The Prophets Game

Dennis Hopper suspense/action thriller with an original plot
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...

I WANT TO PLAY
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...

decent Hopper thriller
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,...

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