Movies-TV

Rather scary but unsatisfying

Another "supernatural phenomenon"-movie. It starts of as a rather conventional horror movie and the first half of the film had me on the edge of my seat (although, to be fair, I'm rather susceptible to the atmosphere of horror movies). But I got the impression that the director lost the plot about halfway through the film, the problem being that he does not know whether he wants The Mothman Prophecies to be The Sixth Sense or rather Jeepers Creepers. Even though the (rather foreseeable) ending ties most things up, you're still left having to think about the film afterwards. But I have to say that I'm not sure if the director leaves things intentionally unexplained or if it is because he couldn't work out a "satisfactory" explanation for the events in the film. This is probably also the reason why I had the feeling that it dragged on too long, while the audience is waiting for an explanation. Also some of the editing and camera work, while adding to the atmosphere in the beginning, becomes a bit tedious as the film goes on. That said, The Mothman Prophecies is still entertaining and partially scary. The film also scores a couple of bonus points by not including a full-grown love story, despite the presence of Richard Gere. Make that 7 out of 10.

2 hour version of the X-Files

I was interested in this movie because I'm a big fan of cryptozoology and unexplained creatures. I'd also heard the book which this film is based on was well-received so I thought I would check it out. The fact that it was basd on a true story made it even more exciting.

My excitement waned however after the first 30 minutes of sitting through this 2 hour version of an X-Files episode. Aside from a decent bridge collapse scene, I saw absolutely nothing that set it apart, and there was probably better acting on the X-Files. Gere didn't really lend anything to this movie (beside his name) that any other actor couldn't have done. And Debra Messing gave an unconvincing job as a feature actress. At the end of th film, I'm not even sure why she was in it, or what her character's role was.

The "Mothman" wasn't very scary or very interesting, and i couldn't tell if I was supposed to be more concerned over possible future prophecies or the lead character's mental state.

I was left watching a film that was so so, and with a lot of questions that the movie left unexplaind. Fortunately, I wasn't interested enough in the film to care.

A movie like this should leave you wanting more. I should have finished the film and rushed to the Internet to find out more about the real life sightings and what exactly happened. Not only did I not have this feeling at the end of the movie, but I am now even less interested in the real "Mothman" than before I saw it.

Stellar visuals

Can't say I was overtly impressed with the actual storyline (the theme is engaging, but the actual thread of actions - not too enchanting. It could be viewed as corny). BUT – the cinematography of this movie is truly something to behold!! Absolutely enchanting; captivating; encompassing. Superb.The lead in car crash was done in a way I've never quite seen. That slow motion swim you feel when something is happening just a little too fast for you to register it all – never captured more effectively on film than it was here. From there, every nuance of the film's creepy premise is exposed with true visionary brilliance by Photographer Fred Murphy. A lot of films depend heavily on smash cuts and other camera tricks to mask weak content. This movie is not an exception in that area (again, the premise is quite engaging, but the content a little flimsy. Which is a shame. There's plenty they could have done with it). However, you'll be immersed in these visuals like few other films. More importantly, the visuals are there to enhance the story, not mask it. That's the difference between ‘flashy' and effective. The ‘look' of this film could never be questioned. It's gargantuan in that area. And the final sequence doesn't disappoint - visually. Striking.If atmosphere is your bag – I'd definitely recommend a rental. (I give it a 10 on cinematography. A 7 overall).

