A Brilliant Conflict

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Blistering performances.

This VERY long documentary will probably hold appeal for conspiracy theorists, UFO buffs and anyone with a passion for the Mothman event, however, for anyone else it probably isn't going to be as appealing.It actually ends up being 4 mini documentaries rolled into one - first one is about the local Indian/colonial history; second is about the Mothman, third is about UFOs and men in black, and the fourth is about the collapse of the 'silver bridge'.It's kind of like a pot pourri of historical events and theories, etc, rather than actually being strictly a single documentary - as a result it doesn't really have a coherent narrative or flow, it just feels like several things all lumped together in the same film.Reasonably well produced (apart from some small annoying technical issues in places), but it just isn't a great or memorable documentary.

Eyes Of The Mothman succeeds magnificently as a work of investigative reporting and a speculative docudrama. Prior to this film, the most interesting take on the whole Mothman mythos was by the late psi writer, John Keel, whose book, The Mothman Prophecies, was the basis for the Gere film. But this film is far more detailed and comprehensive, and roundly debunks some of the longstanding claims made in Keel's book, as Keel was seemingly hoaxed on multiple occasions, and his book riddled with other inconsistencies. This film will likely become the definitive resource on the Mothman legend for the foreseeable future, for it does not condescend, claim to know what was real and what was not, and has no agenda- political, spiritual, philosophic, nor otherwise: it does not push the psi aspects of the legendry, nor does it ignore them. This is, easily, the finest piece of journalism I have ever read or seen, as it pertains to things deemed paranormal, for it eschews the classic Von Danikenism of earlier psi documentaries, and focuses on history, people, and how they were affected by the oddities, rather than just focusing on the oddities. In this way, Eyes Of The Mothman is not only a great documentary film, but an innovative one. Let's hope its style and execution are embraced, whether or not you believe in the Mothman and company.

Covering not just the Mothman event, but also the tales of self-proclaimed alien contactee Woodrow Derenberger, the tragic Silver Bridge collapse, and assorted other unusual sightings around the town of Point Pleasant; Eyes of the Mothman is a film for believers.It is preaching to the choir in it's purest form. What had the potential to be a serious examination of the fascinating urban legends of Point Pleasant rapidly transforms into a quagmire of crackpot theories claimed as scientific evidence and rumors presented as fact.Any and all mundane theories about any of the events presented are hastily dismissed out of hand by the film makers (excluding the Silver Bridge collapse, which they do at least respectfully give the official explanation for, prior to then suggesting it was the Mothman or men in black who caused it). The nearest we get anyone entertaining a mundane explanation at all is the idea that chemicals from an explosive storage facility might have caused a bird to mutate to twice it's normal size. It's only too bad they did not go with the more plausible "It was a mutated man-sized turtle practicing his ninjutsu." This is the sort of hard-hitting investigation Eyes of the Mothman offers. No actual hard evidence is ever presented - no peer reviewed scientific papers quoted to support claims, no photographic or video record, no physical evidence of any kind. Their only evidence is in the form of eye witness reports, often attributed to a nebulous "people" rather than cited from anyone specific. These are simply not enough to back the often bold claims made within the film. Any serious investigator will tell you eye witness reports are easily the most unreliable source of information you can have. Even within the film itself, not a single person who claimed to have seen the Mothman themselves seems able to agree on what it looked like and their descriptions do not merely vary, but do so wildly. The film does it's best to gloss all of this over however. The film makers even go so far as basically outright lie at the end, where the narrator claims there is hard evidence to back up the Mothman stories. Apparently there just wasn't time to present this any of this evidence to the audience. I could see how at two and a half hours, they might not be able to squeeze evidence in between "Native American Curse" and "Extra-Dimensional Beings."It's too bad that the films actual content is such drivel, because it's actually very well put together. The music and sound effects are effective and it's rather sharply edited, which helps mask the often cheap set design and costumes involved in "reenactment" footage. It's narrator is also a great storyteller whose voice can easily draw you in and almost make you forget how utterly ridiculous what he's claiming is. The shame of it is that if this were intended as nothing but a piece of entertainment, I'd have considered it a much better film. The conceit that it is some sort of informative documentary however forces me to judge it as one though and for that, it is a dismal failure.Going into this film, I knew of the Mothman event that people in Point Pleasant had seen "something." Coming out, that was still all I knew. It's not a bad film if you want to sit around a fire and listen to ghost stories without going camping, but if you're looking for anything informative or, especially, investigative then you're going to be disappointed.

As someone with a heavy interest in the Mothman phenomenon, and a champion of the film "The Mothman Prophecies", I was intrigued to come across this weighty (two-hour plus) documentary on the relatively little-known phenomenon, the Mothman.The opening back story that makes up the beginning of the film really helps give the Mothman story context, and although you have to sit with it for a little longer than you may want to, it nevertheless is an interesting introduction to the history of Point Pleasant.Overall, the visuals are really nice -- with some clever effects and reconstructions to boot -- and to see eye-witness accounts firsthand was what really made the documentary good. To hear about events from officials, scientists and authority figures is fair enough, but to get to hear the actual witnesses speak was great.The narrator's voice is well suited to the material and none of the reconstructions or effects are cheap, intrusive or cheesy. The subject matter is treated completely with the respect and seriousness it deserves.I highly recommend prospective viewers of "Eyes of the Mothman" track down John Keel's compelling non-fiction book, The Mothman Prophecies, and read it before seeing this. The movie of the same name is also worth seeing, but I think you should see it before you read the book. The book will expand upon the movie, if you enjoyed it, and finishing off with this throughly interesting and insightful film won't leave you disappointed."Eyes of the Mothman" is a little long, but its worth sitting through. Well-made, beautifully put together, and really entertaining.