Normally intended a horror film is there to scare the audience as much as possible, or to make believe "that could happen to me." Nevertheless, no matter how frightening is a movie, the viewer knows that it's only a movie, and none of this is reality. In "The Mothman Prophecies" it is all a bit different. The film should not really be put into the category of "Horror". It is rather part thriller, part science fiction, and it deals with things like vision and breaking the fourth wall. This film is based on documented events in Point Pleasant. Specifically, the events that took place for 13 months extended in 1966 to 1967, to the collapse of the bridge, the Ohio and W.Va. union, and 46 people lost their lives. Despite the documentary background history this was wrapped in a great entertainment package, and here's the plot: but he way, I saw this film and theatres and it still frightens me. The journalist John Klein (Richard Gere) is trying with all his strength to get over the accidental death of his wife Mary. Not long after the car accident, she died in the hospital. John, the last words of his wife remember "you have not seen it, right?". Their macabre drawings of a strange figure him unable to get out of his head. One night traveling John to Richmond. Somehow he comes off the path ( he does not like) knows itself and ends up in Point Pleasant. and soon he finds that his wife was not the only one who has seen "something" because gradually it comes out that in this small town strange events and " sightings "of the so-called Mothman are common all over the place. And John cannot simply not shake the feeling that this Mothman wants to talk to him. As I said these similar events really happened (at least sightings), but that means that this is not a tedious documentation . But on the contrary. If you are not aware of the background; at first sight (as I did), then the audience will be in for a world-class thriller in the style of "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" commanded by a "oh my God, I would have NEVER expected" ending . And if one looks at the film a second and third time, falling to more and more details, and one is very greedy it to catch new clues to the Mothman. It is genuinely creepy, very few horror films can pull this off. Voltage moments and scenes where you could scream out loud, are plentiful. Suddenly scenes bring to tears of fright from one a simple phone ringing; it puts totally off balance. This film manages all do without blood, and also the Mothman in itself is not shown as a fearsome monster. But nevertheless "The Mothman Prophecies" is far more frightening than many other horror movies, because here you can and WILL be creeped out and determined this is a reality more than once. And just before you go to bed, you should avoid this film. The cast is great in this movie. Richard Gere and Laura Linney already showed in "Primal Fear" that the chemistry is right between them, and they are simply a super team. Debra Messing (in the movie Gere's deceased wife and probably better known as Grace from the comedy series "Will and Grace ") plays her role very well, and all the other supporting actors have done a very good job. All in all, a sharp film for horror, sci fi and thriller fans in general. On the Disc: This local release comes to us in stunning HD, its a film that has frustrated myself over it lack of a HD release. There was a few discs in Europe but nothing solid locally. It was a big release and shocks me how long it has taken. Codec: MPEG-4 MVC Resolution: 1080p Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 Thankfully Via Vision presents a nice print that is spec free, clean and crisp, a big leap over the DVD from many many years ago.Black levels are rich and there does not appear to be any digital noise or compression issues. The audio we have a English: Dolby Digital 5., which sound great and fresh, with no hissing or pops. Extras:
Overall: 4/5
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This is a single film review from the new ViaVision/Madman Cronenberg collection Blu Ray set. Other films in this set are Stephen King's The Dead Zone(1983) and Shivers(1975). RATING: 5/5 The cover of this film is TERRIFYING! When I first dipped my toe into horror in the late 80's I gave Rabid a wide berth. Much like Company of Wolves and Demons the imagery was just too much. A girl slumped in a corner having succumb to the all consuming rabies infection. Was she dead? Was she frozen? Did a dog bite her and now she has rabies and wants to bit people? Brrrrrr I didn't want to think about it. And for years I didn't want to know the answers. Then I discovered David Cronenberg and his very very dark eye. After the glorious remake of The Fly and Dead Ringers I'd watch pretty much anything by this man. His films are like a unique cuisine. They have an actual flavour. I wouldn't exactly want to know what's under the pie crust, but it's unmistakably Cronenberg. So when I finally gathered the guts to reach out and watch Rabid I did so with "Rabid" enthusiasm! And I was sooooo wrong! The cover was still terrifying, but the cover really isn't the film at all. Damn those Canadian marketing geniuses!!! So if there are no rabid dogs infecting people or anything.... It's gotta be monkeys right!?? It HAS to be monkeys!! Right?.... Let's do,some plot and check back again soon. Young lovers Rose (Marilyn Chambers) and Hart Read (Frank Moore) are off on a motor cycle journey when a road accident leaves Rose horribly burnt and pinned under the motorcycle. Luckily, there is a plastic surgery spa/retreat within binocular distance. Here, Dr.Keloid and his Martin Scorsese eyebrows will nip, tuck and save Roses's life!!! This might be a good time for Dr.Keloid to test his new skin grafting theory. He'll use morphogenetically neutral grafts of her own skin! Perfect! Let's do it! "What we're going to do is a little out of the ordinary." Dr Keloid Everybody is happy and 2 months later Rose is just coming around with no scaring. The grafts have done the job. Hart is back in Montreal and is awaiting word when it's ok to pick his girl up. But all is not as well as it should be with Rose. She's hot, sweaty, getting... Naked! Everybody is happy and 2 months later Rose is just coming around with no scaring. The grafts have done the job. Hart is back in Montreal and is awaiting word when it's ok to pick his girl up. But all is not as well as it should be with Rose. She's hot, sweaty, getting... Naked! "OH,GOD,THAT FEELS SO GOOD!" - ROSE By the time our character reach their destination it's a full on panic and the story continues to draw you in and keep you interested, even if Montreal is full of very creepy rapey dudes. Every mention of this film states that it's an AIDs analogy, and it's pretty spot even though it predates the epidemic panic in the early eighties by a few years. You could call it an analogy for pretty much anything spreads.Hmmmm jam. Cronenberg has said that the premiss of the film makes little to no sense, but it's Cronenberg, absolute. And what he does with a virus film is much better than most. Rose, while patient zero and the cause of the mayhem, is a character that we don't want hurt or even stopped. It's just a very curious journey to see her interact with the outbreak. I'd start thinking, what would happen when she runs out of blood and everyone's already infected everyone. Shit's deep! And to know that Marilyn Chambers( star of breakout mainstream Porno "Behind the Green-door" fame, is the glue here is rather impressive. Oddly this was her only "serious" role and she soon returned to the probably more profitable world of adult entertainment. In 1977 Cronenberg is 4 feature films deep and his trajectory is set! He'll go on to take cerebral film making to new highs and dark depths and we'll continue to feel uneasy watching them. His recent output hasn't been too strong in the body horror genre he arguably defined, but check out any title and I guarantee you'll see his dark eye in there. " 'SCUSE ME, I DIDNT MEAN TO TOUCH YOU" - BALDING MAN BONUS FEATURES:
We get a great audio commentary from Cronenberg himself, an interview and a career spanning documentary "The Directors: David Cronenberg". It would have been cool to have some updated content, but Cronenberg's interview is great and unfortunately Marilyn Chambers passed away a few years ago. Special Features
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AuthorJames Ackland and John M loves cinema, records, and guava! Archives
November 2017
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