gabriel's lack of faith as a weapon against him. When Gabriel arrives, Thomas questions him about his true motives for starting the war. Gabriel reveals that God no longer speaks to him. The angel attempts to disrupt the Native American ritual, but is stopped by Thomas, who runs over Gabriel with a truck, then beats him with a tire iron.