Line #37 Film/TheMothmanProphecies


1	[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_mothman_prophecies.png]]
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3	InspiredBy real events occurring between November 1966 and December 1967 in the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Produced by Lake Shore Entertainment released by Screen Gems and directed by Mark Pellington.
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5	The film starts with a reporter, John Klein (Creator/RichardGere), and his wife Mary (Creator/DebraMessing) looking for a new house. They get into a car accident, during which Mary first witnesses the Mothman. She is later diagnosed with a brain tumor and dies soon after. Before she dies, she draws [[RoomFullOfCrazy some really creepy pictures]] of a WingedHumanoid.
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7	A couple years later, John gets lost on a road trip and ends up in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a normally sleepy backwoods town; however the townsfolk have become wary of strangers because of the recent supernatural events. The townsfolk have had a series of encounters with {{the Mothman}}, and soon a mysterious being named Indrid Cold calls John in the middle of the night. With the help of a local police officer, Sergeant Connie Mills (Creator/LauraLinney), John tries to solve the meaning of the Mothman's presence.
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9	The movie is based on a book written by journalist, parapsychologist, and ufologist John A. Keel which was first published in 1975, studying the events that occurred in the town in 1969. Despite the [[CoversAlwaysLie title, the original cover art, and later, the art of the movie poster]], the book focused mostly on the UFO sightings in Point Pleasant at the time along with some mention of shifty [[TheMenInBlack men in black]] snooping around, with only a few chapters dedicated to the sightings of the Mothman entity. The documentary ''Eyes of the Mothman'' recounted the story in connection with various legends such as the Curse of Cornstalk.
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11	----
12	!!This film provides examples of:
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14	* AgentMulder (Alexander Leek) and AgentScully (Connie)
15	* AlternateHistory: The movie takes place in a world where the sudden rash of Mothman sightings in Point Pleasant and the collapse of the Silver Bridge, two real-world events that occurred in 1966-67, instead happen in the early 2000s. The film also changes the date of the bridge collapse (December 15 to December 24) and the death toll (46 to 36). Additionally, in the movie there are hundreds if not thousands of other Mothman sightings from all over the world, both before and after the Point Pleasant incident; in reality, reported Mothman sightings are pretty much exclusive to West Virginia, there have only been a handful since 1966-67, and ''none'' prior to that.
16	* AmbiguouslyEvil: The Mothman itself certainly looks and behaves in a very sinister manner, but it never does anything overtly malicious, as is Indrid Cold (who may or may not be the Mothman himself in the film.)
17	* ArcWords:
18	** "Wake up, number 37."
19	** "Ruin."
20	** "I'll see you in time."
21	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "In the end it all came down to just one simple question. Which was more important - having proof, or being alive?"
22	* AuthorAvatar: Alexander Leek (Keel spelled backward)
23	* BeingWatched: One of the running themes. John at times can sense someone or some''thing'' watching him, such as when he's sitting alone on a bench in a wintry Washington, DC, and very often, the camera will appear to be the POV of something watching him, and occasionally swooping or flying away.
24	-->'''Leek:''' You noticed them, and they noticed that you noticed them.
25	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The Silver Bridge collapses, 36 people die and none of the mysterious occurrences are ''ever'' explained. However, John reconciles the death of his wife, saves Connie--the person who helps him reconcile and likely saved his life--and possibly saves many other lives just by being there to warn people off the bridge sooner.]]
26	* BlessedWithSuck: The Mothman, Indrid Cold, the predictions, all of the mysterious occurrences are something that are undeniably attractive, but Leek knows that it's a trap, Gordon falls into the trap, and John has to fight to pass up the temptations, including a chance to reunite with his dead wife.
27	-->'''Leek:''' Whatever brought you there [Point Pleasant], brought you there to ''die''.
28	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Discussed and clearly in effect (Leek: "Their motivations aren't ''human''"). The motives of the Mothman are unknown and unlikely to make sense to humans.
