June 20th,2009-
This is something new I’m trying at Cinematropolis. Nothing fancy, just a series of stills capturing a scene from film history. I’m heading out tomorrow to join some friends camping in Virginia and I thought it apropriate to begin then with one of the more haunting sequences from my childhood movie-watching. In 1979 director John Frankenheimer made a film called Prophecy (not the Chris Walken angel war thingee) based off a novel by the author of The Omen. It was an environmental knee-jerk thriller with Robert Foxworth looking like Bob Ross (please don’t cut down the happy little trees), Talia Share as his wife, and Armand Assante….as a Native American. This motley crew discover mercury poisoning in the water in New England and its aberrant effects on the local wildlife. The film’s heavy is a result of the mercury mutation; an enraged mother bruin that looks like what would happen if you threw Gentle Ben and a meatloaf into the Brundle Machine and hit ‘deepfry’.
There are plenty of goofball good times to be had with Prophecy but the hands-down best scene of the film involves an attack on a family camping in the woods. The monster rolls up and mauls the father and the sister and then the young boy tries to escape by running away in his STILL ZIPPED UP sleeping bag! The bear is having none of that, so with one swipe of its mighty paw it lobs the kid into the side of a rock where he explodes in a flurry of feathers and busted Gortex.
Check it out:
A family camping trip about to become a massacre
Billy in his Chaquita Banana sleeping bag
Smokey the Inside-Out Bear
C'mon guys!! I can't move! I CAN'T MOVE!! Cmon guys!!!
For his theater merit badge Billy performed the stunning Dance of the Flatworm
Go, Billy Go!
JUMP! JUMP!
Unfortunately, the bear mistakes Billy for a Taco Bell Crunch Wrap
In a last ditch attempt to fight back Billy screams "I hate the forest! I hope it burns down on your stupid head!"
that yellow shape flying through the air...yea, thats Billy
Skadoosh!!
The guys down at the plant stuffed that one really good....seven geese were stripped naked in the making of this sleeping bag
Snow in July! It's a Christmas miracle!
For the full thing in motion, check out the youtube clip HERE.
This is possibly the greatest blog entry ever.