THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES: "Mary Klein cannot be found by looking. You will see her in time."
THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES
(2002)
STARRING: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing.
DIRECTED BY: Mark Pellington
RATED: PG-13
John Klein (Gere) is a well-respected reporter for The Washington Post. Everything in his life is coming together as he and his beautiful wife Mary (Messing) prepare to buy their dream house. Then tragedy strikes, and John's dreams fall apart. Two years later, he finds himself stumbling into a mystery plaguing a small West Virginia town -- a mystery that could very well be connected to his late wife. Is there truly a supernatural being at work in Point Pleasant? Are the prophecies of Indrid Cold only hallucinations, or something more? Will John find the answers he seeks, or will his fall down the rabbit hole force him to pay the ultimate price?
As a fan of atmospheric horror films, The Mothman Prophecies is a little like Christmas morning for me. It's beautifully shot and wonderfully directed, with fantastic performances by a nearly perfectly chosen cast. Everything from the cinematography to the music is calculated to make sure we the audience are perpetually on the edge of our seats -- the atmosphere is palpable, and there's hardly a moment to catch our breath before something new and startling hits us.
I'm far from being a fan of Richard Gere, but his performance as John Klein is riveting. He's haunted, driven by his loss and demons he struggles to understand. He's an intelligent, rational man of logic who finds himself believing in things most would dismiss as fantasy or hallucination. Because how else can he reconcile his experiences, and the experiences of the people of Point Pleasant, but to accept that there are things beyond the realm of rational understanding?
Laura Linney is also fantastic as Connie, the Point Pleasant police chief at the center of the madness. She's at times sweet and encouraging, other times no-nonsense and practical. Like John, she has a hard time reconciling the bizarre events with her past experiences. And as the two investigate and question the witnesses, united by their need for answers, their growing relationship feels authentic and touching. One of the things I love most about this film is how John really becomes a part of Point Pleasant through the course of the story -- at first an interloper regarded with suspicion, he quickly befriends the tormented Gordon Smallwood (Patton) and comes to know and sympathize with the many frightened witnesses. Will Patton is incredible as Gordon, who at times is dangerously unhinged and suspicious, other times forlorn and pathetic.
I'm enthralled by the entire construction of the film. The editing -- sometimes frenetic and confusing -- perfectly conveys the troubled mind of the film's protagonist. At times the film is over-exposed, all reds and yellows and inhuman skin tones, casting things in an alien and frightening light. Things casually mentioned early in the story come back in huge ways by the end. Everything is paralleled and purposefully repetitive. Voice overs, flashbacks, zooms and pan-out shots: all of the tricks of the film-making trade are used purposefully in really interesting ways.
Have I raved enough about the cinematography? GOD DAMN THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THIS FILM BLOWS ME AWAY. It's beautiful, frequently haunting, and only heightens the sense of distortion and alienation that the characters feel. Shots are often distorted, making the world into a Rorschach test on acid, obscuring faces and blurring details. There are extreme close-ups on faces, hands, eyes that evoke a disturbing sense of intimacy and voyeurism. It's a largely monochrome film; scenes are all blue, all gray, all sickly yellows. But when there is a splash of color, it's always violent and frequently red. Blood, Mary's hair, the eyes of the Mothman.
The stylization and atmosphere of the movie is what keeps me coming back re-watch after re-watch. I just adore the ominous, nightmarish tone it maintains. The music, by the brilliant Tomandandy, is absolutely perfect, full of whistling howls and booming beats that underscore the tension. And there are few things more frightening to me than the garbled, electronic voice of Indrid Cold coming through John's telephone. Let's just say the word chapstick will never be innocuous again after watching The Mothman Prophecies. This is a film that owes just as much to its sound department as it does to the director, the cast, the cinematographer.
As the poster touts, this is a film "based on true events". Of course, those events were altered greatly -- for instance, the events that occurred in Point Pleasant took place in the late 60s, not the early 2000s. There was never an entity known as Indrid Cold that interacted with people. No one correctly prophesied catastrophes as Gordon did. But Point Pleasant was visited by an unexplained terror that dozens, if not hundreds, of residents reported seeing. Much of the witness testimony in the film -- the strange creature at the TNT plant, red eyes in the trees, physical ailments that manifested after alleged encounters -- actually did occur. Not to mention the climactic disaster that ends the film, which I won't mention here in order to leave you spoiler free. And as the fictional Alexander Leek claims in the movie, the Mothman has long been a mythical figure in many cultures, and is considered an omen of doom. It's perhaps telling that this creature was never again seen in Point Pleasant following the disaster...
I really and truly love this movie. I've seen it perhaps ten times now, and it has yet to lose its effectiveness. Every re-watch continues to give me chills. And I can't help but credit this film for inspiring me in my writing; Point Pleasant makes an appearance in my novel Weird, USA, and the stories of what happened in that tiny West Virginia town in 1967 only encouraged me to seek out other, less-known oddities in America. I suppose you could say that this movie helped to convert me into a collector of obscure folklore.
The Mothman Prophecies was sadly overlooked in theatres, but well deserves to be rediscovered now. I sincerely hope it becomes a cult classic, fondly spoken of in high-brow horror circles. If you're a fan of the more atmospheric brand of horror; if you're interested in more intellectual chills than outright gore -- this is a movie that'll stick with you. It's streaming on Netflix right now, so do yourself a favor and check it out some stormy evening.
ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10: I have to give this effective chiller a 9.
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