History Film / TheProphecy

* AllergicToEvil: Despite outwardly appearing to be little more than a pale, gaunt human, every character reacts to [[{{Satan}} Lucifer's]] presence as though they'd just found a snake in their pants. Upon seeing him, Katherine immediately [[DeerInTheHeadlights freezes]] and whimpers until he threatens her to stop, and Thomas looks as though he's either about to [[StressVomit lose his lunch]] or [[BringMyBrownPants mess his drawers]] when Lucifer [[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace cuddles up to him from behind]] to deliver a helpful tip. It's implied that it's Lucifer's sheer malevolence responsible for this reaction, since none of the other inhuman characters provoke this response.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Gabriel states that his helpers, who are dying anyway, that he grants them the ability to die slower; which makes them his servants. One servant is ecstatic when Thomas kills him with his gun while the other attacks him in a truck screaming "KILL ME!". We don't know the circumstances of the first (besides possible suicide over a lover), the second was brought back on the brink of death from a disease and was told she would serve "until the stars burned out" if she didn't do Gabriel's bidding.
** In the second movie, Gabriel brings back Izzy who was involved in a suicide pact with her boyfriend. Gabriel allowed her to die slower. She later tried to kill herself with a pistol, to Gabriel's surprise. She later dies after Gabriel kills her on accident and she she dies with a smile on her face.

The first film, ''The Prophecy'' (released in 1995), tells the story of the ArchangelGabriel (Creator/ChristopherWalken), who's angry that {{God}} loves humans (or "[[FantasticRacism talking monkeys]]," as Gabriel likes to call them) more than angels. Gabriel comes to Earth in search of the evil soul of Colonel Hawthorne, a deceased UsefulNotes/KoreanWar veteran, in order to gain an advantage in a war being fought in {{Heaven}}. Another angel, Simon (Creator/EricStoltz), intercepts Hawthorne's soul and hides it in the body of a young Native American girl named Mary (Moriah Shining Dove Snyder). Now it's up to Thomas Daggett (Creator/EliasKoteas), a police detective who once aspired to be a priest but lost his faith in God years ago, and Catherine (Creator/VirginiaMadsen), Mary's schoolteacher, to protect Mary before Gabriel gets to her. Creator/ViggoMortensen co-stars as [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]].

* AndIMustScream: The angels that are impaled on giant spikes, spears and other war implements, left out in the sun, in the fields of Heaven; trapped withering and decaying, unable to exit their physical forms; forever screaming and dying under the sun. Thomas and Catherine are unlucky enough to see this.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Gabriel in the first two films. And Lucifer is rather polite to Thomas and Catherine when they first meet him, even if he does briefly threaten them (Catherine) or speak in a sing-song tone (Thomas). At their final confrontation, however, he drops the act and you're reminded that this ''is'' the Devil.

* AllergicToEvil: When Lucifer grabs Thomas, Thomas freezes in place, then quickly begins gasping and reacting like he's going to vomit. Then again, it ''is'' [[JustifiedTrope the Devil touching him...]]
* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: When Catherine sees Lucifer, she says "Oh my God," to which he responds "God? God is love. '''I don't love you.'''"

-->'''Gabriel''': (''to Catherine'') I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls. And from now 'til kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence...is never understanding ''why''.

--->'''Catherine:''' What do ''you'' love, Gabriel?

--->'''Lucifer:''' Hello, Catherine. We must talk.
--->'''Catherine:''' I can't do this.

* DealWithTheDevil: Lucifer makes one with Catherine, although it's a slight inversion as there are literally ''no'' strings attached; he just doesn't want Gabriel to succeed.

* FateWorseThanDeath: When Lucifer tells Thomas and Catherine he wants them to "come home with me", then claims not coming with him will be worse than any fate they could imagine. Neither buy it for a second.

* PragmaticVillainy: Lucifer is far more calculating here than in his usual ForTheEvulz depictions. He's only doing it to make sure the balance of (evil) power doesn't shift elsewhere, and is completely honest about that. That's not to say he won't try to get a few more souls into Hell, like Catherine's.

* PrematurelyGreyHaired: After saving the little girl's life, schoolteacher Catherine is sporting some streaks of grey in her hair as the result of the trauma, stress and supernatural atrocities she has witnessed.

-->'''Catherine:''' '''YOU! CAN'T! HAVE HER!'''

* YouOweMe: Lucifer begs Tommy and Catherine to "come home with me", telling Catherine he owes her. She refuses.

* AnyoneCanDie: Almost every main or recurring character in the series will die, whether by SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome unless they’re Gabriel, with a few exceptions.

