The Mothman prophecies

Year of release : 2002

Run time : 1h59m

Genre : Horror / Mystery

Cast : Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Paton, Debra Messing

The movie is based on the 1975 book of the same name, written by parapsychologist John Keel.

The movie opens with a shot which says is based on actual events that took place between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant.

John Klein is living a good life : he has a perfect relationship with his wife and is a Washington Post journalist loved by his boss and peers.

The night the movie opens, John is receiving high praise for an article he wrote, from his boss, asking him to stay for the Christmas party, while he says he has places to be, as he is house hunting with his loving wife.

They love the house, and decide to buy it. On their way home, celebrating, his wife, who is driving, sees a flying creature (which leaves an imprint on the car!), and swerves to avoid it. This leads to her hitting her head, and they end up in the hospital.

John is fine, but he finds out his wife has a brain tumor. She seems scared by what she saw, and shortly after, she dies.

John discovers her drawings, of this horrifying creature, with red eyes and wings.

2 years later, John lives in the same house they wanted to move out of, and is sent on assignment out of town. Around 2 o'clock in the morning, his car breaks down in the middle of the road, and he gets out looking for help.

He reaches the house of a man who waits for him with a riffle, and takes him to the bathroom. His wife calls the police, and the man tells the police lady John has been coming to his house for 3 nights now, at the same hour!

Being taken to the local hotel by the sheriff, he finds out he is in Point Pleasant, hundreds of miles away from where he was supposed to be, traveling an 8 hour distance in an hour and a half!

The lady sheriff tells him the next day weird things have been happening in town for a while now, showing him their testimonies. They all reported seeing the same creature his wife saw, and John wants to get to the bottom of this. The sheriff tells him the weird dream she had in which she was drowning, dream which is gonna make sense at the end of the movie!

John befriends Gordon, the man who held him at gun point, and the man confesses he hears voices telling him of disasters which are gonna take place.

Soon after, Gordon tells him the voices belong to a being named Indrid Cold ( apparently a humanoid folklore creature from the XXth century). Gordon calls him late at night to tell him he is in the presence of Indrid Cold, and John sends the sheriff to his place.

While John talks to Cold, and this being is scaring him, by telling him exactly what he is doing at that exact time (later on, in a shot, we realize it knew so much because it was in the room with him!), the sheriff reaches Gordon's place,waking him up!

Stalked by this creature who can take the shape of people he knows (like his dead wife) and can sound exactly like them too (it imitated Gordon, and even John himself!), John finds an expert in the field, who wrote books on the subject. Although at first he doesn't want to talk to him,the man tells him what he went through, and that whatever this creature is, it brought him to Point Pleasant to die!

I personally enjoyed the movie, it's one of my favorite movies from the early 2000's!

I loved the way the movie was shot, the Christmas winter atmosphere,while sinister things take place, the not knowing of what's going on, the lights, the sounds..the architecture!

We don't know exactly what this creature wants, maybe to be seen, or to warn people of disasters..we don't know exactly why it brought John to Point Pleasant, but when the disaster was supposed to happen it made sure he was out of town, telling him to be home, for his wife (!) was gonna call!

The visual effects still stand the test of time.

The soundtrack written by Tomandandy is one of the best.

The actors were good.

The movie received mixed reviews and grossed 55.2 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 32 million.

Rating : It's so money!