The Mothman Prophecies

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Movie
German title The Mothman Prophecies
Original title The Mothman Prophecies
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2002
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Mark Pellington
script Richard Hatem
production Gary W. Goldstein ,
Gary Lucchesi ,
Tom Rosenberg
music Tomandandy
camera Fred Murphy
cut Brian Berdan
occupation

The Mothman Prophecies , including The Mothman Prophecies - Deadly visions or The Mothman Prophecies - Deadly Visions , is a mystery - thriller from director Mark Pellington from the year 2002 . The film is based on the non-fiction book ofthe same nameby John A. Keel . The focus is on a fabulous being, the Mothman (Eng. "Mottenmann").

action

Journalist John Klein has just bought a new house with his wife Mary. On the way back, Mary suddenly loses control of the car and has to be hospitalized after hitting a tree. The doctors diagnosed the seriously injured patient with a tumor in the temporal lobe from which she died a short time later. John learns from her notes that his wife has had frequent hallucinations of a moth man recently. The apparition had probably also frightened her in the accident.

Two years later, John travels from Washington for an interview with a governor to Richmond . On the way, however, he is stopped by a breakdown. In the middle of the night he wants to ask local residents for help, but the landlord Gordon Smallwood threatens him with a gun. He tells the summoned policewoman Connie Mills that John has been visiting him for the third night in a row. However, the journalist doesn't even know where he is. When he learns that after a two-hour drive he is supposed to be in Point Pleasant, 600 kilometers away on the border between West Virginia and Ohio , he cannot explain this in any way. In addition, according to a car mechanic, his car is undamaged.

Then John decides to investigate the matter. During his research in Point Pleasant, he learns that there have been numerous inexplicable phenomena in the place in the past few months. A stranger in particular, who warns of catastrophes in anonymous phone calls under the pseudonym Indrid Cold, creates uncertainty . During a conversation between John and Connie, a caller answers in Gordon's voice claiming that Indrid Cold is with him. When John talks to the stranger, he is surprised to find that he knows some personal things about him. It turns out, however, that Gordon didn't call and that the voice wasn't human.

John wants to go to Chicago with the parapsychologist and physicist Dr. Alexander Leek - palindrome for (John A.) Keel - speak, but he refuses any information and only warns him. Gordon loses his job in a chemical plant and is found dead in the woods a few days later. Although forensic evidence indicates that he was dead at least eight hours ago, John received a call from him just an hour earlier. When John again with Dr. Asks Leek, the scientist tells him that he had heard strange prophecies a few years ago . Nobody took his warnings seriously, everyone thought he was crazy. One of the statements was about a disaster on the Ohio River . John knows the chemical plant is on the bank and connects with Gordon. John tries in vain to prevent the governor from visiting this factory because he fears an explosion. When John receives a letter in a bar announcing a call from his late wife on Christmas Eve, he rushes home. A few minutes before the expected call, Connie also answers to invite him to Ohio, but John wants to wait for Mary's call first. Shortly afterwards, the phone rings again and doesn't go silent when John pulls the cable out of the socket.

John makes his way back to Point Pleasant. When he arrives at a bridge over the Ohio, he sees a traffic jam ahead of him. Then it suddenly becomes clear to him that this will be the place of the prophesied catastrophe, and the first suspensions of the bridge are already loosening. He tries desperately to warn the other drivers and also discovers Connie's patrol car. He can't prevent her car from crashing with the bridge, but he saves the policewoman from the river. For 36 other people, however, any help comes too late. The causes of the catastrophe and the questions raised in the film about the identity and motives of Indrid Cold remain unresolved.

Actual background

On December 15, 1967 at exactly 5:04 p.m., the Silver Bridge collapsed over the Ohio River. It connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Kanauga, Ohio. 46 people were killed. What made this disaster seem so extraordinary were the alleged sightings between November 1966 and December 1967 of a creature known as Mothman . Most of the encounters with the Mothman are said to have taken place in the so-called "TNT Area" near Point Pleasant. Eyewitnesses described the creature as a "huge butterfly", "brown human being" and "seven feet [= 2.13 meters] tall man with wings on his back". The creature is said to have had "big, red eyes" "like the taillights of a car". The various paranormal incidents surrounding the bridge collapse were recorded by journalist John A. Keel , who was researching UFO sightings in the Point Pleasant area at the time .

The "TNT Area" was an area on which a myriad of small concrete igloos stood, in which ammunition had been stored during the Second World War. After the Silver Bridge collapsed, the Mothman was never seen again. People therefore began to associate the disaster with the Mothman. Allegedly puzzling messages were left. Today a metal plate on the so-called Mothman Bridge points to the events in December 1967.

Reviews

“Shakespeare already knew that there are more things between heaven and earth than our wisdom can dream of. Only films are made in this world, where hackneyed things like The Mothman Prophecies can quickly appear ridiculous. Fortunately, Mark Pellington ( Arlington Road ) makes time for what an X-Files- style mystery thriller needs: a dark, eerie atmosphere. Despite all the skepticism about the 'real' events: the eerily beautiful discomfort that the film creates cannot be denied. And who knows? The truth is out there."

- TV movie

“Mystery thriller that is carried effectively by the actors' presence on the screen and the original soundtrack. The dramaturgical clichés of the script are of course not always convincingly balanced by the visually stylish staging. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

  • Golden Reel Award from Motion Picture Sound Editors , 2003

continuation

In 2010, the Sci Fi Channel produced a sequel called Mothman - The Return .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate of Release for The Mothman Prophecies . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2006 (PDF; test number: 89 911 DVD).
  2. ↑ tvspielfilm.de
  3. ↑ The Mothman Prophecies. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used