[.ca] The Mothman Prophecies (Special Edition)

screamed with terror:
Okay i didn't actually scream but this movie scared me s***less. omg I couldn't even walk through the hallway without getting my sister to come with me, much less go to the washroom and look in the mirror. This is the first horror movie i've watched in a long time that had that affect on me. I remember the part where Richard Gere is standing in the hotel beside the wall mirror and talking on the phone when i noticed that as he moved his arm...his shadow didn't. When he walked away, his shadow wasn't in sync with him. And then he shoved the mirror or whatever and you see something in the mirror. God that creeped me out. I stopped the movie after watching a bit more than half of it and then the next day(with all the lights on during the day time)i finally had the guts to watch the rest. Mothman Prophecies is definitely scary and i guess that means the movie works.

WAITING FOR GODOT.........?:
..... or with apology to Ionesco "The Chairs". A VERY unsettling little thriller about seeing something out of the corner of your eye that could not possibly be there and thereafter one has to acknowledge that you have opened a Pandora's box of bleak, grim and sometimes unintelligible wordage from something or some race that's sharing our space, but totally disinterested in communicating directly with us.... \oNow can you say "Childhood's End"?\c It also defines our very limited physicality and design - we can only see the physical around us - sometimes we 'pick' something up - but that's about it - our present model is designed for this rock, and that's just the way it is! ENOUGH THOUGH! Great - almost too great cinamatography - you can virtually count the pores on each lead actor in close-up - so we're not foolin' around. Affluent husband \oRichard Gere\c loses gorgeous wife \ostunning redhead Deborah Messing\cunder tragic circumstances . before she expires she mentions something about the Mothman \oAngel? Eumenide? Harpy of Wendigo?\c... few years last we find him befuddled and unable to explain why he has now overnight accidentally arrived in 'boonesville' small rural community, where he receives a warm welcome \oseems he has previously and unbeknownst to him\c been agitating an inhabitant late at night . almost spectrally... The plot thickens and more and more townsfolk see 'the revelation' but cannot interpret, the place becomes a sanitized and conservating 'Village of the Damned' .... all we know is that when "The the Bird/'Insect/' flies" - people die ........... As someone says to Gere : 'They don't talk directly to us - since we're almost cockroaches to them ......' ... they're just harbingers of death ... transition.' Even shades of 'Solaris' here - the late with continuously appears and reappears - not only to Gere - but other folks ..... As said lensing and mood is superb ..... grim fare and the finaly is quite spectacular. It will follow you Home!

Very well filmed and acted:
A surprisingly good horror film. You must see it several time to catch all the subtleties to the movies. Tons of stuff well hidden to freak you out. Seems so real it'll scare you to think about it after the movie.

