Search - The Prophet's Game on DVD

Dennis Hopper suspense/action thriller with an original plot

05/29/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Decent Hopper thriller

David M. Rossi | 07/04/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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.....

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Even the Prophet can be wrong

Jacques COULARDEAU | OLLIERGUES France | 07/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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

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Moar liek "The Prophet's Lame," amirite?

Robert Buchanan | Wisconsin | 05/06/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"A novel premise and clever plot are sacrificed on the altar of the direct-to-video phenomenon in this otherwise embarrassing feature. In a hopelessly clichéd role as a troubled detective, Hopper investigates a serial murderer who provides clues to the identities of future victims via an online trivia game. Horribly shot, edited and scored, this movie's few assets are squandered by entirely incompetent execution. The film's performances don't help to alleviate its innumerable flaws; Hopper aside, the rest of the cast are well-nigh unwatchable. Unforgivably miscast, Zimbalist - of all people - struggles and fails to play an Italian with dyed black hair, an intermittent and atrocious excuse for a Brooklyn accent and the ridiculous name of Aldobrandi. Although the plot seems almost ingenious to a layman like me, murder mystery enthusiasts will probably find it as derivative as the stylistic plagiarization that's prominent throughout the film.



Those who choose to watch this (probably fans of Hopper, who are likely to pity him) might want to keep an eye open for an impressively inept performance by Patrick Swayze's younger brother, Don, as a god-fearing, child-abusing father. Not only does he strongly resemble his famous sibling, he gnaws the scenery with a rare ferocity.



Those who have viewed other Digiview budget discs will be familiar with the presentation of this one: 1.33:1 aspect ratio, six video thumbnails for scene selection and a "preview" video that shows numerous scenes from other titles in the Digiview catalog. Although the print from which this edition was sourced is a very gritty one, the video quality is quite good by Digiview standards; the compression artifacts of this disc aren't absent, but they are quite discreet."