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The Mothman Prophecies movie storyline. John Klein, an investigative reporter with the national affairs desk of the Washington Post, begins to investigate purported strange occurrences in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. His investigation is not part of his work for the Post, but rather his own personal mission as he gets caught in the middle of those strange occurrences, starting with the fact that he has no recollection of the few hours prior to arriving in Point Pleasant for the first time, or even why he ended up there.
Sheriff Connie Mills is his point person in Point Pleasant, as residents have reported those strange and inexplicable occurrences to her for investigation. Those occurrences include people hallucinating, receiving phantom telephone calls and hearing mysterious voices. The investigation becomes even more personal for John when he learns that some have suffered physical maladies, but that the primary strange issue is sightings of a large mysterious winged creature.
The connection to John is that his now deceased wife Mary, who died two years ago from a rare form of brain tumor, had similar visions of these winged creatures just before she and John got into a serious car accident, which happened just before she got her terminal cancer diagnosis. John eventually learns from a man named Alexander Leek, a past researcher in the field, that sightings of the winged creature, a mothman, has been a prophesy for some disaster to happen.
Believing what Leek tells him but dismissing Leek’s warnings not to investigate any further, John tries to discover what the disaster is going to be before it happens, and if he can do anything either to prevent it or to minimize the destruction, especially to human life, including his own. In light of what’s happening, any of John’s beliefs on what is the disaster to be is may come across as rantings of a crazed lunatic to anyone who matters.
The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 U.S. supernatural horror mystery film directed by Mark Pellington, based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel. The screenplay was written by Richard Hatem. The film stars Richard Gere as John Klein, a reporter who researches the legend of the Mothman.
Aside from a few opening scenes filmed in Washington, D.C., most of the motion picture was filmed in the areas of Pittsburgh and Kittanning in Pennsylvania. The scenes of Gere sitting on a park bench are on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Road montages were filmed on Pennsylvania Route 28, and the Chicago scenes are completely shot in downtown Pittsburgh’s Mellon Square and Trinity Churchyard environs as well as the entrance to the Duquesne Club.
The “Chemical Plant” featured in the movie is actually a power station owned by Reliant Energy in Elrama, Pennsylvania. The Avalon Motor Inn is in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, though scenes set indoors were built as separate sets, as the inn’s atmosphere could not accommodate production.[10] Point Pleasant scenes were shot in Kittanning, Pennsylvania.
The collapse of the Silver Bridge was actually filmed at the Kittanning Citizens Bridge in downtown Kittanning. Scenes shot at Gordon Smallwood’s house were filmed in Washington County on Pennsylvania Route 917. Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Airport serves as backdrop for the airfield scenes. Despite this relocation, several police officers from Point Pleasant appeared as extras.
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Directed by: Mark Pellington
Starring: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, David Eigenberg, Lucinda Jenney, Will Patton, Debra Messing, Alan Bates, Yvonne Erickson, Scott Nunnally, David Eigenberg
Screenplay by: John A. Keel, Richard Hatem
Production Design by: Richard Hoover
Cinematography by: Fred Murphy
Film Editing by: Brian Berdan
Costume Design by: Susan Lyall
Set Decoration by: Troy Sizemore
Art Direction by: Richard Hoover, Troy Sizemore
Makeup Department: Jennifer Bell
Music by: Tom Hajdu, Andy Milburn
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for terror, some sexuality and language.
Distributed by: Sony ScreenGems
Release Date: January 25, 2002
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