History Film / TheMothmanProphecies

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: The Silver Bridge collapses, 36 people die, John reconciles the death of his wife, and none of the mysterious occurences are ''ever'' explained.]]

* SurrealHorror: It's the sort of movie where a shot of a character holding Chap-Stick is one of the most unnerving in the whole film.

* SurrealHorror: It's the sort of movie where a s

* TheUnsolvedMystery: Onscreen text at the end of the film states that the cause of the Silver Bridge collapse was never determined [[note]]This is a departure from the actual collapse in 1967, which was determined to have been caused due to the failure of I-bar 330, which brought the entire bridge down due to a lack of redundancy.[[/note]] More broadly, neither the characters nor the audience ever learn who or what the Mothman/Indrid Cold really is.

%%* SurrealHorror

%%* TheUnsolvedMystery

** [[Spoiler: Possibly Gordon as well. Connie estimates that he died eight hours before John found his body. But John apparently received a call from Gordon only ''one hour'' before he found the body.]]

** Possibly Gordon as well. Connie estimates that he died eight hours before John found his body. But John apparently received a call from Gordon only ''one hour'' before he found the body.

* MirrorScare: Described by Gordon, that he looked into a mirror at one point and saw something he couldn't describe, but was certainly not himself. Later, after a scene in which John stares into a medicine cabinet mirror, he turns away while closing it... and for a brief moment, a strange visage is shown reflected in it.

* EyeScream: Looking at The Mothman causes the eyes to inflate and bleed. This actually happened to one of the Mothman witnesses -- the diagnosis was conjunctivitis from being exposed to extreme ''radiation''.

* EyeScream: Looking at The Mothman causes the eyes to bleed profusely.

* SurrealHorror

* TheUnsolvedMystery

* [[YouAreNumberSix You Are Number 37]]

* {{Motif}}: Repeatedly, the film emphasizes pairs of red lights so that they resemble eyes, indicating the ubiquitous hypothetical presence of the Mothman. As well, the wings of the Mothman (appearing like the letter 'y', usually lower-case) shows up several times; one of the first shots of the film are Mary's name with a pronounced 'y', which is a bit of {{Foreshadowing}}..

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: [[spoiler:For one, the Silver Bridge disaster happened in the late '60s. Second, the Silver Bridge was a chain-link bridge, an unusual construction with no redundancy, that is, if one link fails, they all fail. So, unlike the movie's explanation that the cause of the collapse was never determined, in actuality it was discovered to be a micro-fracture that developed over time, exacerbated by heavy traffic, that caused a sequential bridge failure. For this reason, most monster hunters think that the Mothman was there to warn the public of the impending disaster.]]

* TheUnreveal: You ''never'' get to see Indrid Cold.

* DespairEventHorizon: A subtle one, but when Connie finds out [[spoiler:Gordon somehow called John seven hours after his death]], she mutters, "I can't stand any of this."

* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Leed tells John that his search for answers regarding the Mothman and trying to understand what he cannot understand will only lead to ruin, with Leed explaining how his own expeirances with the Mothman effectively ruined his life. John is warned that his search for answers is putting him on the same path. It's implied that this kind of exposure is in some way responsible for Mary's death, [[spoiler:and later Gordan's.]]

* BlessedWithSuck: The Mothman, Indrid Cold, the predictions, all of the mysterious occurrences are something that are undeniably attractive, but Leek knows that it's a trap, and John has to fight to pass up the temptations, including a chance to reunite with his dead wife.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Discussed and clearly in effect. The motives of the Mothman are unknown and unlikely to make sense to humans.

* ShownTheirWork: The pencil and ink "angels" drawn in Mary's book are actual sketches of the Mothman from witnesses.