Too confusing to be scary

*Spoilers ahead...plot details* When I saw the trailer for this movie in the theater I thought it looked promising, so when I came upon it months later on video I rented it and made my sister watch it with me, thinking it would be scary. She dozed on and off, while I sat there waiting for the scary part to arrive. It never came. What I surmised by the end of the film was that the Mothman merely prophecies death, not causes it. The wife already had her brain tumor; she could just as easily have died without seeing the moth through the windshield. Planes crash and bridges collapse routinely, and all the Mothman did was let someone know. In fact, he could be looked upon kindly because he saved Connie's life, having tipped off John Klein that there would be a disaster on the river. Even Gordon died benignly, sitting peacefully against a tree. He was a former drinker...maybe his liver gave out. So what you have is a movie with a lot of window dressing: phones ringing in the night, cars going dead on the road, sketches of black moths in notebooks, Richard Gere shaking his head in puzzlement. And yet no real suspense and no reason, at least that I can see, for making the movie except that it was supposedly based on a true story. There are lots of true stories out there that don't merit being made into films. I'm a real fraidy-cat, and this movie made me yawn. But it you're a Richard Gere fan, you might appreciate that his silver hair is dyed in this movie and he looks quite a bit younger than in real life.

Suspend your disbelief.

The best advice I can give to anyone who has never seen this film about these strange, supernatural events, is to suspend your disbelief. I'm an Agnostic, so I'm sort of in the middle when it comes to unexplained phenomenons. I'm both skeptical and willing to accept that there are things in this universe that will be forever unexplained. I've actually had a bonafide experience with precognition, so I suppose I'm less skeptical than others. This story deals with sightings of an Angel of Death type figure that appears and tells certain individuals of catastophic events before they happen. For what it's worth, I have a slight understanding of the strangeness that one feels when something revealed the day before comes to pass soonafter. I'll relate my own story for credibility. I went to bed knowing that I was going to the dog track the following afternoon. That night I had a dream about a sequence of numbers 1-3-8, 3-1-8, 8-1-3, and so on. But in my dream the numbers appeared in no certain order. You can guess what happened at the track the very next day. It happened in the very first race. There are three judges at the bottom of the race form who predict which dogs will come in and in what order, and they all picked 1-3-8 in varying sequences. I thought, "What the hell, I'll bet on a trifecta. There's no way I'm gonna win, anyway. That would be too bizarre." Being uncertain of the sequence, I boxed the trifecta, which means the dogs can come in any order and I win. They came in, and I won over 50$. That may not be life or death, but it made me look at the world a little differently afterwards. Wow, listen to me ramble. Richard Gere is very good here, and Laura Linney pitches in here and there with another solid performance. The ending is both eerie and expensive. I know where half the budget went. My primary complaint with the film is that the sound is up and down. I frequently had to turn the volume up as the actors whispered or their voices were drowned in the score. The score needed to be more in the background when the actors spoke, and the sound man should have been fired. Some of the dialogue sounds like mumbling, or midway through speaking, background noise washes out key words and I was left wondering what was said. For hard-bitten skeptics this movie is nothing more than a glorified X-files. For those who live and breath the supernatural this should be a geniune experience. As for myself, it was interesting and entertaining, even though the events leading up to the tragedy feel unexplained.

Creeps all over my body

This movie is good. Really, it's great. It was just so suprising all the time, you never knew really what was going to happend. Richard Gere, wow, they couldn't have found a man better for the role...the plot's great, the storyline stunning and the actors...GREAT JOB!

maybe its just me

but this movie in my opinion was close to perfect. off the top of my head i dont think i can name any flaws, but i also know that i have not read the book yet which supposedly is so much better, but for a first encounter with the mothman story, i'd say the movie was pretty thrilling, and it did not overuse curse words or violence, it just made you think and try to imagine what the situation meant to everyone, and how they must have felt. entertaining thoughtful film.

A stylish and atmospheric film, surprisingly from Hollywood.

A stylish and atmospheric film, surprisingly from Hollywood and more surprisingly based on true events. Richard Gere, who so often acts the same character throughout his performances, is well suited here to this role of the confused but focused news reporter. The story leaps in quickly with a large amount of suspense and hinted visuals, instead of the action and horror expected. This lends the feel to a much more non-Hollywood film and produces for a slow and brooding pace. Although the clues are placed quite noticeably, they aren't entirely apparent until prompted by the storyline. Although the ending may not make everyone happy, it makes a nice compromise between entertainment and suspense.

