The Mothman of Point Pleasant

7 for the film, one for sound. The should have used another narrator too.

Plot

Learn the terrifying, true story about thirteen months that changed history! In November of 1966 a car full of kids encountered a creature unlike anything they'd ever seen before. In the weeks and months to follow, the monster (now known as The Mothman) was sighted again and again on country roads and around the state of West Virginia.

Cast

Made by Seth Breedlove, a man with a penchant for the absurd. From Mothman, to Aliens to Sasquatch he's done a documentary for each.

Verdict

The Mothman of Point Pleasant is the same as it's sequel The Mothman Prophecy (2020) as if one of these wasn't enough. Namely it's full of interviews with people who claim to have seen "Something", a lot of speculation, a history lesson and some credits.

You see the moment this "Documentary" began I was hit with an advert. No, I mean there's actually an advert as part of the documentary instantly after the credits. Bad start! Never seen something so absurdly unprofessional.

And then it begins and it's everything you'd expect from a documentary about something wholly fictional. Local yokels ranting about what they saw but never caught it on camera, local "Experts" who also can't provide anything but alleged background and references to Hollywood movies that feature this fictional creature.

Seriously, do you not have anything better to do?

Rants

The Mothman doesn't exist Ghosts aren't a thing Sasquatch is fictional Aliens aren't probing butts

Do I need to continue? Grow up and engage with reality.

Breakdown

Fascinating creature Boring Accomplishes nothing Fiction dressed as fact.

This was a documentary that I decided to check out at work. The reason was that this is listed as also being in horror. Also, I've seen a good number of co-writer/director Seth Breedlove and his production company of Small Town Monsters. To add to it as well, I have family from West Virginia. My father was on the Silver Bridge when he was younger. They've also been to Point Pleasant and to the museum there.

What I like about Breedlove's documentaries is that he just reports the stories that people relay. I do appreciate that he's not trying to influence the viewer, outside of just making these documentaries. This interviews people or their relatives to share the stories of people who encounter this Mothman. What is also intriguing, having seen The Mothman Prophecies, is getting the story of Idris Cold. People also saw strange lights and talked to 'men in black'. How much of this is connected to this cryptid? We may never know. These last ones definitely could be government related though.

I'll say that this is one of the earlier Breedlove docs and it's good to see this was well-made. The technology for doing re-enactments isn't as good. There is still charm here. I do love that he does what he can instead of just seeing these people who are interviewed. He tries to bring to life what they're saying to add excitement. This looks like his 3rd documentary that he made chronologically and it still looks good. The professional was there even early into making these.

I will then just end this out by saying that if you're interested in the Mothman of Point Pleasant, this is a good one to start with. We are getting less investigation into it and more just presenting facts as well as retelling stories. I do think this would be a good companion to ones that probably go more in-depth for sure.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

The Mothman is the gold standard of monster stories. Its extensive and detailed legend includes not just nighttime encounters with an unidentified creature of some sort, but it also includes UFO sightings, Men in Black, Native American curses, and even a mutated sandhill crane. But what makes the Mothman so alluring is that opposed to many monster legends... people actually saw the thing. Something was actually there. Over 100 witnesses claim to have encountered a flying humanoid weirdo of a creature.

The Mothman is also not a new story. It began in 1966 and has been retold in numerous mediums, from John Keel's seminal Mothman Prophecies to the movie of the same name; documentaries, novels, video games, and even comic books have all attempted at relaying the chillingly true tale of the Mothman.

I am personally an enormous Mothman fan. While I am a researcher of the weird and wonderful, I do not consider myself a researcher into the Mothman phenomenon. That story has been told and retold in numerous ways. I honestly feel that I couldn't contribute anything productive to the study, but I've hungrily consumed any and all Mothman related media I could get my paws on and still greedily want more. Now, though, I think I have found something that might hold off that hunger for a little while: The Mothman of Point Pleasant.

I was fortunate enough to be allowed to view a pre-release review copy of the movie, courtesy of Seth Breedlove, the movie's director. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect before I watched the movie. I am a fan of Small Town Monster's work but the previous movies they had done were all focused on smaller scale Bigfoot sighting flaps. I was skeptical of whether or not they would be able to cover the vast information connected to the Mothman. After viewing, I can thankfully say that they passed with flying colors.

The movie opens with some shots of the TNT area, where numerous sightings were reported, with Lyle Blackburn's creepy, Texas-twanged narration. I immediately got chills and knew I was in for one heck of a ride. Mothman covered the history of the Mothman phenomenon chronologically, from the Battle of Point Pleasant to the Silver Bridge collapse, and all the cryptid goodness in between. Breedlove and crew leave no stone unturned in their examination of the creature, interviewing key witnesses, well-known authorities on the events, and even just some of Point Pleasant's natives from the time of the events.

I actually did learn of a few cases I hadn't heard before and enjoyed hearing some familiar cases being told in a visual way. As much as I loved the great information and tales, I honestly think that the highlight of the movie was easily the visuals. Seth and company employed the use of aerial drones for awesome landscape shots, used numerous gorgeous photos of the TNT igloos and the area that surrounds them, and absolutely stunning digital animation. Honestly, my jaw dropped when I saw the animation segments, which showed the visuals of a story as the witness described what happened.

I cannot recommend this movie enough. If you have even a passing interest in the Mothman or strange stories, you will love The Mothman of Point Pleasant.

This documentary was hard to watch, I had to turn it off after about 45 minutes in with about 20 some minutes left. That's sad because I really love the Mothman myth and lore of the area.

It was all slanted from the point of view that all these stories these people told are true. That's not how good documentaries are supposed to actually go, yet it seems rampant anymore. You are to present angles from BOTH sides and let the viewer decide for themselves. It seems like all others want in confirmation biases that aren't even factual.

It seems many of these stories, presented as fact, are people that don't understand science very well, even the makers of the film. That's not calling anyone stupid, there's so much we as humans don't understand, even through science... But I don't think those people need to be mashing documentaries either.

This sucks because I do believe there are weird things in this world that can't be explained even through proper science. I often feel science dismisses things that are truly unexplainable and potentially supernatural. But when someone presents ALL these stories basically as fact without trying to debunk any of them through any means with no real credible experts, it makes it hard to watch if you actually know some basic science and aren't gullible enough to believe that ALL these eye witnesses' perceptions won't be skewed from their lack of informed understanding of such proper science. Meaning, people's perceptions of events will not be the actual truth of what happened but their perception of the truth through their limited reality tunnels. There are so many properly documented accounts of mass hysteria and people really believing things happened that didn't, on record now. It is scary if a trauma (whether real or perceived) will play tricks on minds' that distort the reality of what actually happened. It is a survival technique.

If this was a real documentary they'd know much of this and get experts in all areas to discuss such things and present documented instances of such events. If these stories are truly the real deal, they'd stand up to any science that tried to debunk them. But that option was not given for a majority of the film which makes in not watchable to me. If I believe in something, I need to truly believe in it. Not blindly believe without questioning myself and reasons why I believe.

Maybe the end tied that all together and I missed it in the last 20 some minutes. But if it is that badly slanted the first 40 I just can't keep going.