Katahdin

Villain Overview Gallery

Evil-doer
Full Name	Katahdin
Alias	Thing
Origin	Prophecy
Occupation	Monstrous mutant bear
Powers / Skills	Intelligence Claws Paws Teeth Super strength
Hobby	Killing humans.
Goals	Protect her cubs. Kill everyone who trespasses her territory. Resist several hard blows.
Crimes	Mass murder
Type of Villain	Mutant Monster

“	Out there, is a mindless, merciless creature of destruction... She will find you.	„
	~ Narrator from the Official Trailer of Prophecy.

Katahdin is the main antagonist in the 1979 horror film, Prophecy.

She was portrayed by Tom McLoughlin and the late Kevin Peter Hall, and her vocal effects were provided by Frank Welker.

History

In the Maine forest, a search party sent by a timber company was looking for lost lumberjacks until they reached a ravine, where one of their dogs fell. The men pulled the rope that held the dog, but the rope is cut, letting it fall. Two of the men decide to go down to the ravine to find the dog while the other waits, there were shouts, so he decides to go down. The man slips and falls, but survives, when he reaches the bottom of the ravine he meets the corpses of his companions, and sees something that kills him without mercy.

Dr. Robert Verne and his wife Maggie are sent to Maine to settle a dispute between some natives and the paper mill (accused of throwing waste into rivers and mistreating the environment). When they get there they see a dog being lifted by a helicopter, and they know the owner of the company, Mr. Bethel Isely, who tells the Vernes that this dog was the only thing left of the search party, and about the lumberjacks lost. He blames the Indians nicknamed Opies, but they blame another deity, a being called Katahdin which is described by Isely as "Larger than a dragon and got the eyes of a cat".

After several events, the Vernes would be guided by John Hawks (the leader of the Opies) to meet in person the grandfather of the Opie Ramona Hawks, Hector M'Rai, who calls his home "The garden of Eden." Maggie tells the Indians that they have heard of Katahdin. Ramona says it's a legend, but M'Rai rectifies that mistake. Hector says he has seen Katahdin, and when Maggie asks what he looks like, Hector describes it as "He is part of all things created."

After a fight with Isely at the paper mill, Robert does research on methyl mercury (which is used in the factory as a chemical), and discovers that if an organism that is pregnant ate fish contaminated with that chemical, when giving offspring, instead of a healthy spawn, would come a monstrosity. Verne, remembering the descriptions given by Isely and Hector, realizes that Katahdin could be a fetus mutated by a contaminated fish ingested by his mother.

That same night, the Nelson family was sleeping peacefully somewhere in the forest, until Katahdin awakens the family, and kills it.

The next day, when they hear about the murdered family, they decide to go in the helicopter of Huntoon, and when they arrive they discover some claws in the trees, and it is concluded that it was a bear, but Robert finds a piece of matter, and it is doubtful if it was a bear. Maggie finds mutant bear cubs, and they take them to show the negligence of the factory.

In the camp of Hector, Isely appears with some men of the company and with the sheriff Bartholomew Pilgrim, to be with what provokes. Robert asks "Did you know?" to which Isely replies "I didn't want to".

M'rai appears in the trees and greets the others, but in another part of the camp, Katahdin appears and kills some humans. The mutation pursues the others, who (everybody except M'Rai) hide in underground tunnels. Outside, Katahdin killed some people, until the noise stopped. The sheriff is going to check, but Katahdin grabs him and tears his face, killing him. Katahdin finds his dead cub and takes it away.

Isely sets out to find a communication tower, but Katahdin pursues him, until he reaches the tower, where Isely is disemboweled.

In the night, the protagonists leave in a jeep, and Katahdin appears, and overturns said vehicle. Everyone fled while John Hawks was untying Huntoon, but Katahdin comes close enough to force Hawks out of the place, leaving the wounded Huntoon at Katahdin's mercy, and rips off his head.

The others run, but M'rai stops (due to mercury) and Katahdin kills him, leaving Ramona shattered. When arriving at the other side of the river, the group watched the creature in the distance, which sank, until disappearing.

The others thought he was drowning, but a bubbling makes that very doubtful, and the creature appears on the surface.

Everyone goes to the Vernes' cabin to protect themselves, but Katahdin breaks down the cabin, leaving Maggie and Ramona unconscious, while Robert and Hawks shoot him. Katahdin throws Hawks through the air, and kills him when he falls.

The mutation focuses on Robert, and he grabs it while Robert fights for his life, burying an arrow in his face, piercing his eye, causing Katahdin a tremendous pain, and causing her to fall into the lake. Robert noticing that Katahdin is still alive jumps into the lake and buries the arrow several times in the neck, causing her to drown.

Biography

Katahdin is a horrifically mutated grizzly bear who has grown to abnormal size. It is believed that its parents consumed fish contaminated with Inorganic Methyl mercury, which caused the mutation of this monster when she was still in the womb (which in turn happens to Katahdin's own offspring). She was named by the local American Indian tribes, and mistaken for an ancient spirit angered by the logging activity on the mountain.