Hitchcock meets the X-Files

I attended a preview screening at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles with a Q&A session following with director Mark Pellington. This guy has definitely arrived as a filmmaker.I'll get my one negative comment out of the way: While the acting was good all around, Richard Gere's performance become somewhat one-note after a while (one can only grimace in so many ways). Still, you feel empathy for his character -- we've all been screwed around by forces beyond our control at one point or another in our lives. And I wish Debra Messing had more screen time -- she's very effective though in the brief role she has; I'll be watching "Will and Grace" more regularly after seeing this.What amazed me about this film, however, was Richard Hatem's script -- he had a heck of a challenge in taking John Keel's lackluster, repetitive, scatter-shot book and crafting a story around the events in it (NOTE: DO NOT READ THE BOOK before seeing the movie! It will take away from your enjoyment of the film's climax! And like I said, it's not that good anyway).Mark Pellington grabs you with a slam-bang opening and draws you in with his unique visual stylings. The audio was also very effective (Pellington mentioned hiring the sound designer before the director of photography). Make sure you see it in a theater with digital surround -- the soundtrack is that important.I look forward to Pellington's next film -- he's definitely a director to watch, and with THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES joins other unique directors like David Fincher and Spike Jonze.Highly recommended if you enjoy thrillers.

chilling, eerie, and wonderfully done

I caught this film at a sneak preview (the film won't be out until 3 days from now in my area), and I got to tell you I was very impressed. I have seen almost every horro/supernatural film, and I like to say I can predict them all very easily.
The movie challenged me. I had no clue what was going to happen. Richard Gere and Laura Linney (who were so great together in "Primal Fear"), have great chemistry on screen, and it was a joy to see the two of them together again. Richard Gere plays a Washington Post journalist who, after getting in an accident with his wife, finds his life turned upside down. Winding up in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, he encounters a man who claims (well, I don't want to ruin the surprise). Staying in town to research the strange claims that the locals have made, he finds an ally in local cop (Linney) who explains that for the past couple of months, "strange things have been happening", with even the most upstanding citizen claiming to have seen "something". The film puts you off kilter with its eerie shots, dark nights, and even the ringing of the telephone is enough to put your nerves on edge, because you know something strange is going on, but what is it? The climax of the film was very intense, and I found myself with my knees drawn up to my chin (thank God for stadium seating). If you want to see a different type of thriller that focuses more on story and atmosphere than blood and gore, then go see "The Mothman Prophecies"

OMFG

Do not go see this movies no matter what anyone above me says. They might have been interested in this movie for the sole reason that it is about the "mothman" and they were interested in this LEGEND before the movie was made. Yeh, it was a neat idea but they did a bad job, It is not scary, and very very slow... Movies are sopposed to have things that keep you on the edge of your seat. This movie had me sitting back and looking around the theater. ( I usualy do not do that)Do not see this movie unless you have free movie tickets or somehting, and in that case make sure you bring a girl so you can mess around while the movie is going on.jon

A very interesting, if inconclusive, ghost story

I am not a skeptic, but I do like to look for the most logical explanations of paranormal events. Skeptics, on the other hand, look for equally preposterous 'real' explanations for stuff that humans perhaps just don't understand.The Mothman Prophecies is full of mystery and subversion. Some parts of it could be explained, but negated by others. It's far-fetched but directed with such sombre timing that the unbelievable slowly creeps up on you. Ghost stories (yes, I am aware that the Mothman is not a ghost but I don't know what else to call him) are, by their very nature, far-fetched and this is probably why most people are eager to dismiss them. But most people fail to remember that their very existence in this Universe is the most far-fetched thing of all. There is an infinity out there than man does not/will never understand. It's arrogance to think that we've got our world figured out already and dismiss anything that doesn't fit in with our day to day lives.So yes, I am inclined to believe in stuff like the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape and Little Green Men. Like the movie said, the Mothman has appeared in scriptures and literature of many cultures worldwide for thousands of years. Apparently the book on which the movie is based has more stories of strange happenings and info on Indrid Cold (who is probably the most puzzling, enigmatic character since the Mystery Man from Lost Highway), so it's perhaps a good idea to check it out if you were intrigued by the movie.Director Mark Pellington creates a spooky and haunting Xmas atmosphere and uses the widescreen frame brilliantly. Occasionally he'll throw in a subliminal shot of the Mothman (sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle) or use bizarre imagery to heighten the sense of dread or mystery. It's very well edited and has a lot more class and sophistication than many recent corny PG-13 'horrors' like The Skeleton Key or The Forgotten. In many respects, Mothman is a lot like The Ring in terms of moody atmosphere and cryptic messages. But Mothman, while not a perfect film, is certainly the better of the two.My main problem is that nothing is really wrapped up. I mean I know it cannot be fully explained because no one knows what the Mothman is or who Indrid Cold was but maybe there was more explained or suggested in John A. Keel's book (the man who Richard Gere's character was based on) than the movie featured.Overall, it's a pretty good film and I look forward to Mark Pellington's next movie as I've been impressed with his work on this and Arlington Road so far.

