Shaun Corley | Staff Writer

2/01/02

In 1966, a small town in West Virginia experienced an outbreak of paranormal phenomeon the likes of which had never been. UFO sightings, the men in black, psychic visions, strange phone calls all coincided with sightings of a strange creature known as “The Mothman.” Now, 32 years later, the events form the basis of Richard Gere’s latest; The Mothman Prophecies.

Gere plays John Klein, a political correspondent, who while driving home with his wife one night, narrowly misses hitting something. His wife is seriously hurt in the accident, and before she dies, begins sketching pictures closely resembling the thing he almost hit that night. Two years later, while on a trip to Richmond, Klein mysteriously makes his way to Point Pleasant, West Virginia. From there, the weirdness ensues.

I’ll be the first to admit: this movie somewhat disappointed me. I guess it was because it wasn’t as scary as I was anticipating. Yet, I still enjoyed it very much. The cinematography and camera work on this movie is absolutely amazing, at turns beautiful and haunting. Gere actually does well for himself in this film, and Laura Linney turns in a decent performance as well. A common complaint I’ve heard about the movie is that the viewer never sees The Mothman, although in my opinion, this is a good thing. Keeping the exact nature of the creature a mystery heightens the atmosphere of the movie.

One word of advice: don’t read up too much on the story of Mothman before you see the movie; I went into it knowing the story, and it kind of diminished the fun. After you have seen the movie, however, head over to the movie’s official website and read up on it. There’s a lot more to it than what is in the movie.