MovieChat Forums > The Mothman Prophecies (2002) Discussion > The Scariest Part of this Movie

The Scariest Part of this Movie

posted 12 years ago by actionmanozzie
16 replies | jump to latest

Is the part that I'm watching right now. Which is the bridge collapse. It's one of those scenes like in Passion of the Christ... you're just watching it and you can't believe the ammount of destruction, chaos, and how everyone is "every man for himself"... The first time that I saw this scene... I cried. And I didn't cry because I was sad. I cried because it was soooooooooo much to take in. You're just watching all of these people die, and realizing that there's absolutely nothing that can be done about it. It's also right about then that you question how secure you "really" are in your own life. No one expected to die that day, and yet, almost everyone did... were any of them ready?

Really, the rest of this movie is a bunch of goobly gop that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and is NOT based on actual events.

Indrid Cold, and Mothman had absolutely NOTHING (or very little) to do with each other except for that people LINKED them at the time probably because they were scared and tryng to make sense of things.

Everyone should watch the documentary "The Eyes of Mothman" it better explains things that happened.

But this movie didn't really strike me as being scary, number one because I knew of a lot of the actual events, and number two, buecause so much of this can be interpreted however you want to interpret it... You can say Indrid Cold was anything... you can say that the "phone calls" meant... ANYTHING... :P

A lot of the creepy feeling can be attributed to the "music" and the fact that the characters say things that seem/sound creepy (Which wouldn't really be happening IRL)... No one after having nearly drowned would sit there in a towel and creepily say, "Wake up number 37..." She might have said, "OMGOSH! *sob* my dream!" ... but yeah...

So much of this movie has absolutely no meaning. It could be THIS, it could be THAT... it MIGHT have happened this way, it might have happened THAT way... People could interpret THIS, THAT, BLABLABLA...

The most meaningful/best scene in my opinion was when John spoke with the gentleman in Chicago and he explained how a person on the upper floor of a building might be able to see a car crash ten blocks away and that it meant that the "things" (btw, what are they again? Oh yeah, the movie doesn't even really give us a clue... just a bunch of little hints so that we can make up whatever reason/thought we want)weren't necessarily God... O_o...

Yeah... anyways. It's pretty good... but all the rest of the random whatever is just bologna

[–] toolfrenzy7-1 11 years ago

The bridge scene was one of the more forgettable scenes of the movie for me. The scenes that jarred me when I first saw this in theaters were:

1. Mary's hospital scene when John first visits her
2. Gordon and Johns scene in the Library
3. The chapstick scene
4 John rolling over and seeing Mary staring at him in bed.
5. The woman recalling seeing Mothman outside her window

Oh and when john slams his face into the mirror. I became airborne off the theater seat.

[–] zeekmati 11 years ago

When his wife gets spotted in town even though she's dead

[–] ezzy666 10 years ago

The bad perm Messing had when she was in town asking about him.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

[–] kascha-klaussen 10 years ago

#4 definitely.

#6 John leaving the precinct when Mary suddenly comes into view behind him walking into the precinct.

Sorry, the ambulance scene was the most unsettling thing in the movie for me though. Cause I realized at the same time Linney's character did what the reveal was. And that stark, cold music they were playing when she said what she said, along with the haunted look on her face, just completely unnerved me. That's when I have to turn the light on. Good thing it was appropriately timed for just that or I'd be pretty embarrassed.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 10 years ago

The bridge scene was one of the more forgettable scenes of the movie for me. The scenes that jarred me when I first saw this in theaters were:

1. Mary's hospital scene when John first visits her
2. Gordon and Johns scene in the Library
3. The chapstick scene
4 John rolling over and seeing Mary staring at him in bed.
5. The woman recalling seeing Mothman outside her window

Oh and when john slams his face into the mirror. I became airborne off the theater seat.

LOL, same here, very creeeeepy. What's creepy about that scene is how weird & sinister Gere looks in the reflection, it sorta echoes what Gordon said to him earlier: "What I saw was NOT my reflection." Another creepy scene was when John slams the mirror and you see Indrid Cold in the mirror's reflection that and Dead Mary staring at John in the bed really freaked me out.

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit me!"- Hudson in Aliens.

[–] johnnysokko 10 years ago

Another creepy scene was when John slams the mirror and you see Indrid Cold in the mirror's reflection

Absolutely. That part gets me every time. I think some people miss it too.

