Friday the 13th: The Series (TV Series) The Prophecies: Part 1 (1989) User Reviews

Two Great Episodes

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 8 July 2022]

Jack Marshak (Chris Wiggins) travels to the extremely Catholic village Marie-Mere in France to meet the miraculous Sister Adele (Marie-France Lambert) that have had visions with the Virgin Mary. However, Father Decroux (Jean Brousseau) does not allow him to meet the nun, since the falling angel Asteroth (Fritz Weaver), who is a follower of Lucifer, is trying to kill her using people around Sister Adele. Jack succeeds to protect Adele from Asteroth, but has an accident and stays in coma in the local hospital. Meanwhile, Ryan Dallion (John D. Le May) meets his missing mother in the cemetery on the anniversary of his brother's death. When Micki (Louise Robey) learns that Jack is hospitalized, she travels with Ryan to visit him. But Asthroth is using Lucifer's Bible to bring evil to the sacred Marie-Mere to fulfil six prophecies and bring Lucifer to rule the world.

"The Prophecies: Parts 1 & 2" was released on VHS in Brazil with the title "Profecias de Satã" ("Satan's Prophecies"). I used to follow this series on cable television, therefore I was able to follow the story. Today, I have just watched this VHS again, and I realize that the good story may be confused for those that have not followed the series, since the characters would be poorly developed. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Profecias de Satã" ("Satan's Prophecies")

Season 3: Time for a Change

[Gislef · 9/10 · 5 December 2020]

The episode airs as one 1:27 episode on DVD, but originally aired in two one-hour parts back in 1989. Johnny is here, but the episode serves primarily to write Ryan (and John D. LeMay) out of the series. Fortunately, the production set the groundwork in season 1 with a mention of Ryan's kid brother Jimmy back in "Scarecrow". So the episode is relatively strong on continuity.

Stephen Monarque is still listed as a guest star, and we get a new intro with a narrator explaining the basic concept of the show.

Jimmy's tombstone says he died in 1975, and Micki mentions that Jimmy died 14 years ago. Which dates the episode to 1989: the same year that the episode premiered.

Fritz Weaver is the "big" guest star of the episode and of the season. He does have an impressive presence, but he always has had one as a villain (see the original "Twilight Zone") for instance. Maybe that's why he was chosen to portray Asteroth, who Adele describes as a fallen angel. It also helps that the trio go up against... well, a demonic Fritz Weaver. Asteroth makes a much more impressive villain than the usual scum buckets that get ahold of a cursed antique. Yes, Asteroth is using the Book of Lucifer. But he seems to actually be enjoying his evil, whether he's showing Jack visions of the Apocalypse or shutting down the holy spring.

The episode is fairly chill, thanks in part to Weaver's performance and in part because of the imagery. Instead of a magical/super-powered artifact, we get pure evil like when the mental patients go berserk. Them crucifying a nurse with syringes, tossing an orderly out a window, and laughing maniacally out the window, is more chilling than a dozen Denis Forests no matter how manically a director has Forest laugh.

I don't know if the production crew took the production to France, or they just found a spot in Canada that looked like a French village. I assume the former, since other than Weaver there aren't any "American" actors. If the latter, the production crew do a good job of maintaining the illusion. The village makes a pleasant change from the Vancouver streets and country side. And as I've noted before in my review of "The Butcher" and "Wedding in Black", the oversea settings help to give the show a less insular feel.

Overall, part 1 of "The Prophecies" is an overall horror-orienting show. Granted, it kind of deviates from the "cursed antique" format. And one suspects the production crew was trying to get away from that, much as they seemingly tried to do the end with the season 2 premiere. If so, they did a better job here than with the S2 premiere. I doubt they could have maintained the premise of overseas battling Satan directly, but it makes a pleasant one-off.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?