I'm watching
The Mothman Prophecies again right now because it's just so well executed, oddly haunting, and completely unique, that I have to re-watch it periodically because nothing quite scratches my itch for eerie paranormal cinema like this film does. It's like it's still it's very own genre - it's not quite horror, but it is spooky in an entirely fresh way. It's not a thriller, but it has some thrilling moments. And it's too life-like to be considered fantasy or science fiction. And somehow I find it completely engaging even though Richard Gere plays the starring role (all of his other typically smug and bloodless performances leave me cold)...for which I'm grateful, because if he hadn't signed on to this film it would've ended up as a pathetic and underfunded pale B-movie shadow of what it actually is: a masterpiece of supernatural cinema.
I suspect that our former board member humanoidlord loved this movie so much that he chose to believe that it's a documentary. I'm more inclined to see it as John Keel's contribution to the literary genre of "magical reality" storytelling. But apparently there's enough supporting independent eyewitness testimony from the events at Point Pleasant that led to this book and film, that something really effed up may have actually happened there, prior to the obvious historical event. But how much of Keel's personal incidents from that period are true, and how many are symptoms of the DT's, and how many are just a skillful use of creative license...I have no idea. And honestly I think I prefer it that way, because the unresolved mystery definitely contributes to this film's timeless appeal and creepy gravitas.
I give this one at least a 9.5/10 because it's one of those weird and wonderful cases where even the weaknesses contribute an endearing charm to the lasting resonance that this film leaves with the viewer.