Mark Pellington's paranormal thriller is apparently based on actual events. Set in and around the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, this sees the townsfolk experience strange sightings of a large winged creature with red eyes. Others experience visions and sinister dreams that unnerve them to the point of paranoia and a foreboding of an impending disaster, but what does it all mean?
Richard Gere plays the journalist who turns up one night in this West Virginian town with no idea of how he got there. From there the story steadily becomes eerier as sightings of the creature increase and Gere himself is contacted by an entity and then has his own visions of his dead wife. The film is creepy, without ever really showing anything particularly outlandish or scary, it just ramps up the tension with a clever premise and a terrific turn from Alan Bates who stokes the Mothman mythology nicely. Gere is well supported here by both the underrated Will Patton and the ever reliable Laura Linney, but Pellington's direction certainly adds quality to the mix with some atmospheric visuals. Much better than some would have you believe, this has some very unsettling moments and a legend that I wouldn't mind knowing a little more about.
Review of The Mothman Prophecies
