The Mothman Prophecies — The Mothman Prophecies( UHD/ Blu Ray)
The Mothman Prophecies is one key, wholly compelling, at points downright chilling supernatural thrillers of the 2000s. It tells of a grief-stricken reporter (Richard Gere) getting tangled up in the mysteries of a small Virginia town- where people are reporting premonitions, having encounters with red eyed/ eight foot cyprids, and getting phone calls from nonhuman entities. The film is a steady ‘n’ slow-burning affair heavy with a constant prevailing air of mystery and dread, with nerve-jangling moments of fearful reveal & out ‘n’ out terror. Here from 88 Films- as either a UHD or Blu-ray- is a much-needed new release of this creepy & unsettling classic. It features a new and classy 4k scan, two new commentary tracks, a new feature-length documentary, and a good selection of new/ archive extras.
The Mothman Prophecies is from the year 2003. It was directed by Baltimore born Mark Pellington- though outhis career he’s directing music videos- but also helmed a few features likes of political/ psychological thriller Arlington Road (1999), quirky comedy Henry Poole Is Here (2008), and avant-grade dance focused horror drama The Severing (2022).
Though the film is set in modern-day America, with purely fictional elements. It features events detailed in 1974’s nonfiction book of the same name, where journalist John Keel charts the encounters with the winged cryptid known as Mothman in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, during 1966 and 1967.
The film slides in just under the two-hour mark, and as mentioned earlier, it has a slow, steady, but ultimately captivating unfold. For the first fifteen/ twenty minutes of the film, we get to know our lead character, John Klein(Gere) - an up-and-coming political reporter- and the tragedy he endures in the first part of the film.
Then John is sent out to drive overnight to cover a story, but at two thirty am he ends up broken down at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We find out he’s several hundred miles away from where he’s meant to be- with a shotgun pointed at his head by stubbily/ bedraggled-haired local Gordon Smallwood (Will Patton) - who claims the reporter had been at his house at the same time the previous two nights.
As the film unfolds from here, John teams up with long blond haired/ haunted looking cop Connie (Laura Linney) and starts to try and figure out what’s going on in the West Virginia town. Talking to witnesses who have encountered a huge, winged & red-eyed creature. Receiving strange phone calls, and are seemingly getting premonitions of devastating events.
The film has a grim, yet moodily creative visual flow to it, with a most effective blend of low-key scoring and sound design. It’s largely a film that shows little of either its creature or horrors, leaving it to one’s imagination.
Gere is excellent here, selling well the grieving-to- obsessive reporter. With worthy mentions going to Will Patton as the is he crazy or not local man, and Alan Bates playing the twitchy/ fearful mothman expert.
Aside from a few swishing black & red colour tone effects, The Mothman Prophecies has a decidedly timeless feel. It must be ten or so years since I last saw it, and I must say it still retains it’s dread filled air/ moments of terror/ fearful reveals very well.
Moving onto the new extras side, and first off we get two new commentary tracks- the first is with Director Mark Pellington, Cinematographer Fred Murphy, Composer Andy Milburn, Editor Brian Berdan and Production Designer Richard Hoover. And the second is with Film Critic Kim Newman and filmmaker Sean Hogan- I played the second of these. And it was another entertaining & instresting track from these pros. They start off by talking about how the original Mothman Prophecies book now reads like unbelievable gibberish, but the film managed to pick out the most interesting elements of the story. They touch on the performance of Gere, and how good he is in the role- really pulling the viewer in. They talk about how the film feels post X-Files & Seven, with underlying influences of David Lynch. They comment on the airborn/ moth like shots in the film, and other visual elements. Later on, they chat about other films based on non-fiction books, and some of the problems with true crime/UFO/ haunted house books. How American Indian mythology feeds into the film in a very low key/ subtle manner, and much more.
Next we get a brand new documentary entitled Do Not Be Afraid: Investigating The Mothman Prophecies(120.50). It’s centred around an interview with director Mark Pellington- he starts by discussing his early career working for MTV, creating short films/ music videos that were often fairly experimental. He discusses working on Arlington Road, and how this led to producer Tom Rosenberg approaching him regarding The Mothman Prophecies- we find out the director batted back the requests several times, as the script went through many drafts with the appearance of the creature reducing. We find out via archive interviews that Gere was interested in the project from early on, though he was also not too keen when it was more of a creature feature. As we move on, we find out how the other lead cast were selected, and that sound designers/ composers- where put in place before the visual side of the crew. As the doc unfolds, we find out how the visual players were selected, the settling on the film's main location ( not Point Pleasant), and much more. It features (I’m presuming) new audio interviews with the likes of actor Will Patton, cinematographer Fred Murphy, production designer Richard Hoover, film editor Brian Berdan and composers tomandandy.. All in all, a most informative/ insightful documentary.
Otherwise, on the new side, we have the following: The Bridge - The Making Of The Bridge Sequence (17.22) & Mothman Under the Influence - Montage of Mark Pellington’s production archive featuring the music of David Ness ( 15.52).
Then we get a good selection of archive extras: Day by Day - A Director’s Journey Part 1: The Road In( 30.04), Day by Day - A Director’s Journey Part 2: The Road Home(30.05), Search For the Mothman Featurette ( 43.37), First Look Special ( 15.03), Archive featurette ( 6.18), Archive interviews with Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton and Mark Pellington ( 33.23), Deleted Scenes(12.14), "Halflight" 2002 music video by Low, Theatrical teaser, and Theatrical trailer
The Mothman Prophecies still stands as an impactful, at times downright terrifying supernatural thriller. This new 88 Films release presents us with a classy 4k print and a bulging selection of new/ archive extras, including, of course, the excellent feature-length doc.