The Mothman of Point Pleasant reviewed by Loren Coleman
Posted by: Seth Breedlove on May 4th, 2017
Cryptozoologist, museum curator, author and television personality, Loren Coleman has sent us the first full review for The Mothman of Point Pleasant! Read the entire review below, and get primed for the release on June 2nd!
Warning: spoilers herein! Read at your own risk.
The Small Town Monsters film production group delivers another outstanding documentary film about cryptozoology at the ground level, in the nonfiction countryside of America. Written, produced, and directed by Seth Breedlove, The Mothman of Point Pleasant (2017) is destined to be the yardstick film that any other attempts to capture the true reality of Mothman will be measured. Narrated by Lyle Blackburn, well-known for his serious and thorough investigations of the Boggy Creek creatures, the viewer feels as if one is on an Ohio River journey through the rural history of the now-infamous Mothman.
From the first overhead shots of the drone cinematography by Zac Palmisano showing the poverty-filled landscape of the area, through the haunting music of Brandon Dalo’s reflecting the devastated surroundings, the film gives a sense of foreboding in Point Pleasant.
The documentary walks through these times of creatures, strange lights in the sky, and disaster with an intent to illuminate, on a pace that mirrors the flowing of the river. We take in the huge amount of detail and wonder why no one told us before so much was happening.
Breedlove’s use of a time chart as a thread throughout the film helps the observer get a grip on two years that created a visceral terror existing right below the surface. This documentary shares that feeling intensively. The use of news reel footage and interviews of eyewitnesses and locals are powerful pivotal points that anchor us, even if you know where this story is going to go. Breedlove’s film is building to a crescendo, and one just hopes, for once, it isn’t the one we all know is coming. Maybe, just this once, history was an illusion, and the Silver Bridge collapse didn’t really happen.
But it does, and Jeff Wamsley’s father’s original old footage graphically shows what few have seen. It is an evocative moment towards the film’s end. Poignant, and well-handled by Breedlove.
The film shares a deeper thoughtful human moment about Mothman, which is often forgotten in sensationalized television reality programming about Mothman. It is voiced by the words of Lawrence Gary, a school teacher, who experienced his own encounter with Mothman some fifty years ago. It shook him to such an extent he questioned his own guilt in bringing this upon himself.
“Lord, what did I do? This Thing is here. This evil presence….It is evil. 100% evil,” says Lawrence Gary to the camera.
Indeed, what brought the Mothman to this existence, what was its purpose, why do we have to even have it in our awareness? The Mothman of Point Pleasant gives exactly what we need to ponder such questions.
~ Loren Coleman, author of Mothman: Evil Incarnate (Cosimo Books, 2017).
About Seth Breedlove
Seth Breedlove is a freelance investigative journalist, filmmaker, and radio show host. He has contributed content to numerous websites on a variety of topics. He served as a columnist for the Massillon Independent, helming a weekly column titled "Slice of Life" that ran on the front page of the paper. In addition to his column he has covered news stories and daily assingnments for the Medina Gazette.
In 2014 he started SasWhat: a Podcast About Bigfoot with co-host Mark Matzke where each week they discuss the subject as a whole and interview various personalities from the field. Seth has also researched and examined historical Bigfoot reports from across the country, compiling an extensive database of newspaper articles dating back to the early 1800's.
