The Mothman Prophecies
- Thread starter Bernhard
- Start date
Bernhard said:
Yes, it's an excellent movie, a good psychological/supernatural thriller. The movie focuses on just one aspect of the book though, the events surrounding Point Pleasant, West Virginia and the collapse of the Silver Bridge. If you've read the book, then you'll know that their is much more discussed in it than just this event. Given that, I still enjoyed the film, it is well acted and written and will have you on the edge of your seat. But to fulfill the dramatic necessity, certain cinematic licenses were taken which were not in the book. Depending on your feelings about this and rigidity of keeping a movie true to its book form, you may feel differently than I did about this fact.
I think I read somewhere (or it may have been a filmed interview with the author?) that John Keel was quite satisfied with the film adaption of his book. Although set in more recent times, he felt it still captured the mood and atmosphere of the events back in the 1960s that he was personally involved with. On a side note, notice that the visual style and general feeling of paranoia in the movie is somewhat similar to that experienced in the exceptional film Arlington Road - both employed the same director (Mark Pellington)
Bernhard
Jedi Master
I watched it the other night and really liked it. I thought it was very well done and acted. Great story and even more disturbing that it is based on real events. I haven't read the book yet (except for some excerpts I found on the net), but I just ordered it and really want to read it now, especially since there is more to to the story than portrayed in the film.
I also saw Arlington Road not too long ago and I could see the similar style by Mark Pellington in Mothman as well. Great director. I like the topics he has chosen and how he translates them on to the screen.
I also saw Arlington Road not too long ago and I could see the similar style by Mark Pellington in Mothman as well. Great director. I like the topics he has chosen and how he translates them on to the screen.
S
Skipling
Guest
I've seen this film a few times and hav just picked it up on dvd. It is very good. What it conveys superbly is a sense of atmosphere. Very realistic, in my mind, of the paranormal reality of ultra-terrestrial entities, rupturing the fabric of our supposed reality! And twisting, distorting, manipulating and controlling along the way. Very provocative stuff, this film is indeed good art. Nicely understated performances from the principal actors too. In this case less is most definitely more.
Reminds me of days not long after the turn of the century, when I would suddenly turn my head for fear of a shadow on the breeze. Like Keel, this film is rooted in the atmospherics of the real world. But this only heightens the tangibility of the paranormal element. If you've ever had an experience of this kind, seeing an entity, all I can say is that this "feels" more right on the money than any other movie representation of the phenomena, particularly the garish fantasia of Steven Spielberg. Vallee must cringe at thought of it. This is much more close to the real thing. In the belly it's like seeing a ghost when you're seven. As an experience it is both ancient and timeless, and that is ironically appropriate.
They pull the strings, distract, seduce, while we bicker over trivialities on the precipice of the abyss.
The director should definitely return to the genre, he directed Arlington Road too, yes? Might I suggest he portray on film an adaptation of my favourite character. Agent Frank Black (Lance Henrikson IS the man...
) in a movie of Millennium, the finest tv series ever, bar McGoohan's peerless The Prisoner.
One of the finest movies in the genre this though. A subtle slow burning gem.
Reminds me of days not long after the turn of the century, when I would suddenly turn my head for fear of a shadow on the breeze. Like Keel, this film is rooted in the atmospherics of the real world. But this only heightens the tangibility of the paranormal element. If you've ever had an experience of this kind, seeing an entity, all I can say is that this "feels" more right on the money than any other movie representation of the phenomena, particularly the garish fantasia of Steven Spielberg. Vallee must cringe at thought of it. This is much more close to the real thing. In the belly it's like seeing a ghost when you're seven. As an experience it is both ancient and timeless, and that is ironically appropriate.
They pull the strings, distract, seduce, while we bicker over trivialities on the precipice of the abyss.
The director should definitely return to the genre, he directed Arlington Road too, yes? Might I suggest he portray on film an adaptation of my favourite character. Agent Frank Black (Lance Henrikson IS the man...
) in a movie of Millennium, the finest tv series ever, bar McGoohan's peerless The Prisoner. One of the finest movies in the genre this though. A subtle slow burning gem.
S
Skipling
Guest
I just watched the special features on the dvd. There was a rather fine documentary on there. In this, Keel observes wisely that "the universe isn't quite what we think it is, but then we are not quite what we think we are!". One of the actors interviewed, Will Patton, makes much the same observation himself in another section. More films sensitive to the complex dynamics of the subject matter would be so good for the genre.
Also there was what was an intriguing observation by a "contactee" who was dissuaded, threatened by a mysterious MIB. Apparently he never seemed to blink. Increasingly these dream figures resemble the conscious projections theorised in the C's transcripts. The sub Lynchian strangeness of getting an entity disguised as a government official to persuade a human not to enquire too deeply about the very existence of said entities. We inhabit an incredibly complex world that traverses multiple densities simultaneously. But, we need to see it (the entities/dynamics of the control system as energy constructs) as it is, not as what it wants us to see it as. It's like being one degree off on an initial aim; by the end you could be miles off target.
I'll be reading Our Haunted Planet soon enough, that's for sure.
Also there was what was an intriguing observation by a "contactee" who was dissuaded, threatened by a mysterious MIB. Apparently he never seemed to blink. Increasingly these dream figures resemble the conscious projections theorised in the C's transcripts. The sub Lynchian strangeness of getting an entity disguised as a government official to persuade a human not to enquire too deeply about the very existence of said entities. We inhabit an incredibly complex world that traverses multiple densities simultaneously. But, we need to see it (the entities/dynamics of the control system as energy constructs) as it is, not as what it wants us to see it as. It's like being one degree off on an initial aim; by the end you could be miles off target.