29	--> '''John:''' I think we can assume that these entities are more advanced than us. Why don't they just come right out and tell us what's on their minds?
30	--> '''Leek:''' You're more advanced than a cockroach. Have you ever tried explaining yourself to one of them?
31	* CaptainErsatz: Gordon Smallwood is ''very'' loosely based on Woodrow Derenberger. His encounter with Indrid Cold is one of the things faithful to the Mothman mythos.
32	* CassandraDidIt: Possibly the Mothman.
33	* CentralTheme: Letting go of the past, and TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow.
34	-->'''Leek:''' Which [is] more important -- having proof, or being alive?
35	* ColorMotif: The color red is used ''very'' sparingly, and always appears when the Mothman is present, physically or no (which is in keeping with the legend of its unnaturally red eyes.) His wife also has a red motif (striking red hair and lipstick), which ties her into the second half of the film.
36	* CompositeCharacter: In the book (and, presumably, the original stories Keel was reporting), Indrid Cold and the Mothman were separate entities, but the movie lumps them together. This is probably for the best, since the book's Cold was a perpetually grinning man who rode around on a flying chimney.
37	* CoolCar: Mary's 1988 BMW 528e, John's 2000 Audi [=A8L=], Connie's 1984 Jeep Cherokee XJ take-home patrol vehicle, Gordon's 1985 Chevrolet C-10 and CJ's 1965 Chevrolet Impala SS.
38	** [[spoiler:The BMW strikes ''something'' that leaves a burn mark on its front bumper and grill. Mary ends up hitting her head against the driver side window, cracking it but not shattering it. The car otherwise remains intact.]]
39	** [[spoiler:Somehow, the [=A8L=] covers 400 miles in less than 90 minutes despite John claiming he only did 80[[note]]The 2000 Audi [=A8L=] is speed limited to 130MPH and you'd have to go 267MPH to cover the same distance in that time.[[/note]] the whole way. It also instantly transitions from an Interstate highway to a rural highway and breaks down within walking distance of Gordon's house in Point Pleasant. A local mechanic finds nothing wrong with it and it otherwise runs flawlessly for the rest of the film.]]
40	** [[spoiler:During the Silver Bridge collapse, the Impala is struck by a support cable, killing CJ instantly.]]
41	** [[spoiler:The Jeep ends up in the river with an unconscious Connie inside it, but an air pocket saves her from drowning and the vehicle's light bar marks its location underwater allowing John to rescue her.]]
42	* CreatorCameo: Director Mark Pellington provides the voice of Indrid Cold. He also shows up as a bartender.
43	* DarkIsNotEvil: The Mothman ''seems'' to take a relatively benign interest in humanity, but then, it's hard to tell.
44	* DarkReprise: Mary apologizes for "ruining" everything, and tells John she's "sorry". Those words are repeated later in John's head, with a different subtext.
45	* DeadpanSnarker: Connie.
46	-->'''Connie:''' I grew up right over that hill.\
47	'''John:''' On a farm?\
48	'''Connie:''' ''(exaggerated hillbilly accent)'' Shucks, no! A real live house. Indoor plumbing and everything!\
49	'''John:''' ''(grinning)'' Sorry.\
50	'''Connie:''' ''(exaggerated hillbilly accent)'' We even had shoes for church and schoolin' and stuff!
51	** Also the Mothman himself: "''Still more proof, John Klein?''"
52	* DecompositeCharacter:
53	** John Keel - the paranormal writer who authored the book that the film is based on - is divided into protagonist John Klein (who is changed into a Washington Post journalist who ends up in the town accidentally and under bizarre circumstances, instead of having deliberately gone there to investigate like Keel) and Alexander Leek, a paranormal investigator who Klein consults with during his investigation, and who conveys some of the real Keel's interpretations of the subject matter.
54	** The characters of Connie Mills (a Point Pleasant police officer who assists John in his investigation) and John Klein's late wife Mary are a decomposite of journalist Mary Hyre, a colleague of Keel's who assisted him in his investigation, and who sadly died of illness not long after the events in question. Keel dedicated the book to her.
