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| “ | 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 and the 1979 horror novel of the same name.
She was portrayed by Tom McLoughlin, Charles Flemmer and the late Kevin Peter Hall, and her vocal sound effects were provided by Frank Welker.
Biography
Film
Katahdin is a horrifically mutated grizzly bear who has grown to abnormal size. It is believed that her 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 she 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, she is finally stabbed to death with an American Indian arrow; however, another Katahdin (the cubs' father) appears just before the end credits.
Book
Katahdin is a bizarre abomination that was created by the unintentional contamination produced by the paper mill in Maine, United States. Its name was given by the Native American Hector M'Rai, who assures that he had sighted it. She originally lived in an ancient bear cave from which she parted to cause terror in the forest and to rebel against humanity. During the time she was prowling through the forest, she had been seen by a forest ranger in a watchtower, but when she told Dr. Robert Verne and his wife, they did not believe him. Because they had their cub, Katahdin began to chase and kill Robert Verne's group, reducing them to only three survivors. The beast finally confronted Robert, being wounded and finally killed in a lake. However, after that event, a ranger began to see many more monsters prowling the forest.
Appearance
Katahdin is always seen as a huge bear that walks on two feet and has a mutated side to a truly critical degree. The time he was able to spend in his mother's womb along with the accidentally ingested methyl mercury may be why he looks so deformed. On his right side Katahdin has a very similar appearance to a common bear, with the difference that his eye is completely white and that his muzzle is crooked. Unlike the right side which was fortunate to maintain its original appearance, its left side was drastically altered by methyl mercury. First of all, it lost its fur, which is now replaced by an apparent mass of meat, which seems to have been burned several times and which bear a certain resemblance to the keloid scars caused by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs. Katahdin's left side lacks various facial features, such as the eye and the lower lip or ear (which was reduced to a shapeless mass). The most remarkable thing about Katahdin is her immense size, measuring 10.5 feet tall, considerably larger than a normal bear.
In the movie novel, Katahdin has a different appearance than her film counterpart. So far there is no illustration or image that reveals its appearance as such, but many details have been revealed to get an idea. The novel describes Katahdin as an amalgamation of all the creatures of the forest. She has a head similar to a bird's, and huge breasts. The movie trailer mentions that she has huge eyes, webbed hands, hooked claws, and that she walks upright. It is also mentioned that she is 15 feet tall, being larger than her filmic counterpart.
Powers, Weaknesses, and Abilities
Film
- 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.
- Strength and Resistance: Katahdin possesses enormous supernatural strength, which makes her a truly dangerous being. A single blow of her paw can throw a human over a long distance, knock down trees, destroy a cabin, move stones, and overturn a jeep, and other very heavy objects. Katahdin also has incredible resistance. Katahdin's mutated skin became a really hard and almost inexpensive mass, managing to withstand gunshots and blows, making her almost indestructible.
- 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: Katahdin's whitish eye has the ability to easily detect movement, giving her a greater advantage in finding her prey and thus being able to kill them. However, the eye has the weakness of being able to split easily, which caused its eye to shoot out of its socket when it was destroyed by the arrow used by Robert Verne.
- Can hold her breath/Breathing underwater: By getting into the water, Katahdin is supposed to hold her breath or breathe underwater. This serves to finally attack and sink her prey underwater and devour them, but they can evade it, due to the bubbling that occurs and can be easily noticed on the surface.
- 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.
Book
Seemingly those of the filmic Katahdin.
Victims
- Search party (mutilated off screen)
- Paul Nelson (killed)
- Travis and Kathleen Nelson (killed off screen)
- Kelso (killed)
- An indian (thrown into fire)
- Three Paper Mill members (killed off screen)
- Sheriff Bartholomew Pilgrim (killed)
- Bethel Isely (gutted (film), beheaded (novel))
- Huntoon (decapitated)
- Hector M'Rai (killed)
- John Hawks (killed)
Trivia
- Katahdin's name comes from an ancient spirit which is described as "Larger than a dragon and got the eyes of a cat" as Bethel Isely says.
- In the film, Hector M'Rai describes Katahdin as a he and not as a she when its gender is female.
- Katahdin was represented in the film by three costumes and a puppet that included the head, torso, and arms. The costumes were used by the actors mentioned above in most scenes, and the puppet was used in close-ups. While the puppet and costumes tried to keep the monster looking, there are still notable differences between these.
- These suits were oftenly named "Barbara" or "Pizza Bear".
- Many people often confuse Katahdin with Manbearpig.
- Katahdin is indirectly mentioned by movie director John Frankenheimer in a comment, where he says "I don't think our monster was very frightening."