I'll be reading Our Haunted Planet soon enough, that's for sure.
Skipling said:
Interesting coincidence for me that you mention it, Skipling, because my housemates and I have just watched this movie on a dvd tonight. We wanted to check out if there was anything interesting in the special features, but there was only the trailer and a music video. But now that I read your post I realize that it is a double-sided dvd so there might be some cool stuff in there! Thanks!
As for the movie itself, I was happy to see that it does take a few interesting elements of high-strangeness from the book. Not nearly all of them, of course, and things are changed in order to dramatize and synthesize, but that's understandable.
One thing I did notice was that although they do explain the idea of hyperdimensional beings (although briefly and without using such words) and how they play with people, the movie-makers shy away from linking them to the UFO phenomenon, while the book clearly makes the connection.
As a thriller, it was pretty good. I enjoyed it.
S
Skipling
Guest
Excellent stuff on the coincidence front, Windmill Knight. Do a merry jig if you find that documentary, they're decent selection. Dvds are mostly splendid because of the options of special features. Edutainment if put to their best use!
More essays on the work itself and how fact and fiction interpenetrate is what would be a great development for me.
There is room for a definitive movie on this subject matter. It needs the cinematography of Anton Corbijn, the snap of Pinter, Keel-ian eeriness, a beatbox and a string quartet, and must hint at the neccessity of Gurdjieff-ian self-mastery in a picture as grandiose in it's scope as it is seemingly mundane in it's minutiae. I'd call it Wave Forms. Sorry. With the imagination I always think to myself, "use it or lose it". ;)
Still, we can dream, can't we?
More essays on the work itself and how fact and fiction interpenetrate is what would be a great development for me.
Windmill Knight said:
There is room for a definitive movie on this subject matter. It needs the cinematography of Anton Corbijn, the snap of Pinter, Keel-ian eeriness, a beatbox and a string quartet, and must hint at the neccessity of Gurdjieff-ian self-mastery in a picture as grandiose in it's scope as it is seemingly mundane in it's minutiae. I'd call it Wave Forms. Sorry. With the imagination I always think to myself, "use it or lose it". ;)
Still, we can dream, can't we?
RyanX
The Living Force
Vulcan59 said:
Very interesting! Thanks for mentioning this Vulcan59.
I mentioned it in the Mothman (book) thread that there is also a new book out about the Mothman. It even has some unpublished work by Keel in it too.
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=20403.msg224903#msg224903
The veil is lifting indeed! A few nights ago, I was sitting at my table, on the laptop, I was sure someone walked in the room & was standing in the doorway. I glanced up, and was surprised to "see" a lady dressed in white. I turned my full attention to the doorway & there was nothing there. It was very bizarre.
S
Skipling
Guest
This is it! More and more people are now seeing strange figures, and I now feel considerably less like a madman because of it.
I've been observed for multiple reasons by strange, wierd, wonderful and downright scary and psychopathic entities since my breakdown after the "gargantua" unveiling of June 2004. I have been so alienated by the entire human race, because everyone thinks I have been hallucinating because of my past (or dismissed me as a nut job, about which I have been harbouring and probably still harbour some genuine bitterness), but whilst some of these visions have been self-induced, many of them, the majority in fact, I believe have been genuine.
In fact I will have to go a step further. Whether consciously or not, I have been in psychic, thought communication with many entities since that year. The veil wasn't lifted from me, it was torn to pieces, shredded! I was left like an infant at the mercy of fourth density seven years ago. Granted, there are karmic reasons for this I suspect but I will save my reflections on that particular subject for the swamp. I understand my psychosis problems so much better now; I have a very well squeegied third eye but my heart, my emotions, have been weak to non-existent. But there is a reason for this.
Lilou, I am very gladdened to hear that you saw a lady dressed in white. However, given what I've learned from Keel, you have to wonder what these energy constructs actually are. At least you didn't see any type of monster.
Al Today, yes they are here, but truly they always have been. I saw them when I was a child, and I now in recent times have noticed children looking into the ether at strange movements, suggestions of figures, because I've noticed them simultaneously. Kids have great awareness sometimes, before learned behaviour patterns dampen their spirits.
Walking in two worlds at once, indeed. :) Wasn't it ever thus?
I've been observed for multiple reasons by strange, wierd, wonderful and downright scary and psychopathic entities since my breakdown after the "gargantua" unveiling of June 2004. I have been so alienated by the entire human race, because everyone thinks I have been hallucinating because of my past (or dismissed me as a nut job, about which I have been harbouring and probably still harbour some genuine bitterness), but whilst some of these visions have been self-induced, many of them, the majority in fact, I believe have been genuine.
In fact I will have to go a step further. Whether consciously or not, I have been in psychic, thought communication with many entities since that year. The veil wasn't lifted from me, it was torn to pieces, shredded! I was left like an infant at the mercy of fourth density seven years ago. Granted, there are karmic reasons for this I suspect but I will save my reflections on that particular subject for the swamp. I understand my psychosis problems so much better now; I have a very well squeegied third eye but my heart, my emotions, have been weak to non-existent. But there is a reason for this.
Lilou, I am very gladdened to hear that you saw a lady dressed in white. However, given what I've learned from Keel, you have to wonder what these energy constructs actually are. At least you didn't see any type of monster.
Al Today, yes they are here, but truly they always have been. I saw them when I was a child, and I now in recent times have noticed children looking into the ether at strange movements, suggestions of figures, because I've noticed them simultaneously. Kids have great awareness sometimes, before learned behaviour patterns dampen their spirits.
Walking in two worlds at once, indeed. :) Wasn't it ever thus?