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2002
Rated: PG-13 for terror, some sexuality and language.
Genre: Supernatural Thriller Drama
Directed By: Mark Pellington
Running Time: 1: 59
Review by: Felix Vasquez Jr.
Review Date:
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary - 1. Mark Pellington - Director
Text/Photo Galleries:
Filmographies
Trailers
Featurettes - 1. SEARCH FOR THE MOTHMAN
2. DAY BY DAY: A DIRECTOR'S JOURNEY - THE ROAD IN
3. DAY BY DAY: A DIRECTOR'S JOURNEY - THE ROAD HOME
Deleted Scenes (5)
Music Video
If you like this, try: Signs, Seven, The Hounds of Baskerville

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THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES

 

Based on a strange string of events in 1966 where a mysterious creature foretold a major catastrophe, we meet John Klein who is a respected Journalist. One night after house hunting with his wife Mary, she experiences a mysterious entity and the two crash. John is unscathed but Mary is in shock; when he visits her in the hospital, she is stunned and shocked. When he attempts to ask her what she saw she is too terrified to even mention what she experienced. Later, she dies from mental anguish, and John is shown mysterious sketches from her, revealing a curious demonic figure.

He then accidentally ends up at Point Pleasant Virginia where a mysterious string of events and attacks are occurring. As he begins to delve deeper and deeper into the mystery he will encounter something he can't fathom, something truly horrifying. I'm an aficionado when it comes to Urban Legends and this is one of the most legendry of the bunch. You may not know who the mothman is, so let me break it down for you: The Mothman is said to be a winged creature or mutant man who visits people during the night and it is said that his sight is so horrifying, people dared not to speak of him back in the sixties, lest he visit them once more and kill them. Also, people became inflicted with mysterious scars and eyes that turned red and bled without probable medical cause. To this day it is unknown who or what happened, but it is still investigated by Monster enthusiasts everywhere.

As you can gather, I was rather ecstatic when I heard they were making a movie recounting these events. This sets the right tone straight off the back never coming down from it's grim and eerie atmosphere. Most of the scenery is often very rainy and very dark, often feeling murky and edgy. I felt tense most of the time during the investigation as the Mothman felt John on his track and soon began stalking him. Richard Gere provides the right amount of humility and quiet dignity he needs for this type of hero of the movie. He's a very interesting character who's very driven in discovering the mothman. I often rooted for him and feared for his life as when you thought he was onto the mothman, the mothman always turned the tables psychologically.

The events in the movie are bordering from creepy to almost terrifying as we witness these poor people who have been visited by the creature and experience horrifying after effects. We never see the mothman which I thank the producers for, because it left a lot of imagination to the audience. We only see him in the shadows towards the ending and very very brief images of his face. In the beginning when Mary crashes, if you freeze the frame in the split second, you can see the mothman come at her, but you can't see him at a normal speed. Debra Messing only has a role in the first twenty minutes of the film but it's an effective role nonetheless.

 I was badly disappointed at the end result the story gave us, which is nothing. There's nearly two hours of investigation and weird occurrences but nothing even remotely interesting happens. The mothman, though giving an ominous presence in the story is hardly interesting and extremely boring. The entire series of events builds up to the epic finale in which a bridge collapses and Gere's character must race to keep people from being killed. Boy, was this a boring finale; who would have ever thought watching a bridge collapse could be so boring? But the director pulls it off with flying colors.

I often found myself falling asleep during the period of the movie, which pretty much upset me, because I could have been looking at the wall and have been given the same results. Laura Linney is grossly wasted in this movie in a mere supporting role as the town sheriff who becomes involved in the mystery. She's barely in this enough to give a true impact to the audience and I felt it could have been played by any other semi-actress. The script is tame and completely void of anything truly scary as the plot drags on and on without anything to interest the viewer in, and the grim setting is almost paralyzing than creepy.

An ultimately disappointing thriller with a horrible script, a plot that drags on, and a climax that is far from exciting. You can miss this one and not feel deprived of anything genius.

  • When the bridge starts to collapse, a cable snaps and smashes into C.J.'s windshield. Just before impact, we look through the windshield from C.J.'s perspective, and a red face (presumably Mothman) is clearly visible. You won't see it at full speed. It is necessary to pause your player or go frame-by-frame.

 

 

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