Excellent Thriller; Spine-Tingling In Places

It's hard for me to find any fault with a thriller that literally caused my spine to tingle not just once but several times in the course of the story.It isn't that this is a particularly frightening movie. It's not an edge of your seat, blood and gore type of thriller. It doesn't have hideous monsters. Much - most, in fact - is left to the imagination. And yet this is a movie with an edgy, creepy feel to it that I found got under my skin and really managed to unsettle me. In my opinion, that's the mark of a superb thriller, made even better by a very good performance from Richard Gere in the leading role as a Washington reporter trying to sort out the mystery of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.How faithful is it to the real events that supposedly inspired the story? Truthfully, I have no idea, and would likely qualify as a skeptic anyway. But faithful or not, as sheer entertainment I thought this was an excellent movie, and can really find no fault with it worth noting.10/10

A bit ho-hum

I seem to be stuck in a rut of watching reasonably good supernatural thrillers lately. Everytime I try to watch something else, I fall asleep. Well, anyway...'The Mothman Prophecies' is 'based on true events' (these 'true events' actually happened in 1967, but I suppose they couldn't set the film then, because Richard Gere would only have been a teenager. Well, am I wrong?In a similar vein to 'The Dead Zone', Gere seems to be given the ability to perceive supernatural phenomenon as the result of a traumatic car accident, in which he loses his wife. Again, who knows why? On an impulse (unexplained) he drives from Washington to Richmond, and mysteriously finds himself in a small town in West Virginia, which it would have been impossible for him to reach that quickly (again, never explained). As soon as he gets there, he finds himself in the midst of every sort of peculiar goings-on you can imagine, but we can generalise and say that the center around people having mysterious and ominous messages from/conversations with/visions of a huge human-moth like entity. This creature does peculiar things like talk to people for 60 minutes out of drain pipes, burn their eyes and ears, and talk in an annoying, high pitched, mostly indecipherable voice. Whether all of these things were 'actual events' in 1967, I don't know: the historical record suggests the writers may have embellished somewhat here.Anyway there isn't much more that can be said without giving away important plot details. Gere hangs around, determined to get to the bottom of things, and possibly avert a disaster. He consults a psychic investigator. He teams up with a policewoman who looks like the should be in 'Fargo'.'Mothman' isn't too bad a supernatural thriller. It has two main faults, for my money: firstly, none of the characters are very interesting, complex or challenging, and secondly just a little too much is thrown in to the 'weird unexplained creepy things' basket, without being really resolved. I know this is part of the film's schtick, but for me it seemed a bit lazy.Lupercal gives this one a bit over 6.0.

I recommend watching this....

I really like this movie. When I first saw it, I told myself it was too weird to see again, but I told my cousin about it one day, and she rented it, and we both watched it. Now, every time it's on TV, I watch it! If you enjoy a story based on true events and a story that has some mystery and fright in it, you wanna watch this! Great movie for mystery and fright!

