Mothman

Right, well "Mothman" was definitely a TV movie in the sense of those words. Sure, it was a slight horror movie, but still it was not something that was overly impressive.

The storyline in "Mothman" was actually adequate, taking into consideration what they had to work with. But the end result of the movie was shoddy and questionable, especially given the poor CGI and the fact that it seemed like not even the actors and actresses themselves were convinced about the outcome of the movie.

The acting in the movie was for the most parts adequate, even with taking into consideration that it felt like most performers were only half-hearted there.

As for the horror aspect in the movie. Well, sure it was generic and straight forward, and not something that haven't already been dabbled with before in other movies. But still, it was sufficiently entertaining enough to keep me watching the movie to the very end. Was I overly entertained, hardly. But I still wanted to see how the movie ended.

Now, the movie suffered terribly from having laughable CGI effects. For a movie from 2010, then the movie was plagued by having special effects reminiscent of a PC game back from the mid-1990s. It was that questionable and laughable to look at, believe you me.

One thing in the movie that had me laughing was the fact that they never reloaded the shotgun and it had a lot, and I mean that literally, a lot of shots stored inside it apparently. That was just such an idiotic mistake to make in a movie.

With "Mothman" watched, I can honestly say that this movie came and went without leaving a dent in anything, only to slowly fade into oblivion. There is no chance of me ever returning to watch "Mothman" because there was just not enough contents in the movie to sustain more than a single viewing - and even that single viewing it at a stretch.

In Point Pleasant, land of the legend The Mothman, a group of seven teenage friends accidentally kills the boy Jamie (Alex Hardee) in a prank by the river and they decide to cover up the incident simulating an accident.

Ten years later, the journalist of the Washington Weekly Katharine Grant (Jewel Staite), who was one of the seven teenagers that murdered Jamie, is assigned by her editor to return to her hometown to prepare a matter about the 10th Mothman Festival. She reunites with the other six friends that have stayed in the town and sooner they are murdered one by one by The Mothman. Katherine and her former boyfriend Derek (Connor Fox) seek help with an old blind man Frank Waverly (Jerry Leggio) that has been luring The Mothman for many years trying to save their lives from the punishment of the entity.

"Mothman" is a lame collection of clichés about a vigilante entity that punishes the sinners. The predictable plot is a mess, the CGI is very poor and the acting is reasonable but the cast has a very poor material to work. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Castigo Mortal" ("Mortal Punishment")

Swimming in a West Virginia river, six mature-looking teenagers tease (Jared's) younger brother Alex Hardee (as Jamie). They tell him the scary story of the legendary "Mothman" monster. During a strange water game, the cast pulls each other's legs down in the water. Somebody suffers a mishap and the swimmers, led by Jewel Staite (as Katharine Grant), decide to make the death seem like an accident. It already was an accident, and their repeated head-bashing only makes it look worse. However, nobody seems to notice. The kid's not dead, either; you can see him breathing. Maybe that's why the resuscitation attempt was so half-hearted...

Ten years later, Ms. Staite returns to town. A Washington DC reporter, she has been assigned to write a story on the legendary "Mothman" monster of Point Pleasant...

Staite meets the old gang after almost killing one of them in another accident. Quickly, supernatural stuff begins to happen. Probably, the monster is out to punish the cast for making an accidental drowning look like an accident. There is also a parallel incident involving blind resident Jerry Leggio (as Frank Waverly). The leading man is Connor Fox (as Derek Carpenter). The cast is attractive and the special effects are serviceable. Director Sheldon Wilson uses the red eye symbolism well and keeps the cameras steady. Unfortunately, as we get more of the Mothman and the murders, it looks sillier. The story never really makes any sense.

*** Mothman (4/24/10) ~ Sheldon Wilson ~ Jewel Staite, Connor Fox, Matty Ferraro, Jerry Leggio

The film has a brief moment of promise, introducing a fair premise. Some teens accidentally cause a child's death, and conspire to cover up their dark secret. These guys live in Point Pleasant, WV, home of you-know-who. So the monster will dole out punishment?

The wheels come off quickly. Fast forward several years. A big city reporter, one of the teens visits town, and she is immediately invited to toast the kid she once helped kill (a reunion of all the killers). What? Toast somebody you killed? No comment is possible for such a ludicrous plot device. So let's just pretend the movie didn't do this, and move on.

Enter the stock village idiot. This was the best character, and decently acted (cliches and all). It was cool to listen to his insane ramblings explaining the creature's motives, its weird red eyes, its obsession with mirrors, and his own back story. Best of all was his habit of often firing a shot gun, especially since this guy was blind.

Pop quiz: when learning your presence in a town is causing the deaths, does she: A) Leave town, or B) Stay and fight? Take a wild guess. Using guns. Always works against legendary monsters, right?

But the last 20 minutes are beyond moronic. It's as if the original running time was too short, so a lame "twist" was hastily inserted to explain the profoundly stupid new ending they tacked on. A new director was found at the local pre-school playground, to shot the extra footage. "We thought you were dead!" "Yeah, so did I." Who wrote this, and have they been committed yet?

The Mothman already has more than a few skeptics on whether it exists or not. This movie won't help his status much.

I admit that I do dislike most of the movies airing on the SyFy channel, but I watch them out of curiosity to get novelty value or to see if either of them are actually surprisingly watchable when there is nothing or little else on. Mothman as I've said is not SyFy's worst by a long shot, but it is not very good, as a matter of fact it is rather weak.

The acting is better than anticipated though none are particularly great, but they are undermined by stock and stereotypical characters, a very rushed and underdeveloped story, a laughable script and when they seemingly realised that they only had twenty minutes left and had not finished telling the story the writers decided to include a twist. Unfortunately this twist is utterly moronic leading to one of the weakest endings I've seen in a while.

In conclusion, not the worst but weak. 2/10 Bethany Cox