The Mothman Prophecies Review
by Harry Caul (harry_caulx AT yahoo DOT com)June 15th, 2002
The Mothman Prophecies
(Fore more reviews: http://www.iscriptdb.com)
Starring: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing, Nesbitt Blaisdell
Directed by: Mark Pellington
Written by: Mark Pellington, Richard Hatem Distributor: Screen Gems
Release year: 2001
Rateing: 6 out of 10
What is the The Mothman Prophecies? That was my final question when it was over, and that’s not a good one to have after watching a movie. What was it trying to achieve? Was it a Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Supernatural, or Love story? This movie wanted to be all of these things and therefore never committed to any of them enough and as a result we are left with a shifting and themeless movie that lacked intrigue. It’s a sexless, non-genre specific, non-thematic creation.
Richard Gere plays John Klein, a respected Washington Post journalist. John and his wife Mary, played by the likable Debra Messing, have just found the home of their dreams when disasters strikes. On the way home after finding their dream house something strange happens and they get into a minor car accident. Mary was driving when something flashes across the road and causes her to lose control of the car. She is knocked unconscious. John takes her to the emergency room and later they learn she has a tumor. She dies several months later. John then discovers a journal she had kept with strange drawings of demon (moth-man) looking creatures.
Two years later and John is still not the same. One night while driving to interview the Governor, he gets lost and ends up 400 miles from his destination in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. He’s not sure how he got there.
He doesn’t leave. He learns that some of the locals are reporting to authorities strange sightings of a demon like creature. He discovers that these things look just like the creature his wife drew in her journal.
The first 60 minutes of this movie were enthralling. I was hooked! But then the filmmakers starting shifting the tone and feel of the thing so much that it lost all of its appeal to me. I lost interest. It should have stuck to the horror/mystery aspects and less of the love story and thriller ones. It’s a love story between John and Mary, but then Laura Linney’s character comes into the fold and really throws everything off.
The horror aspects, the frightening nature of this creature was alluring. Once that wore off and the horror aspects disappeared the movie lost most of its steam.
Writer/director Mark Pellington tried to have his cake and eat it too. This movie was neither scary enough, thrilling enough, nor had enough of a mystery. By the time it ends I didn’t care enough about it to make it a worthwhile experience. This one is forgettable
-- The Spectator
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In June of 1908, on the very last page of The New York Dramatic Mirror, Frank "The Spectator" Woods became this countries first "movie critic." In honor of his work, and the many others who have followed, we name this column.
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