Gymnopedies I am fully aware that The Mothman Prophecies divides opinions among fans of the horror genre. That is not even taken into consideration whether people believe these events occurred or not. It is just one of these films. I first seen The Mothman Prophecies ten years ago - late night on TV. I had never even heard of it before. It was just by mere luck that I stumbled upon it that night. I was just transfixed by it and the fact that it was inspired by true events made it even the more awe-inspiring. It was actually the legend of The Mothman that ignited an interest in the paranormal for me. I subsequently read all the books about the events that inspired this film.John Klein (played by Richard Gere) is a Washington Post who loses the love of his life, Mary (played by Debra Messing). Two years have passed since her death and he is still trying to come to terms with the loss of his wife. He is drawn to the sleepy town of Point Pleasant where the residents are plagued by strange sightings and events that have cursed them for the better part of a year which builds to the distressing climax. This is a slow atmospheric moody movie. The film is like a melting pot of different genres, from drama to mystery to thriller to horror. Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton and Debra Messing put in strong performances here. The whole film feels like an episode of The X-Files and why wouldn't it? This is the kind of stories that made The X-Files so popular. It stands out from the crowd in that it offers something different to the horror goer, more profound and existential.It really is a well made film with excellent cinematography and special effects. The sound, feel and touch of the film is eerie and spellbinding. It has many 'spine-tingler' moments that will keep the most demanding horror goer on the edge-of-their-seat. It is a beast of a movie. I guess the reason it is so misunderstood is that they want a conclusion, something to tie up with a little bow and bury in the backyard but that doesn't always have to be, in fact, what you don't understand is often more terrifying.

The_LenMan I've only written a couple of reviews in the 8 or so years I've been using IMDb. So, to me it means something. It also shows that it takes quite an event to make me want to write a review.One of my biggest pet peeves is lying. I don't like it when people do it to me; and it's even worse for some reason, when a filmmaker uses an event or book title to get me to see a movie. That's what happened here. The director thought it was a good idea to take events that happened in the 60's, and make them happen in the 2000's. Why? Who knows? Personally, I think it's laziness. But I can overlook that. The time period in which things happen means next to nothing to me. The changing of facts, including the text at the very end of the film "no definitive cause was ever found for..." - seriously? - like it somehow adds any weight to your movie to lie about an event that anyone can easily look up? Check out the article "silver bridge collapse" on Wikipedia. It's right there in the first couple of sentences. Think about that lie, for a moment. It's a flat-out lie about something that you can easily fact-check. The Mothman Prophesies was a book written by someone who was there, as it was happening in 1968-9. Regardless if the author's words were 100% gospel, there weren't people alive at the time raising a ruckus about how he misquoted them or misrepresented events. Which means for the most part, he was telling it like it was. The movie is almost the complete opposite. Other than the names of people and locations, there is almost nothing brought over from the book to the movie.So, is it a good movie? Kind of. But not really. Maybe if you're a 12 year old who will think everything is true when the movie says "based on actual events". But for me, just as a suspense-thriller or whatever you want to call it, this one was just OK. The plot was formulaic, the action scenes were flash-chaos-shakycam, and there were some stupid continuity errors like a modern phone with bell ringer, or characters wearing gloves and not wearing gloves in the same scene. Just sloppy. Which in the end makes one think - were there lawyers figuring out how much from the book they would have to include, to be able to give the movie the same name? Just meh. Glad I didn't pay to go see it.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Mark Pellington's The Mothman Prophecies takes a harrowing look at a curious set of events that did indeed occur for real in the rural West Virginia area. Now, just how much of what we see in the film actually happened is eternally unclear, but I've read up on a lot of it and there's enough testimonials, independent of each other, to both justify the film and shiver your spine. A myriad of inexplicable phenomenon plagued those poor people for some time back then, including visions, eerie phone calls and a mysterious red eyed creature in the shape of a giant moth. Businessman Richard Gere and wife Debra Messing come face to face with what appears to be this entity one night on a lonely stretch of highway, causing a grisly car crash and leaving Messing in a dire psychological state. With the help of a local policewoman (Laura Linney), Gere unwisely tries to figure out this terrifying mystery by putting himself way closer to the occurrences than I would ever go, experiencing the stuff of nightmares along the way. Pellington comes from a music video background and as such he is incredibly adept at creating style and atmosphere (his opening credits for Arlington Road are almost as foreboding as anything in this film), two key elements in successfully telling a tale such as this. Gere wanders around in a daze most of the time, distraught over his wife's condition and obviously influenced by forces unknown. Whatever is out there remains blessedly unseen save for a few hurried glimpses, say, behind a tree or at a kitchen window momentarily, spurring heart attacks from both audience and the poor sods stuck in this brooding bad dream. Rounding out the cast is Alan Bates as the obligatory historian who has seen this all unfold previously in some far corner of the world, and an excellent Will Patton in a frightening turn as a rural farmer who comes who becomes tragically influenced these dark forces. No one plays disturbed quite like him, a jittery, resolute calm always playing around in his eyes, the perfect presence to set anyone on edge. The finale sort of emerges from the chrysalis of dark atmospherics into large scale disaster mode, a choice which didn't really work for me. I would have preferred to have it kept intimate and creepy right up until some kind of moody end, but they went with fireworks instead. Not enough to hurt the film of negate what came before though, it's just too good of a time in the haunted house to be dragged down by anything, really. Chilling stuff.

lemagicienbergier I fell in love with this movie at the first sight. Its atmosphere, music, acting, artistic impression, everything is perfect. Splashes of red or pink in every shot. Lightning is perfect. Colours are perfect. That shot in slow-motion of Richard Gere walking through the chophouse and that painting in the background, it is unforgettable. This movie I've watched maybe 30 times. And it never be boring. Never makes me tired of it. I no way named it as a horror. It is mystery, drama, but not a horror, people who see it like that see it wrong.And soundtrack. Brilliant. Cacophonic melodies. And for critics: Alexander Leek: "You're asking for an explanation for something that can't be explained rationally." Do not try to grasp this movie rationally.Btw: everyone who in the movie saw mothman, died.