Review: ‘Mothman’ has echoes of ‘X-Files’

Geoff Carter

Friday, Jan. 25, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.

'The Mothman Prophecies'

Other fans may disagree, but I've always thought that the keenest attribute of "The X Files" was the show's ability to scare the hell out of me every now and again. In its early seasons "X Files" was the darkest, most frightening show on television; it made "Twin Peaks" look like "SpongeBob SquarePants."

Even now -- with David Duchovny's Mulder gone, and Gillian Anderson's Scully bored beyond disbelief -- the show can still deliver a first-class jolt, which isn't easy to do on the small screen. About the most flattering thing I can say about Mark Pellington's "The Mothman Prophecies" is that it reminds me of "The X Files" in nearly every way -- from its made-for-TV story to the handful of genuine jolts it delivers.

Based on a novel by UFO hunter John Keel -- creator of the term "men in black," and all that it implies -- "The Mothman Prophecies" follows two dark years in the life of John Klein (Richard Gere), a Washington Post political columnist who loses his wife to a rare kind of brain tumor. "It's as if the universe just points at you, and says, 'Ah, there you are,' " he complains bitterly.

Klein may be more right than he knows. After a car crash that calls his wife's condition to the fore, she obsessively sketches a winged man -- dark, desperate portraits that could startle Louis Wain. They hang heavy in the widowed man's mind as he sets out to drive all night to an interview with the state governor -- and suddenly finds himself in Point Pleasant, W.Va., some 400 miles off course.

Klein has no idea how he came to there, let alone covered such a distance in less than an hour. But after a run-in with Gordon, an angry resident (Will Patton) who claims Klein has been stalking him, and meeting a local police sergeant (Laura Linney) who alludes to some strange goings-on around town, Gere's character is compelled to stay and investigate. His grim fascination with the town is compounded when those strange things begin happening to him.

For one thing, "mothman" sightings such as the one Klein's wife saw are proliferation across town. Gordon begins hearing voices predicting catastrophes -- plane crashes, earthquakes and the like -- and unknowingly introduces Klein to the "man" making them: a shadowy, chipmunk-voiced presence calling itself "Indrid Cold." In a truly frightening scene, Cold reads Klein's mind almost as fast as the reporter can think.

Previously, Pellington directed "Arlington Road." That film's spies-next-door conceit fuels some of "Mothman's" best tricks: No government expert is called in to denounce everything, and the dark forces at work are more or less recognized by everyone in town, which leaves only one option -- trying to ignore them.

Those are the only barricades Pellington and writer Richard Hatem build between themselves and Mulder and Scully. And they're almost enough: Since almost all the characters in "Mothman" believe in the darkness, the film's happenings almost seem real. (The film is allegedly "based on true events," but it deviates wildly from Keel's published account.)

Unfortunately, Pellington uses the same tired sound design that's besmirched hundreds of post-"Exorcist" horror films: the almost-subliminal sound of a woman's breathing, whispering voices and those idiotic "zings" that accompany nearly every significant event. The score, by commercial composers tomandandy, drones and chugs with early promise, but Pellington boxes it in fast.

It's hard to tell if Gere would have made any improvements on his character were they his to make. He has one look: intense. Sometimes it's happily intense or intensely sullen, but no matter either way: Without exception, he squints into the abyss for an hour and a half, in a manner Duchovny aped for "X Files." At least Duchovny knows when to break the deadpan with a sly wink; Gere's sour expression makes you tired after a while.

All told, "The Mothman Prophecies" is a moderately entertaining film and a decent "X Files" episode. Its biggest shock, however, came to me as I wrote this review: While researching the name "Indrid Cold" on the Web, I found references to individuals named Indrid Moth and Indrid Mulder. As any regular true believer knows, there are coincidences that aren't coincidences at all.