55	* DespairEventHorizon: A subtle one, but when Connie finds out [[spoiler:Gordon somehow called John seven hours after his death]], she mutters, "I can't stand this."
56	* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Gordon Smallwood]]
57	* DreamingOfThingsToCome:
58	** Gordon has predictions from daymares, starting with predicting the death of 99 people in a plane crash.
59	** Connie has a recurring dream, describing how she was trying to swim to saftey while drowning in a freezing river, inexplicably surrounded by presents followed by a voice saying "Wake up, number thirty seven". [[spoiler: These refer to the Silver Bridge collapsing on Christmas Eve, in which Connie also falls into the river and nearly drowns. After John saves her, they find that thirty six people died.]]
60	* EurekaMoment: [[spoiler: Just as the Silver Bridge was going to collapse, John's has a realization that ''this'' was what the "Great Tragedy on the Ohio River" refers too.]]
61	* EvilPhone. Not quite evil, but thoroughly creepy, since his voice patterns were "outside of human vocal range". And then there's the phone that rings [[spoiler: even after Klein yanks the cord out of the wall.]]
62	* EyeScream: Looking at The Mothman causes the eyes to inflate and bleed. This actually happened to one of the Mothman witnesses -- the diagnosis was actinic conjunctivitis from being exposed to extreme ''ultraviolet radiation''.
63	* FireForgedFriends: John and Connie. John and the Smallwoods, too.
64	* TheFilmOfTheBook: Very loosely.
65	* {{Foreshadowing}}: There are many, but the most pointed is John's last conversation with Gordon in person is them [[spoiler:standing on the Silver Bridge]].
66	* GlowingEyesOfDoom / RedEyesTakeWarning: How the residents describe the Mothman.
67	* AGodIAmNot: Certainly not said by the Mothman/Indrid Cold entity itself, but discussed by the human characters. Alexander Leek insists with Klein that the entity(entities?)'s omniscience doesn't necessarily implies godhood, being just a matter of perspective from inhabiting a higher dimensional plane.
68	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:During the Silver Bridge collapse, Connie stays on the bridge to warn people off and goes back to her cruiser to radio for help. She gets knocked out and falls into the river inside her cruiser. She survives.]]
69	* HorrorStruck
70	* HumanoidAbomination: The Mothman, if you don't consider it to be an AnimalisticAbomination.
71	* IntrepidReporter: John is a writer for the Washington Post, which gives him the means to carry out his Mothman investigations.
72	* JustOneSecondOutOfSync: Watch carefully: in one scene, John Klein's reflection ''is out of sync'' with Klein himself.
73	* KnightInSourArmor: Leek comes off as this, having become cynical and jaded over his experiences with the Mothman and how it affected his life and relationships.
74	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: John has to learn to do this over the course of the movie. Some things are just not worth it.
75	* TheLostLenore: Mary's presence hangs over the film like a shroud.
76	* MacabreMothMotif: {{Deconstructed}}. Leek talks about the theme of the moth as a LegacyCharacter throughout history.
77	* MadnessMantra: The pages in Mary's notebook depict not only images of the Mothman, but written texts reading '''ruin ruin ruin ruin ruin ruin ruin ruin ruin ruin ruin'''
78	* MakeOutPoint: One of the places the Mothman shows up.
79	* ManlyTears:
80	-->'''John Klein:''' ''(bursting into tears)'' I miss her so much!
81	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Was it the Mothman Mary saw, or a hallucination caused by a tumor Or was the tumor ''caused'' by the Mothman?
82	* TheMenInBlack: Book only, and reported to have happened by townspeople and the newspaper editor.
83	* MirrorScare: Described by Gordon, that he looked into a mirror at one point and saw something he couldn't describe, but was certainly not himself. Later, after a scene in which John stares into a medicine cabinet mirror, and smashes his head into it -- which turns out to be a vision. Later, he slams a mirrored cabinet door while walking away... and for a brief moment, a strange visage is shown reflected in it.
