The Prophecy 3: The Ascent (2000) is the second sequel to The Prophecy. The third film is the last one to star Christopher Walken.
About twenty years after the second film, Danyael Rosales (Dave Buzzotta), the Nephilim conceived by Danyael and Valerie in the second film, is preaching to a crowd about how God doesn't exist. He is shot dead by a blind attendee (Brad Dourif), only to later come back to life. Danyael then learns of his true heritage and his destiny to end the War in Heaven, and sets out to stop Pyriel (Scott Cleverdon), the Angel of Genocide. He is aided in his mission by a reformed Gabriel while being hunted by Zophael (Vincent Spano), an angel who takes Danyael's girlfriend Maggie (Karyn Ann Butler) captive and deceives her into thinking that Danyael came back wrong.
This film provides examples of:
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: At the end, Gabriel earns his redemption and becomes an angel once again, returning to Heaven.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: In the climactic fight at the end, Pyriel shows Danyael the mountain of human corpses he plans to leave in his wake as the Angel of Genocide.
- Back from the Dead: Danyael, after getting shot. Being half-Angel, he'd need his heart removed to fully kill him.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: God sends one down to incapacitate Pyriel during his fight with Danyael so Danyael can rip out Pyriel's heart.
- Call-Back:
- Mary (the little Indian girl from the first film) shows up to give Danyael a stone that helps him defeat Pyriel once and for all.
- Gabriel stops at the same diner from the first film on his way to the reservation, and the same waitress still works there. Gabriel doesn't need directions this time, but now that he's human, he does want to order some food.
- Car Fu: How Gabriel saves Danyael from Zophael at one point.
- Chekhov's Gun: Zophael's fighting staff. Danyael uses it to kill Pyriel.
- The Chosen One: Danyael. Given his grudge against God for his parents' deaths, he's not too happy about it.
- Cool Old Guy: Gabriel's mellowed out quite a bit since becoming human.
- Dead Star Walking: Brad Dourif.
- The Dragon: Zophael, to Pyriel.
- Eye Scream: Pyriel attempts to do shove his thumbs through Danyael's eye sockets when they're fighting for the fate of the world. Of course, he's doing it at the same time he's trying to crush Danyael's head.
- God Is Dead: A bystander yells this, prompting Gabriel to shove him.Danyael: God is NOT dead. He just doesn't give a damn.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Danyael Rosales. Angel father, human mother.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Danyael rips out Pyriel's heart with the staff weapon that his minion Zophael had intended to use to kill Danyael.
- Humanity Ensues: Becoming mortal seems to have given Gabriel a new appreciation for the "talking monkeys".Zophael: Killing you would be so easy...
Gabriel: Yeah? Fried food can kill me. A mugger can kill me. You're not so special down here, Jones.
Zophael: How do you bear what you've become, Gabriel? You, who were once exalted above all others?
Gabriel: You ever been with a woman, Zophael? It's like dying. You moan, cry out; you get to a spot that has you begging for release. Once, I was an Angel of Death. Now, I die every day, when I have the cash. - Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
- Danyael has the misfortune of having to manually remove Zophael's blade weapon by pulling it through his chest from the front.
- Zophael himself is pinned to a wall like a captured fly to a pinboard during the fight between him and Danyael inside of the street church the latter once ran. It was an unexpected moment in the fight when Danyael hurled him dozens of feet off the ground and nailed him in the shoulder with a metal pipe.
- Interspecies Romance: Danyael and Maggie (Nephilim/human).
- Light Is Not Good: Pyriel is dressed in a white priest-like cassock. He's an evil angel rising to become the "New God".
- Omnicidal Maniac: Pyriel is the self-appointed Angel of Genocide who plans "to help the monkeys perish and sow the earth with better seed."Genocide—it happens now and then.
- Pretty Boy: Pyriel, the Angel of Genocide, is an androgynous-looking celestial.
- Redemption Quest: Gabriel undergoes this while he helps Danyael defeat Pyriel and comes to embrace humanity after living as a human for some years. He's eventually given back his angel status by God and returns to Heaven.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Valerie from the second film is revealed to have been killed by being burned alive while trying to protect her son by using her body to cover his own. It was this incident that led to Danyael's crisis of faith.
- Waking Up at the Morgue: Danyael does it after getting shot and killed. Since his heart wasn't removed, he got better after a while. He's understandably freaked out by it.