This Happened In my Country of Mauritius in 1993,,, they called it LUGAROO:
One day in 2002 I went to the theatre, and for no reason me and my ex just thought we would watch this film, because nothing else seemed interesting. At the end of the movie as were walking through the parking lot, I got the chills. I mean the chills like someone is watching you from behind. At the moment I told my ex this is exactly what happened in Mauritius. She right away agreed and we both started to remember what people were saying about this phenomenon in 1992. As I started to rethink about this film it had many of the similiraties the eye witnesses were saying in Mauritius. For a film that we just walked into and to think and realize, that this was exactly what happened in Mauritius, was extrememly creepy. For someone who has never seen the film you'll appreciate it. But if you know about the phenomenon youll crap your pants. When I heard about these events in Mauritius, I didnt't buy into it. This story in Mauritius took over the entire country, but never recieved any world wide news. Mauritius is a tiny island in the Indian Ocean. So the only peolple who knew about it were mauritians but they also knew no one would believe them. Imagine telling everyone you saw a human form of a bat 10 feet tall. Everyone knew about the story but also nobody wanted to listen because of the other phenomenon of withcraft, voodoo and superstitions. After seeing the film I owe a huge apology to my country men. Thrillers such as this one are hard to come by. It's not exactly a horror movie, but there are more than enough creepy moments to send a few chills reverberating through your body. It's a film that relies less on special effects than on such quaint ideals as character motivation and development and atmosphere. In fact, this movie's just brimming with atmosphere. We've all seen those cheesy movies in which a car runs out of gas along a desolate country road, and then BAM - some serial killers make dinner or belts out of the hapless occupants. But in this case, the monster is hardly ever seen, thereby heightening the scares. At the centerpiece is Gere as Klein. I've never, ever been a Gere fan; it seems to me he has one expression. He's never been terribly emotive and has been known in recent years more for the age disparity with his female costars than for anything else (they get younger, he stays the same old dude). Call him ruggedly handsome if you will, but vacuity is never really appealing. But this is not your typical Gere at all. He definitely turns in the best work of his career. Sure, he was appealing in Pretty Woman, but it was Julie Roberts' movie. Officer and a Gentleman? Ok, but that was Lou Gosset Jr.'s movie. Primal Fear? Red Corner? Runaway Bride? No, no, no. This is acting on a ledge for Gere. It's a true departure from the romantic comedies and the sly psuedo-mystery/dramas. Ordinarily, I would think such a movie would expose Gere for the terrible actor he became. But I would be wrong. This movie was so well written and directed that Gere rose to its level, rather than sinking it. That's a huge credit to him as an actor. Now, I need to differentiate between good acting and appeal. An actor can look good or be charming in a role and still be a bad actor; by contrast, an actor can look uncharming and turn in a great performance. But what's key is how the actor draws the audience in - do they sympathize with his plight? Are they on his side? How good of an actor he is will answer that question. Gere's Klein starts out as an average joe, and then we get to see him slowly descend into madness - we even descend a little with him. That vaunted atmosphere is so vibrant and realistic that we turn when he turns and feel things he feels. This is an absolute hallmark of excellent filmmaking (by Mark Pellington, whose only other big film was 1999's Arlington Road). The writing is crisp and eminently believable, and the acting in addition to Gere (including Laura Linney, Debra Messing, and Will Patton) is simply superb. And don't forget the prophecies part of the title, either; this "Mothman" entity issues warnings to whomever it deems worthy. Which sounds good, as long as one can interpret them correctly. Apparently, many have not. The story is based on actual events that took place in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, but this is no Amityville Horror story. With Amityville, one could distance oneself from the experiences of the family involved; we could say that it would never happen to us, it was only a movie. This is a little trickier with The Mothman Prophecies. It's a creepy, tingly movie that gets under your skin and crawls all over your heart and keeps you guessing.

Like a Moth to Flame:
Drawn like a moth to flame is my reaction to Mark Pellington's adaptation of John Keel's "The Mothman Prophecies," but with this gem, viewers will not be burned. "The Mothman Prophecies" places the mysterious 1966-1967 events of Point Pleasant, West Virginia in present day; and though real-life events have been somewhat altered and woven to fit a well-written script, the movie retains much of the mood of Keel's sensational study of a mysterious winged manlike creature and its affects on the folks of an uassuming Ohio Valley town. Richard Gere stars as John Klein, a Washinton Post reporter loosely based on Keel himself. Laura Linney co-stars as the local sheriff, bewildered by the townspeople's reports of the creature and other strange phenomena and by Klein's sudden appearance and seeming connection to events. Psychic revelations, strange phone calls, and mysterious deaths all lead to a riveting conclusion on the Ohio River. This is a must-see/ must-own for all fans of true chillers. The only disappointing aspect of the movie is that no attention is given to the numerous UFO sightings and encounters with Men in Black that also plagued Point Pleasant during the time of the Mothman. Having actually visited Point Pleasant, interviewed witnesses, and written a couple of columns on the events, I can testify that they were every bit as much a part of the terror as Mothman himself. Still, Pellington knows what makes a real horror story work. There are no blood and guts here; only genuine psychological scares. Note: Mary Hyre, a Point Pleasant newspaper woman, had the same dreams in relation to real events as Laura Linney's character. Will Patton's character seems based on Woodrow Derenberger, a UFO contactee. The movie's climax is almost pure fact, with some minor statistical changes, concerning what happened over the Ohio River on December 15, 1967. Pop the popcorn and enjoy!