The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 American supernatural horror-mystery film directed by Mark Pellington, and starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, with Will Patton, Debra Messing, Alan Bates and Lucinda Jenney in supporting roles.
Plot[]
Washington Post columnist John Klein and his wife Mary are involved in a car accident when Mary swerves to avoid a huge, flying, black figure that only she witnesses. John survives the crash unscathed, but Mary is hospitalized. There she is diagnosed with an unrelated brain tumor and dies shortly thereafter. John discovers her sketchbook of terrifying drawings of a "mothlike" creature with red eyes that she drew over and over while hospitalized.
Two years later, driving in the middle of the night to Richmond, Virginia, from Washington, D.C., his car breaks down, and he walks to a nearby house to get help. The owner, Gordon Smallwood, reacts violently to John's appearance and holds him at gunpoint. Local sheriff Connie Mills defuses the situation while Gordon claims that this is the third consecutive night when John has knocked on his door at 2:30 AM asking to use the phone. Connie and John try to make sense of these events. John checks in at a local motel and discovers that he is in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, just across the state line of Ohio, hundreds of miles off his route and having travelled the distance impossibly fast. He ponders how he ended up so far from his original destination.
Connie discloses to John that many strange things have been occurring in the past few weeks and that people have reported seeing a large winged creature like a giant moth with red eyes, with some witnesses making drawings of the creature similar to Mary's. She also tells him about a strange dream that she had, in which the words, "Wake up, Number 37," were spoken to her as she drifts in open water. During a conversation with Gordon, he reveals to John that he has heard voices coming from his sink, telling him that, in Denver, "99 will die." While discussing the day's events at a local diner, John notices that the news is showing the story of an airplane crash in Denver that killed all 99 passengers and crew aboard.
The next night Gordon frantically explains that the voices in his head emanate from a being named Indrid Cold. Later on, Gordon calls John on the phone and says that he is standing next to Indrid Cold. While John keeps Cold on the line, Connie checks on Gordon. Cold gives John details about his life that only he knows and John tests Cold with questions that only someone in the same room could answer correctly, which Cold does. John is convinced that Cold is a supernatural being. Meanwhile, Connie hammers on Gordon's door. Gordon answers sleepily and says that he has been in bed for hours.
This particular event escalates a string of supernatural calls to John's motel room from Cold. One tells him that there will be a great tragedy on the Ohio River. Later, John receives a cryptic call from Gordon and rushes to his home to check on him. He finds Gordon outside, dead from exposure, though the police estimate that he died hours before he called John.
John becomes obsessed with the local "Mothman" legend as some of the messages and apparitions imitate Mary, and he arranges to meet an expert on the subject, Alexander Leek. Leek explains its enigmatic nature and discourages John from becoming further involved, warning him that attempting to prevent predicted events is futile. However, when John learns that the governor plans to tour a chemical plant located on the Ohio River the following day, he becomes convinced that the tragedy will occur there. Connie and the governor ignore his warnings, and nothing happens during the tour.
Soon after, John receives a mysterious letter that instructs him to await a call from his deceased wife Mary back in Georgetownon Christmas Eve at noon. He returns home to wait for her call. On Christmas Eve, Connie calls John to convince him to ignore the phone call from "Mary," return to Point Pleasant, and join her and her family for Christmas Eve dinner. She says he shouldn't be alone on that night as it is "no way to be," then ends the call to allow John to make his decision. Though anguished, John realizes his obsession is isolating him, and decides to return to Point Pleasant to spend the holiday with Connie.
As John reaches the Silver Bridge, malfunctioning traffic lights cause traffic congestion on the bridge. Hearing the bolts and supports of the overloaded bridge straining, John realizes that the prophesied tragedy on the Ohio River was about the bridge, not the power plant. The bridge comes apart, and, as it collapses, Connie's Jeep falls into the water. John jumps in after her and pulls her from the river to safety. As the two sit in the back of an ambulance, they are informed that 36 people have been killed. That makes Connie the "number 37" from her dream.
The film ends with a claim that the cause of the bridge collapse was never fully determined, and that although Mothman has been sighted in other parts of the world, it was never seen again in Point Pleasant.
Cast[]
- Richard Gere as John Klein
- Laura Linney as Connie Mills
- Will Patton as Gordon Smallwood
- Debra Messing as Mary Klein
- Lucinda Jenney as Denise Smallwood
- Alan Bates as Alexander Leek
- David Eigenberg as Ed Fleischman
- Bob Tracey as Cyrus Bills
- Bill Laing as Indrid Cold
- Mark Pellington as Bartender / Indrid Cold (voice)