The Mothman Prophecies (PG-13)
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This movie came out in 2002. Sometime thereafter, if I recall correctly, it was recommended to me by someone, and I watched it at some point, but didn't really care for it. This may have been before I started writing reviews, or I may simply have decided I didn't care enough to write one. But years later, in 2022, I finally rewatched it just to write a review. I didn't remember anything about it before watching it for the second time, and while watching it, nothing about it seemed especially familiar. And for most of the time, I found it pretty boring. I did kind of like the end, though. It's loosely based on a book I haven't read, which is based on events that happened in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966-67, but the movie is set in 2002-04. I'm sure I must have heard of the Mothman elsewhere besides this movie. It's a sort local folklore in W.V., but it reminds me of creepypastas like Slenderman.

Anyway, Richard Gere plays a Washington Post reporter named John Klein, who is married to a woman named Mary (Debra Messing). One night while driving she sees a terrifying creature that causes her to crash the car, though John didn't see it. Shortly thereafter it's discovered that she has a rare form of tumor, and soon dies. Two years later, John is driving somewhere or other, I forget where, to interview some politician. But he never gets where he's going. Instead, he winds up in Point Pleasant, which was hours out of his way, and he couldn't possibly have gotten there in the time he spent driving. So that's weird. Then his car breaks down, and even though it's like 2:30 AM, he knocks on someone's door to use the phone (which seemed odd to me, because he had a cell phone and there was no indication that it wasn't working, as far as I could see). Personally I'd never knock on someone's door to ask for help of any kind, especially not in the middle of the night. But whatever. The man who answers the door, Gordon Smallwood, points a rifle at John and calls the police, claiming John had come there at the same time each of the past two nights (which of course he hadn't done, but it turns out Gordon had good reason to believe he had). A police officer named Connie Mills (Laura Linney) shows up and defuses the situation, taking John to a motel he can stay at for the night. For several days (or maybe weeks, I'm not sure) after that, John investigates strange things that have been going on in Point Pleasant, with help from Connie and Gordon, who comes to trust him. It involves a creature we never really see, but just hear reports of from various witnesses. And there are strange phone calls and other occurrences. Apparently the Mothman, or someone called Indrid Cold, can imitate other people. And he/it makes prophecies about tragedies that soon come true. John also gets some help in his research from the author of a book about similar incidents, Alexander Leek (who seems to be based on the author of the book that the movie itself is based on, I think).

Anyway... I dunno, a lot of stuff happens that I don't care much about. The movie's never really as scary as it's supposed to be, and I feel like John overreacts to most things. Though eventually events begin to warrant his reactions. And there's one last prophecy that I don't want to spoil anything about, but at least it made the movie a little bit more interesting. And I don't know what else to tell you.