BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: From the director of ARLINGTON ROAD comes a spine-tingling, supernatural thriller based on actual events that will rattle your nerves and shake your beliefs. Distraught by the sudden, tragic death of his wife (Debra Messing), John Klein (Richard Gere), is mysteriously drawn to a small West Virginia town that has been beset by bizarre events, including sightings of an eerie “moth-like” entity. You’ll grip the edge of your seat as Richard Gere challenges you to believe in the Mothman.

FILM REVIEW: If you can imagine “The X-Files” with Richard Gere and Laura Linney in the lead roles, then you have a fairly accurate description of what to expect from “The Mothman” Prophecies. Based on events that occurred in Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the United States, this effectively creepy, but meandering piece of work follows the investigation in to a series of paranormal occurrences in the small town by Washington journalist John Klein as he is mysteriously drawn in to the strange things going on to the residents, who are otherwise normal and sane people. The film is very atmospheric, going for spine-tingling chills rather than cattle-prod horror movie scares, and the performances of the two stars are quite strong. However, director Mark Pellington does not quite focus the narrative enough to fully drive home the paranormal aspects to the story, leaving a film that is very watchable, but at the same time, not overtly satisfying by its conclusion. “The Mothman Prophecies” is an interesting film, but is forgettable after you’ve finished it.

Although this film is based on actual events that occurred in the 1960’s, director Pellington has chosen to disregard much of the detail surrounding those events (apparently there were UFOs and Men In Black in the true story), instead focusing on the sightings of the “Mothman” and the Point Pleasant bridge collapse to hang his fictional story of journalist Richard Klein (Richard Gere) and his investigation of what is happening. The film begins with a fairly hum-drum romance subplot which takes an unexpected and incredibly dramatic turn when Klein’s wife suffers major head injuries in a car accident after she sees the Mothman flying straight at her. The scene itself is quite chilling and sets the film off on a strong course, with Klein disturbed by the eerie drawings made be his wife in hospital of the “Mothman”. He picks up the case two years later when he unknowingly drives all the way through the night to Point Pleasant, drawn by the same entity which has been witnessed by dozens of locals. Given the connection to his wife’s experience, Klein begins to investigate; an investigation which turns in to obsession when he discovers that the paranormal sightings are linked to premonitions and prophecies of disaster which he believes he can avert if he can understand the paranormal occurrences.

For a spooky thriller, the film has a lot going for it, but the film does meander and lose focus as it progresses, largely because it cannot find a balance between the paranormal sightings and the idea of premonitions. Is the film about strange entities impacting the lives of everyday people, or is it about changing the course of the future? It seems that the lack of fusion between these two underlying themes of the film mean that they should have been separated in to two different films, because they give off two different tones that conflict when put together. They are both intriguing, but since they do not come together very well, the dramatic thrust does not work. As for the “Mothman” itself, there is only one sighting in the entire film (the opening car accident sequence), and one eye witness account. The rest of the film brings up spooky voices, weird voicemail messages and “oh my god, it came true!” moments. Again, watching the film is not a waste of time because it covers some interesting territory, but more work on finding a clear theme would have made it great.

Richard Gere and Laura Linney do very respectable jobs in their starring roles, grounding the film in a reality that could have easily not been there given the fantastical nature of the plot. This is especially true of Gere, particularly in the moments when he begins to communicate with the entities via his hotel room phone; a couple of creepy moments where he looks at himself in the mirror are some of the best in the film, but his ability to make you believe in the weirdness of it all is commendable. Likewise Linney has to play in to this as well, and her grand moment comes at the end of the film when she finally understands the meaning of a premonition she had in a dream. It’s a moment that she plays very well. Most of the acting moments in this film are quite strong, however, the subplot involving a professor who has experience with the “Mothman” does not work too well, largely due to the annoying direction that character takes as he ‘explains’ (or doesn’t) the situation to Klein.

The visuals, soundtrack and production design are absolutely first rate, giving a unique, rich and three dimensional aspect to the film. The swooping shots from the sky are particularly effective, giving the impression of something watching over the Point Pleasant town’s people. The music is effectively creepy as well. As I mentioned in the opening to this review, the whole exercise feels like an X-Files episode, but without the clarity needed to drive the dramatic points home.

“The Mothman Prophecies” is a good film to watch, but it does not hit the ball out of the park, and in some instances, struggles to hit the ball at all. It would make for a decent X-Files episode, but I suspect Mulder and Scully may have done better any way.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: The film has been given a fabulous transfer, with most of the picture looking very strong, crisp and colourful throughout. The audio is very clear and crisp, perfectly capturing the eerie, X-Files like music and sound whilst delivering a very atmospheric surround sound.

EXTRAS REVIEW: There are a number of extras on this DVD. The biggest extra is the engaging, hour long “Search for the Mothman” documentary which goes in to the history of the phenomenon explored in the movie and its appearances in the United States and around the world. There’s a two part “Director’s Journey” which is unique in that it offers a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ approach to the production as its largely an assembly of raw footage shot from the set. Another major and in-depth extra is the director’s audio commentary, which although a little dry to listen to, does cover a lot about the film, its origins and execution. These three extras alone make for quite interesting viewing and provide quite a rich complement to the film itself. The remaining extras include the original trailer, deleted scenes, talent profiles, a music video from the film and bonus trailers from other movies. This is a very strong complement of extras.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it.