Review of The Mothman Prophecies (2002) by Christopher H — 21 Oct 2016

Richard Gere tends a hit or miss actor due to his limited range, but I actually really liked him in this underrated psychological horror-thriller.

Gere brings a compelling vulnerability to John Klein, a recently widowed reporter investigating the strange sightings of the Mothman in a lonely West Virginian town.

It's pretty slow-burn at the beginning, but once Klein arrives in Point Pleasant, the film never lets up with delivering smart scares and a super chilling atmosphere.

The sequence where Klein is in his hotel room talking to Indrid Cold on the phone is literally one of the freakiest horror movie scenes ever!!

I also really liked how the script manages to take it's real-life source material and seamlessly weave an examination of Klein's journey through grief and eventually acceptance. This film could have so easily been a X-Files knock-off but thankfully avoids those trappings, for the most part.

I probably would rate this movie higher if 10 or 20 minutes have been trimmed. I also thought the ending was technically great but seemed to abandon the great atmosphere the filmmakers did such a good job of setting up before.

Overall, this is a very high quality modern horror film.