When I went to Anaheim Wizard World last week, Jewel Staite talked about her new SyFy Movie, Mothman. She said it's one of those guilty pleasure type of movies, that she hopes will get a bigger audience than Mega-Piranha.
We're not sure if that will happen, but the movie turned out to be a weird hybrid between I Know What You Did Last Summer and Charles Bronson's character in Death Wish.
How? Well, let's start with the "I Know What You Did..." part: a bunch of teens, including Katie (played by Jewel), tease the younger brother of one of the group about the Mothman. As a result, they wind up drowning the brother, and Katie is forced in the coverup. Ten years later, she's a feature reporter for a weekly newspaper in Washington D.C. She's assigned to Point Pleasant, West Virginia to visit the annual Mothman Festival. We'll give you one guess where Katie is from.
Of course, the events of ten years ago take a toll on the old gang. It's not long before the dreaded Mothman emerges from mirrors, mobile home surfaces and even TV screens to kill off Katie's friends. The creature itself reminded me one a monster from Scooby-Doo, or a creepy grey ghost with moldy wings. It's a mothman, right?
Also, the movie sets up the whole plot in 20 minutes, as if it's late for an appointment. A little more development would have been nice. These guys may be guilty but they're people, not targets.
Jewel does a good job as the reporter forced to face her past. She does have her moment when she goes all Ellen Ripley on the Mothman, but does she escape its vengeance?
I do have to say that someone else steals this movie, only because he has an extensive history with the Mothman. Jerry Leggio is great at blind Frank Waverly, who knows a lot about the Mothman and how he goes after those who have escaped justice. That's why I suggest the Mohtman may be like Charles Bronson. Too bad they had to make Frank a little too crazy towards the end, even if he did have the backstory to explain it.
Another weird moment is when Derek (Connor Fox) bursts into the local beauty shop, tells everyone to leave, and starts breaking mirrors so the Mothman won't get them.
It's also interesting the movie adds some details of the original Mothman legend in the 1960's, but I wonder why they decided to make it a vigilante, and also the spirit of an Indian chief tortured by settlers in the 19th Century.
Looking at this movie, I wonder how Red with Felicia Day will play out. Will she go from werewolf hunter to werewolf? I hope not. Her character could be a Syfy series all by itself, even if you add a repentant werewolf.
Yeah, that sounds familiar, but what movie on SyFy doesn't?
No comments:
Post a Comment