It’s rather odd that a small, provincial supernatural legend has managed to spawn two films, especially as that legend is incredibly dumb. Buy hey, the 2002 Richard Gere movie The Mothman Prophecies was actually a lot better than it had any right to be. Sadly the same can’t be said for Mothman.
A group of teenagers are having a swim one night and telling scary stories about the local legend of the mothman a man shaped killer creature said to live nearby to one of their younger brothers. Deciding the kid isn’t scared enough, they start to prank him, pulling him under the water, but soon things have gone too far and he’s drowned. 10 years later one of the teens, Katherine (Firefly’s Jewel Staite), is now a journalist sent back to her hometown to report on the local mothman festival. Almost as soon as she arrives and all those responsible for the drowning are back together, the mothman turns out to be very real. It’s a demonic avenging angel that emerges out of reflective surfaces to kill those who’ve gotten away with murder, and it’s determined to kill everyone involved in the death of the boy.
I don’t think I really need to say much more as you can probably tell just from that synopsis that this is not going to be joining Halloween and Psycho among the all-time horror greats. While there are worse films out there, Mothman ain’t great, with a plot that ranges from the perfunctory to the downright dumb, a bunch of completely interchangeable characters and a killer creature that lacks any logic, even on its own terns, with its exact need for reflections changing from appearance to appearance. It doesn’t help either that the Mothman special effects are pretty rubbish, and it rather undermines any terror when it look like our protagonists are being attacked by CGI trash bags with glowing red eyes.
However I’m sure there are many of you out there who like low-rent horror, and it does just about fit the bill on that score, although if you’re hoping the gore will make up for the daftness of the rest of the film, there’s a bit of blood and guts, but not a vast amount. My personal Mothman Prophecy is that most people watching this will think it’s a bit rubbish.
Overall Verdict: Low rent horror which just about passes the time even if it’s interminably dumb.
Special Features:
Trailer
Reviewer: Tim Isaac