La Prophétie des ombres

I didn't love the movie the first time I watched it. But sometimes (and with some other shows and movies happened) I revisit a movie and I must change my point of view. This is a grower, a truly atmospheric, classic thriller that sinks in your mind. Great!

The Mothman Prophecies is a solid thriller. It's supposedly based on true events, but even if it weren't, it would be worth a look. Richard Gere stars as a Washington Post reporter who inexplicably finds himself in a small West Virginia town where a series of strange goings-on have been happening. His wife was killed two years prior in a mysterious car accident, and there seems to be a connection between her death and the strange happenings in Point Pleasant. Holding the key behind the mystery seems to be a large moth-like creature who tends to show up in places where the loss of human life is about to occur. Gere meets up with several locals who claim to have seen the Mothman, and after a while this creature begins communicating with him. The creature warns people of tragedies about to strike (plane crashes, earthquakes), and Gere thinks this creature can even put him in contact with his dead wife. Gere is given a warning about an upcoming tragedy near Point Pleasant, but can he act in time to stop it? Or should he even try? The film is very moody and sullen. The direction and photography are top drawer, and they enhance the mood greatly. The acting is terrific, as well. I usually can't stand Gere, but he's great in this film. Laura Linney would seem miscast as a local cop, but by the end of the film, she will have proved how truly talented she is. Will Patton is outstanding as a local resident who has several run-ins with the Mothman until it drives him crazy.

What exactly is the Mothman? According to this film, he's some type of oracle. He can see bad things that will happen, and he can even see through to the other side. Does he cause these tragedies? The film would seem to argue not. Though he may have caused the fatal car accident that took Gere's wife early on. Apparently the concept of the Mothman has been around for a while, but this film gives a pretty good explanation of it for those of us who had never heard of it before.

The film came up short of its $40 million budget in theaters. I blame this on a terrible marketing campaign, and some bad reviews from the big name critics. Don't let their reviews scare you away. This film is very good. I was hooked after seeing only a couple minutes of it. It was the very effective scene where Gere and Patton first meet up at his home one evening. That was well done! Be warned, however. The film will likely leave you feeling very mortal, and maybe even depressed. There is a really cool new-age rock song during the credits that also adds to the mood.

Consider this film a thinking man's Final Destination. The climactic scene at the end could have even wandered in from one of those movies. The Mothman Prophecies is worth about 8 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

Starting off promisingly with X-Files creepy events (deaths and visions) this young persons horror movie has a suitably tense edge. Based on a myth last discussed in great detail in the 60s, this is a modernised version of the legend of the Mothman, a mysterious figure who comes to people to foretell disastrous events. There is an air of Saturday night channel 5 about this film, but don't let that discourage you as its in the upper echelons of b-movie fair.

Richard Gere is surprisingly entertaining as someone who essentially doesn't say much and just gets creeped-out. A lot. His character isn't that challenging for any actor, so there won't be any Oscar gongs headed his way for this. Laura Linney is excellent as the town sheriff, like someone straight out of Twin Peeks. The other characters are pretty much just there to move the plot along, rather than to catch your interest.

The first half hour or so is entertainingly tense, but then the film lulls for the plot in the middle. The ending is satisfyingly and beautifully tidy, with a wonderful action sequence that clears up the vast majority of the weirdness from earlier on. The tight ending, while pleasurable and final is also one of the reasons that the movie isn't better than it is. There is no sensation upon leaving of question or edge. No concerns about turning the next corner for fear of what might be there. This is perhaps why this movie feels like Channel 5, and perhaps why its a 12 not a 15. Essentially its a creepy movie and not an out and out horror.

In 1966-67 a series of weird, supposedly supernatural, events occurred in or near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Much of what happened centered on local residents' purported encounters with UFOs; confrontations with "men-in-black"; phone calls from entities whose voices sounded electronic (or metallic); and sightings of a winged, semi-human creature that came to be known as "mothman". A few locals also were made privy to future predictions (prophecies), some of which in fact did materialize, but others didn't. One of the alleged predictions was a December, 1967 disaster that did occur, and which this film dramatizes.

Available literature suggests a high probability that some, though by no means all, of the Point Pleasant events were the resulting activities of a practical joker, a prankster, by the name of "Barker" (who died in the 1980s). Other events appear to have been too bizarre and too widespread to be attributed to a lone carnival barker (pun intended).

"The Mothman Prophecies" is not a very good factual account of the Point Pleasant events. Indeed, the film's setting is the present, not the 1960s, a fact which the film slyly evades. The filmmakers evidently decided to use part of the historical record, and then dramatize it, in a way that would have cinematic appeal to today's audiences.

And so, the film aims to be a supernatural thriller, a suspenseful study in the theme of what is real vs. what is not real. There's lots of dark atmosphere with offbeat, gyrating camera shots, ominous music, and dialogue to match. The overall effect is one wherein unseen forces are lurking in the shadows.

For some viewers, this supernatural tone thus provides intense escapist entertainment. For me, the hocus-pocus factor was too high, and the film exuded a sense of forced melodrama. Further, the film did not lead to any satisfactory resolution. What it did lead to was a nicely staged reenactment of the real life December, 1967 disaster.

Maybe someday someone will make a documentary about the men-in-black element of the Point Pleasant events. If the underlying research is honest and thorough, the resulting film could illuminate a 1960s drama that, while not supernatural in nature, had, and still has, implications that are as scary as they are real.

Except for its obvious moments of self indulgence and lethargy, the most of the screenplay's inventive writing was extremely effective. Not only was I emotionally invested, but the film also possessed a hypnotic, surreal quality that kept my eyes and mind transfixed on whatever was unfolding.

I am perplexed as to how works of this quality could remain unnoticed for so long, when works of limited value and output almost always garner the greatest attention from both the public and reviewers. Irrefutably, it is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated psychological thrillers ever.

"In the end it all came down to just one simple question. Which was more important, having proof or being alive? Trust me. I turned away years ago, and I've never looked back."