Based upon recorded events surrounding the Ohio bridge disaster, the film deftly carves out a small world of mystery in which Gere and Linney acquit themselves admirably during the narrative spiral. Visually and sonically engrossing, this is a solid supernatural horror that repays the viewer in spades.
Ancient spiritual teachings from a wide range of cultures tell of hosts of disembodied beings inhabiting a dimension called the lower astral realm, a realm inhabited b... more >
Ancient spiritual teachings from a wide range of cultures tell of hosts of disembodied beings inhabiting a dimension called the lower astral realm, a realm inhabited by the spirits of those who have lived base, ignorant, or selfish lives. The history of the world is replete with examples of strange phenomena that defy rational explanation; yet of all of these occurrences, the series of events that took place in Point Pleasant, West Va. in 1966 and 1967 is certainly one of the most troubling. These events are dramatized in the film The Mothman Prophecies by Mark Pellington (Arlington Road).
The film is based on John A. Keel's 1975 book of the same title, about nocturnal sightings of a winged, red-eyed, humanoid being in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, that began November 15, 1966, and ended after the town's Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people, on December 15, 1967.
The film opens with a montage of electromagnetic special effects that sets an unnerving mood. A high-altitude shot of Washington, D.C. is turned into a TV screen displaying electrical dots, then blinding whiteness. Streetlights dance with nervous energy, while inside an office the hands of a wall clock spin and telephone wires pulse. INCLUDEPICTURE \d "https://securesite.chireader.com/Archive/spacerS.gif" Richard Gere, in one of his best performances, plays John Klein, a Washington Post reporter whose life is fundamentally changed when his wife Mary (Debra Messing) dies suddenly while driving in West Virginia.
Two years later, en route to an assignment, he inexplicably finds himself 400 miles out of his way in Point Pleasant, West Virginia - a small town in the grip of mass hysteria, apparently caused by sightings of a red-eyed, winged creature dubbed the "Mothman". Although the script perhaps may go a bit overboard on the creepy special effects, The Mothman Prophecies is a highly intelligent film, very scary, yet completely effective and convincing in its depiction of paranormal events.
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