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The Mothman Prophecies more or less plays out like a feature-length episode of The X-Files, as it's concerned with an urban legend that's based in reality. Adapted from the 1975 book of the same name by John Keel, this supernatural thriller was directed by Mark Pellington, late of 1999's Arlington Road. The Mothman Prophecies is old-fashioned all the way through to its core, relying more on atmosphere and subtle chills than violence, and it does work to a certain extent. However, since the film was inspired by an unsolved supernatural case, it brings up far more questions than it can answer, and it both meanders and confuses due to the ostensibly random nature of many of its narrative threads. While there is intrigue here, the movie cannot quite come together well enough as a cohesive whole.
Even though the story purports to be based on true events that occurred in the late 1960s, the setting is updated to present-day, and follows (fictitious) Washington Post journalist John Klein (Richard Gere). John loses his beloved wife Mary (Debra Messing) to a brain tumor which is discovered after a sudden car accident, and John finds that his wife has been drawing a moth-like creature that she claims she saw on the night of the accident. Two years after Mary's death, John intends to drive down to Richmond one night, but inexplicably winds up in the sleepy town of Point Pleasant, having somehow travelled 400 miles in under two hours with no memory of what happened. Meeting local cop Connie Parker (Laura Linney), John is drawn into the town, where citizens are reporting strange happenings as well as sightings of a tall "mothman" creature that's very similar to Mary's drawings.
It would be best to approach The Mothman Prophecies as a piece of fiction that's loosely based on true events, as the script by Richard Hatem is a largely fabricated construction that weaves in a few factual events and as many creepy set-pieces as possible. (Whether by design or not, a number of "facts" stated by the movie are actually inaccurate.) However, the screenplay refuses to properly connect many of the plot points, and as a result, the film feels all over the place. It seems that it uses the unsolved nature of Mothman as an excuse to avoid answering everything, throwing out random horror conventions with mixed effectiveness. There are serious pacing issues as a result of the movie's haphazard structure, though it does improve to a degree with repeat viewings.
To Pellington's credit, he generates an unnerving atmosphere throughout the picture, especially with the competent cinematography and his expert use of shadows and sounds, amplified by a terrific soundtrack by tomandandy. The titular Mothman is only really glimpsed subliminally, and the bitterly cold setting helps to build a sense of gloom. The Mothman Prophecies is more of a mood piece than a scare-fest, rendering it a fascinating instance of restrained horror filmmaking. The movie's centrepiece is a stunning disaster climax which recreates the real-life collapse of the Silver Bridge, an event that supposedly brought an end to the strange occurrences in Point Pleasant. It does seem out of place since the rest of the proceedings are so low-key in comparison, but it does well to pull the rug out from underneath us, and it helps that the sequence is so gut-wrenching and riveting, not to mention competent from a technical perspective. A fair chunk of the $32 million budget likely went towards the climax, and the result is wholly worthwhile.
Even though Gere is a veteran performer who looks suitably focused here, his John Klein is too much of a blank slate, which is a problem. One cannot help but wonder how much more engaging the film might have been if it was more like The X-Files from a character perspective, and starred endearing actors like David Duchovny or Gillian Anderson who could have injected the story with some humanity. Ultimately, The Mothman Prophecies does have enough merit to make it worth watching, and Pellington's command of the screen is remarkable, but the material fails to properly serve the filmmaker.
6.2/10