84	* TheMothman: The movie's titular creature. Throughout the film, the main characters are vexed by dreams, omens and mysterious phone calls stating cryptic hints that about upcoming disaster, alongside visits by the Mothman itself. The omens hint at a disaster approaching the Ohio river, which eventually reveals itself as [[spoiler:the historic Silver Bridge collapse that birthed the Mothman's legend]].
85	* {{Motif}}: Repeatedly, the film emphasizes pairs of red lights so that they resemble eyes, indicating the ubiquitous hypothetical presence of the Mothman. As well, the wings of the Mothman (appearing like the letter 'y', usually lower-case) shows up several times; one of the first shots of the film are Mary's name with a pronounced 'y', which is a bit of {{Foreshadowing}}. [[spoiler:One of the last shots of the film, the lights of cars submerged in the Ohio River form the 'y'.]]
86	* MrExposition: Leek gives the BackStory of Mothman, but subverted in that he only knows the background, and has no idea what's going on himself.
87	* NightmareFuelColoringBook: Mary's little drawings are full of Mothman pictures. The orderly mistakes them for pictures of angels.
88	* TheNotLoveInterest: John and Connie have a special bond and share a lot of chemistry, but it seems to be of friendship, not romance. Even if Connie were the perfect future partner, John is still too raw from Mary's death, even two years later.
89	* NothingIsScarier: Indrid Cold is never seen. The happenings in Point Pleasant are never explained. The camera is often positioned in a manner that implies the characters are being watched -- but we never see what's watching them. And it is ''creepy''.
90	* OhCrap: [[spoiler: John, realizing the "tragedy on the River Ohio" won't be the chemical plant, but the Silver Bridge.]]
91	* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: The Mothman is a (presumably) real cryptid alleged to be connected with a genuine historical bridge collapse.
92	* PhoneCallFromTheDead:
93	** John receives a phone call from what appears to be his wife at one point. [[spoiler:He is told that he will receive a call from her at a specific date and time, but at Connie's urging, John learns to let go of her, just as the phone rings out at the time Mary was supposed to call. This in turn, leads to John saving Connie from drowning in the river.]]
94	** [[spoiler: Possibly Gordon as well. Connie estimates that he died eight hours before John found his body. But John apparently received a call from Gordon only ''one hour'' before he found the body.]]
95	* POVCam: Maybe? The camera behaves like it, swooping, flying, sneaking up from behind, eavesdropping from above, but there's no evidence it's the Mothman.
96	* PropheticFallacy. John initially believes that the "tragedy on the Ohio River" will involve the local chemical plant, but it actually occurs much later [[spoiler:when the Silver Bridge collapses]].
97	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Sergeant Connie Mills is a friendly, honest, and approachable police officer. A lot of the information that John learns about the Point Pleasant Mothman encounters is due to her help and people's willingness to approach and talk to her.
98	* RedHerring: [[spoiler: The disaster will be at the chemical plant. It won't be.]]
99	* SanitySlippage: It seems to be a natural consequence of prolonged exposure to the Mothman, and in turn leads to death. It's implied that it might have had something to do with Mary's death; Gordon suffers through this, [[spoiler:and dies from exposure as a result.]] Leek was previously institutionalized because TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, losing his family in the process, and warns John he's skipping merrily down the same destructive path by trying to understand the Mothman.
100	* SdrawkcabName: Leek is based on author Keel.
101	* ShipTease: John and Connie have chemistry, they deeply care for one another in a short period of time, but it's obvious if Connie ''did'' have romantic feelings for John, John's too raw from the loss of his wife to be receptive.
102	* ShoutOut: Perhaps unintentional or intentional; Leek's story of knowing a [[Film/ArlingtonRoad building was going to blow up]] and no one listened.
103	* ShownTheirWork: The pencil and ink "angels" drawn in Mary's book are actual sketches of the Mothman from witnesses.[[note]]The filled in, gradient "demon" drawings are invented ones from the film.[[/note]]
104	* SpeakOfTheDevil: Of sorts, playing into the BlueAndOrangeMorality of the Mothman. According to Leek, we noticed it first, and it noticed that we noticed it.
