The Mothman Prophecies

Review - During November 1966 - December 1967 the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia was plagued by an historical amount of strange occurrences, sightings, and prophecy.  After seeing this film and reading up on the Mothman anyone who can still live there, mystifies me.  This is some pretty creepy stuff and make no bones about it, not all of it's bad.

Richard Gere stars as John Klein, a Washington Post reporter who mysteriously arrives in Point Pleasant, much to his dismay of that of the town locals.  There he befriends a sheriff, played by Laura Linney, and a town local (Will Patton) who claims to have direct contact with the Mothman.  The bizarre fact is that most of the town has shared unexplained experiences of some sort during this timeframe.  The majority of them culminating in prophecy.  Terrible incites into accidents of mass death and tragedy.  Even claims of seeing loved ones, long since dead.

What this leads to or culminates in, I won't tell you, but it makes a level of sense that the X-Files has reached for and that no other film of it's kind has succeeded in getting across.  The Mothman Prophecies is not interested in showing you what you want to see or delivering all of the answers to you.  It begs more of those involved and of those who wish to understand.  A striking contrast, to what we're used to and it's pulled off effectively.  Effectively enough for me to recommend it.  And in this vein that's not an easy task.

-m-