* CrapsackWorld: Because of the eternal stalemate of the Second Angel War between the loyal and rebel factions of angels, no soul can make its way to Heaven to meet God and their ultimate fate. Hell is always open and Lucifer has no problem with souls taking refuge there.
** Rebel angels, like Gabriel, have no qualms with resurrecting or keeping dying humans from passing on and using them as pawns to do their dirty work. Even loyal angels like Simon are rather [[TheSociopath sociopathic]].

* HollywoodAtheist: [[spoiler:Thomas, until his HeelFaithTurn]]. And Danyael Rosales in ''The Ascent''.
** [[spoiler:Thomas]] might not count, as he says himself "Some people lose their faith because God never shows them anything," which would be the standard definition of the trope, but he finishes the thought by saying "I lost mine because God showed me ''too much''."
* HumanityEnsues: [[spoiler:Gabriel. But he gets better at the end of ''The Ascent''.]]

* HumansAreSpecial: A good number of angels are pissed God gave those "talking monkeys" a soul.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Lucifer finds the irony delicious that, for all their supernatural power, angels actually know much less about ''"war and treachery of the spirit"'' than humans, which is what makes the soul of Col. Hawthorne - an insane, sadistic war criminal - a potentially war-winning weapon for Gabriel's side in Heaven.

** The above is what Gabriel considers to be an starter meal before he has to go out and help Danyael. Just imagine what else he probably ate afterwards.

* INeverToldYouMyName: A RunningGag with Gabriel, leading to him saying, "Well, you ''look'' like an X." With waitress Madge, she looks to see if she has a name tag. She doesn't.

** There are multiple religious in-jokes with varying levels of subtlety. When Simon is told that the girl he's about to hide Hawthorne's soul inside is named Mary, he whispers "Of course." Then you have slightly less-obvious ones like Thomas, the priest who lost his faith, being named after the Apostle who didn't believe Jesus had come back to life, or how in Literature/TheBible, Gabriel had the power to make people fall down in shock with his mere presence and also helped the prophet ''Daniel'' with his apocalyptic visions.

** In the first film, Gabriel tries checking all the school kids to see if he can find if they've had Hawthorne's soul stuffed into them. As part of doing so he lets a couple of them blow on a horn he has, (Gabriel blowing his horn is supposed to be the sign of the end of the world) but cautions to do so very carefully, and just a little bit at a time.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: No robe-wearing harpists here; even Simon, the nicest angel in the series, thinks nothing of [[SoulJar sticking a genocidal madman's soul into a little girl]]. Aside from being {{Winged Humanoid}}s, angels have SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, MadeOfIron, HealingFactor, SuperSenses and HyperactiveMetabolism. The bodies that they manifest on Earth lack eyes much less any optical nerves, their blood composition is that of an aborted fetus, and their bones lack any indicators of growth. They're also hermaphrodites as well. In order to destroy an angel, you have to remove his heart. They also have an uncanny sense of balance, letting them perch anywhere without discomfort much less any issues with falling, and their fingernails are black and sharp, much like bird claws. They also have a penchant for wearing [[BadassLongcoat longcoats and dusters]], which are used to conceal their wings, which are visible in their shadows whenever they leap from high places to low places.

%%* WingedHumanoid

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Thomas asks Gabriel why he just doesn't ask God about His actions. This is the one time Gabriel isn't [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] or hostile.
-->'''Gabriel:''' Because He ''doesn't talk to me anymore''.

* CrisisOfFaith: The running theme of the first film. Not only with Thomas, but all of the rebelling angels. Simon tells Gabriel, "Sometimes you have to just do what you're ''told''."

* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted with Lucifer. Creator/ViggoMortensen speaks in a slightly higher pitch than normal and it's very creepy.

* HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler:Thomas Daggett]]
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Jerry tried but is unable to kill himself due to the archangel Gabriel preventing it. Hence why when Thomas first tries shooting Jerry in the chest, it has no effect and Jerry's response is to cheerful comment "Thanks, pal, you're a sport!" Then Thomas tries again and this time hits Jerry in the ''head'', which does work. Rachael is unhappy to be revived for use to Gabriel and she begs Thomas to kill her as he crashes his car, finally ending her suffering.

* ICannotSelfTerminate: Jerry tried but is unable to kill himself due to the archangel Gabriel preventing it. Hence why when Thomas first tries shooting Jerry in the chest, it has no effect and Jerry's response is to cheerful comment "Thanks, pal, you're a sport!" Then Thomas tries again and this time hits Jerry in the ''head'', which