105	* StableTimeLoop: Inverted: Gordon claims John visited them at the same time three nights in a row, which John knows is impossible.
106	* SurrealHorror: It's the sort of movie where a shot of the protagonist holding Chap-Stick in a motel room is one of the most unnerving in the whole film.
107	* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Leek tells John that his search for answers regarding the Mothman and trying to understand what he cannot understand will only lead to ruin, with Leek explaining how his own experiences with the Mothman effectively ruined his life. John is warned that his search for answers is putting him on the same path. It's implied that this kind of exposure is in some way responsible for Mary's death, [[spoiler:and later Gordan's.]]
108	-->'''John:''' Didn't you ''need'' to know?
109	-->'''Leek:''' ''({{beat}})'' We're not ''allowed'' to know.
110	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Indrid Cold's voice is sometimes just barely audible underneath the voices of other characters John speaks to over the phone. According to director Mark Pellington, the intent was to suggest that all of the strange happenings might be in John's head.
111	* TooHappyToLive: Mixed with CosmicPlaything. John speculates aloud he thinks Mary's death was the direct result of their happy marriage and the life that was ahead of them.
112	-->'''John:''' Two weeks ago, we were house hunting. One day you're just driving along in your car, and the universe just points at you and says, "Ah, there you are: a happy couple. I've been looking for you. I've been looking for you."
113	* TouchedByVorlons: What happens to everyone who encounters the Mothman and/or Indrid Cold.
114	-->'''Leek:''' You noticed them, and they noticed that you noticed them.
115	* TwistedChristmas: [[spoiler:The bridge collapse happens on Christmas Eve.]]
116	* UrbanLegend: Based on a real-life urban legend.
117	* TheUnreveal:
118	** You ''never'' get to see Indrid Cold.
119	** John never answers the phone in Georgetown.
120	* TheUnsolvedMystery: Onscreen text at the end of the film states that the cause of the Silver Bridge collapse was never determined. [[note]]This is a departure from the actual collapse in 1967, which was determined to have been caused due to the failure of I-bar 330, which brought the entire bridge down due to a lack of redundancy.[[/note]] More broadly, neither the characters nor the audience ever learn who or what the Mothman/Indrid Cold really is.
121	* TheUnTwist: You know the Mothman? That entity which the main characters know is real and they're trying to prove it? Turns out in the end, ''he's real''! And he saved their lives! Suggesting that in fact, he's on our side! Or... he could just be fascinated with our actions much like how a kid will watch ants react to a small fire.
122	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: [[spoiler:For one, the Silver Bridge disaster happened in the late '60s. Second, the Silver Bridge was a chain-link bridge, an unusual construction with no redundancy, that is, if one link fails, they all fail. So, unlike the movie's explanation that the cause of the collapse was never determined, in actuality it was discovered to be a micro-fracture that developed over time, exacerbated by heavy traffic that it was never intended to handle (like 18-wheeler trucks), that caused a sequential bridge failure. For this reason, most monster hunters think that the Mothman was there to warn the public of the impending disaster.]]
123	* VoiceOfTheLegion: Indrid Cold.
124	* WeirdnessMagnet: The Mothman/Indrid Cold seems to get attached to individuals, and pester them with cryptic -- and not-so-cryptic -- phrases and predictions. At ''best'', all you get are harassing phone calls like the fire department chief.
125	* YouAreNotAlone: Connie tells John to get out of Georgetown, because at Point Pleasant, he won't be alone.
126	* YouCantFightFate: Connie then tells John that bad things happen to good people: planes crash, earthquakes happen, and loved ones die. [[spoiler:Bridges collapse, too.]] They can't be stopped or reversed, and the point is to be with people who are alive and enjoy being with you.
127	* YouAreNumberSix: [[spoiler:Connie]] is Number 37.
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