Visual and Compelling

When I decided to watch this film I expected some kind of sci-fi fantasy adventure. How wrong I was. This is an exceptionally beautiful and engaging work. The camera work is fantastic. The soundtrack adds a great deal of interest as well. I wasn't scared while watching this film, I was thrilled. So that's what thrillers are all about...

it's a good thing that....

it's a good thing that someone gave Gere a role because he was going in a dark corrner. but don't expect a big lite on this because i think his performance is way low my expectations. If you are looking for prophecies try reading a Nostradamus book because you will find much more there. really the tension i was expecting is absolutely 0. Not much to see if you are looking for a good movie. My oppinion is a 5.5 movie and most of it because the director...if you see it you know what i mean. If you wanted to buy it better try rent it or watch it on cable for free (the best choice).

Things you should know about this Movie!

First, I would recommend that people study up on the Mothman to understand the legend. The movie is more about Point Pleasant and the collapse of the Silver Bridge (which actually happened in 1967)...I loved the movie, especially how they updated it to a modern theme. Today (May 22) we drove to Point Pleasant expecting to see many of the scenes from the movie, only to find out that that movie was actually filmed in 2 different locations. We did get to meet some of the towns folk and get their perspective on the actual events of 1967...very interesting to hear some of the stories..we did visit the place where the Silver Bridge once stood and actually drove to the Ohio side on the sister bridge of the Silver Bridge....I would like to find out exactly what locations where used for this film. I do know that some of it was actually filmed in Point Pleasant, 6th street and Main....if anybody has info as to other locations of the shoot, please email me...one other thing, in the movie, the chemical actually exists, however, the actual plant is a power plant on the Ohio side of the river....Great movie, I highly recommend it and if you live close enough, give Point Pleasant a visit, very friendly town....Oh, one more thing..the jeep that the police officer drove in the movie actualy exists and is still in use today by the Point Pleasant Police Department....also, give the visitor center a visit as well....any comments and additional info from somebody who lives in the area would be appreciated..One more thing..we never concluded if the Avalon Motel actually existed..does anybody know?

Worth the Effort?

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Does it stand up to close scrutiny? Probably not. This is one of those movies that, like 'The Sixth Sense', you wished you had been able to watch more carefully and with greater understanding so that you could spot the clues and work it out just before all is revealed. Of course, there are always plenty of smart alecs who claim always to 'get it' at the first clue, or others who linger over plot holes that they claim undermine the film's credibility, and certainly, 'Mothman Prophecies' does not have a twist that can't be guessed, and it does have chasms in the storyline. Yet I was kept watching by the simple device of wanting to know what was going to happen in the end. Now I know, I want to check whether there were sufficient visual clues to have been able to get there before Richard Gere does. There were plenty...so many variations on wing shapes, reflections, criss-cross patterns and coloured lights, that, given a five minute break before the denouement, I think that it could be done...did any other reader guess the exact nature of the climax?The film's tagline, and the director's persistent visual style (intriguing or just plain irritating?) invites the viewer to make sense of the blurred pictures, like the famous blotch tests used in psychology (is it an old woman or a can-can dancer, an urn or two faces nose-to-nose?). The trouble is, if you don't play the game to begin with, you're unlikely to want to play afterwards. 'The Mothman Prophecies' has just enough to keep you going once, but no more. Whether you get to the end may well depend on how much you like Richard Gere, Twilight Zone (there long before The X Files) mysteries, and can 'stop the show' (hardly a William Castle fright break needed here!) to check what you've got, a luxury available on video/DVD but not to those who may have been disappointed in the cinema. Give it a try, just for the puzzle.

Not as good as expected

No offense to the people who found this movie both scary and well just plain good, I thought that it did not live up to its expectations. The trailers I saw for this movie made it look like a real good horror movie, but I was disappointed when I saw it to find out that it was one of the least scary movies I have ever seen. But however, I did enjoy the warnings said in the movie (for those of the people who have seen it, you know what I'm talking about). They were quite interesting and in a way suspicious. 'The Mothman Prophecies' is not at all what it is expected.