[–] nomadprog 10 years ago

Did you or anyone notice the part where Gere is on the phone in front of a closet mirror and the reflection doesn't quite match his motions in real time? Then when he slams the door, there's a brief vision of the moth man. So subtle and creepy! No one has mentioned that yet.

Other than that, the phone call in the hotel room was something nightmares are made of. Unnerving to the max.

[–] LaPuertaDelCielo 7 years ago

"Oh and when john slams his face into the mirror. I became airborne off the theater seat."

And he gets a phone call right afterwards; he has blood all over his hand, but the mirror is perfectly fine.

[–] MikePaul854 10 years ago

It's not scary in a sense but the whole movie was very creepy and unsettling.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 10 years ago

It's not scary in a sense but the whole movie was very creepy and unsettling.

^^Agreed.

#4 definitely.

#6 John leaving the precinct when Mary suddenly comes into view behind him walking into the precinct.

Sorry, the ambulance scene was the most unsettling thing in the movie for me though. Cause I realized at the same time Linney's character did what the reveal was. And that stark, cold music they were playing when she said what she said, along with the haunted look on her face, just completely unnerved me. That's when I have to turn the light on. Good thing it was appropriately timed for just that or I'd be pretty embarrassed.

Yeah, that whole bit was very eerie. Don't forget earlier when her car is sinking and she's trying to call for backup, the channel on her radio turns to 37. For me, that's when I caught it.

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit me!"- Hudson in Aliens.

[–] kascha-klaussen 10 years ago

Haha yeah I caught the radio thing just a few minutes ago (the credits are just rolling on it again right now). I hadn't noticed that until this very viewing of it.

I see people referring to the movie as "unsettling" and "creepy", not "scary". I'm waiting for the bad news there, because scary movies are usually crap that misses the point of what really freaks people out. Those same superlatives apply to a few other greats of the genre. The Shining and The Ring.

Both movies were directed and shot by people who know what they're doing, and who know that people aren't affected by what is shoved down their throats by Captain Obvious. It's what they aren't sure they saw and don't believe they saw because it should have been impossible, and what their imagination creates trying to fill in the blanks, that causes a run on night lights at the local five and dime.

Like King's stories :

Sun Dog, Rose Madder, Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Mist, Nona, Desperation, The Regulators, etc. are all eerie, creepy, and/or unsettling stories where the problem can't have a finger put on it and the real terror of the situation is cumulative and held in the mind not being able to deal with things being frighteningly "off". They cause a panicky terror which is far worse than :

Graveyard Shift, Carrie, Christine, Needful Things, Creepshow, etc., which are overt in your face attempts to brute force monsters/ghosts/terror into your head. They are good for what they are, but they are not nightmare fuel like the previous list or Mothman Prophecies.

The Exorcist and Amityville Horror alone stand for me as the only overtly scary movies that create the same effect. Because they are just damned scary. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is another one.

[–] Chihuahua-tership_Down 10 years ago

The bit where John was on the phone with Indrid Cold the first time in his hotel room, that was creepy.

You don't choose the soy sauce, the soy sauce chooses you.

[–] ericn2274 8 years ago

The first image of Indrid Cold standing near Gordan as he sat in his truck.

[–] goshiluvu 8 years ago

I've seen this movie several times and for me the creepiest part is when John goes back to him home to get the phone call from his dead wife, Mary. When the phone starts to ring and you know it's her and then when he rips the phone wires from the wall and it starts ringing again. Super creepy to me!

[–] Isthisyourhomework (283) 6 years ago

They just put this on Shudder recently so I watched it again today. I must have seen it 15 times back when it first came out on VHS, and the supernatural mystery stuff impressed me at the time, but watching it today I was really hit by the brutality of the bridge scene. I also wanted to cry like OP. I'll admit I'm a big fan of hocus pocus and ghosts but the supernatural part doesn't hold up for me after not having seen this for many years. That bridge collapse, though...nightmare city. Sad scenes in horror are the worst.

Also, it's funny but I never noticed before that Richard Gere's character was such a "close talker" with everyone, even Gordon when he was still hostile because Klein was apologizing after the first (or the third) night of showing up at his house. The man pulls a shotgun on you and the next day you're all up in his face! Does Gere get close and whisper to his scene partners in all his movies? It made me uncomfortable. But I'm one of those people who needs a lot of space, so maybe I'm projecting.

Finally, somehow I never noticed how good looking Laura Linney is. I knew she was a good actress, I've always liked her in everything, but wow!

[–] strangenstein (683) 4 years ago

Just wondering, why are you posting instead of watching the movie? Put the phone down, enjoy the movie, then post.