The dangerous beast is unusually large for a grizzly bear, and her face and body are hideously deformed. Katahdin is also mentally deranged and hostile, impulsively mauling anyone and anything it comes across. She is drawn to her cubs, which is what causes her to pursue the protagonists throughout the film. After killing the bulk of the main cast, it is finally stabbed to death with an American Indian arrow; however, another Katahdin (the cubs' father) appears just before the end credits.

The size has become a considerable problem. It is known that a grizzly bear is 204cm tall, but Katahdin is visibly larger than that. It has been proposed that Katahdin measures exactly 8.2 feet (approximately 2.50m) and that weighs about 500 kg.

Katahdin turns out to be nocturnal, but there have been times when she has appeared during the day.

Appearence

We had to mention, that through all the film, Katahdin's appearance changes every time. In all of them, Katahdin is a bipedal bear that has a mutated side full of wrinkles that could be orange, red or pink. She has a giant head, which has the same width as the torso. Her face has one clear and round ear, while the other seems to have a cutted appearance. She has a white eye and the other is like a giant hole without an end. A present long distorted snout, with a lot of yellow teeth. Her neck seems to have a hump, similar to a female Tasmanian Devil's protuberance. Through her body, several sections are noticed where hair is missing. She has long arms, with long sharp claws. Her body presents a bigger part in her stomach, which shows her mammary glands. Her back looks deformed and twisted. She presents a small tail, which is not visible, but it still there. And the legs seems to be long and thin. In the lower part of the legs, they appear to be fatter than the upper part, reaching even the highest extreme of the leg.

Powers, Weaknesses, and Abilities

• Strong Hind-legs: Unlike normal bears, Katahdin is able to walk upright for extensive amounts of time without tiring. This frees up her fore-paws to grasp for prey, though it is unknown if she can travel very fast, I.e quadrupedal (4-legged) galloping. Despite this, it must be mentioned that she has never been seen on 4 legs, so it could be said that she evolved to get up and walk on her hind legs.
• Intellect: Katahdin is not a simple killing machine. She adores her cubs, and woe is all who stand between her and her babies. She will hold a deep hatred for her cub's abductors and anyone invading her turf, relentlessly tracking them and using various tactics like stealth to get close to them. She also knows to stand still and shut up until her prey is within striking distance, unlike typical monsters who roar constantly. This suggests she can indeed think and strategize. Her burned skin more likely than not must be a source of discomfort, making her more irritable than a normal bear, making her especially dangerous.
• Sensitive Eye: Her eye (she only has one eye, the other eye will be explained in the Sharp Senses section) is too sensitive. If someone stings her eye with a sharp stick or something else (but still sharp) will cause her immense pain, and it is very likely that the eye will come out of her socket. Also if she is pointed at the face with a flashlight, the light will not blind her, but it will still affect her vision.
• Can hold her breath/Breathing underwater: Katahdin can dive to the lowest depth of a lake, and can hold her breath, or even breathe underwater. Even so, this is a kind of disadvantage, because there's a visible bubbling above her, just before emerging and attacking.
• Sharp Senses: Katahdin has shown that her senses are extremely keen, as she can detect her cubs despite being unable to see them. She either hears their cries and/or can smell them from miles away. She can also see in near-pitch-blackness, and spot prey from far away, and don't think she cannot find you if you hide deep underground. Her left eye is either absent or obscured by folds of melted skin, so she is partially blind and lacks depth perception.

Victims

• Search party and a dog (mutilated off screen)
• Paul Nelson (killed)
• Travis and Kathleen Nelson (killed off screen)
• Kelso (hitted)
• An indian (burned)
• An indian (exploited)
• Three Paper Mill members (killed off screen)
• Sheriff Bartholomew pilgrim (killed)
• Bethel Isely (gutted)
• Huntoon (decapitated)
• Hector M'Rai (killed)
• John Hawks (killed)

Trivia

• Katahdin's name comes from an ancient spirit wich is described as "Larger than a dragon and got the eyes of a cat" as Bethel Isely says.
• In the film, several times is called "Him" and not "Her" when is actually female.
• Originally Katahdin would be a unique creature, similar to the art of the poster of her movie. This version of the character is mentioned in the trailer. But when they showed the original concept to the director, John Frankenheimer, he said that he wanted it to look more "bear-like".
• Katahdin was represented in the film by some puppets and some costumes of the suitable size for the actors behind the monster (Tom McLoughlin and Kevin Peter Hall). The puppets were used in only a few sequences. The costumes for Tom were just a little higher than a normal person, and the actors had to be on their knees to give the impression of being taller. As for the costumes for Kevin, they were already large enough for the actors to interact without the need to crouch.
• Many people who have seen South Park, and who have later seen Prophecy, have often confused Katahdin with Manbearpig, and the majority who have talked about Katahdin, always refer to her as Manbearpig.
• John Frankenheimer commented something about Katahdin in a note. He said the following "I think we made two mistakes. One, the audience was way ahead of us. We waited too long to really get to the point. The audience knew, long before the film's hero and heroine, that we were coming to a monster. That's not terribly good. And another thing, I don't think our monster was very frightening".