I always have time for The Mothman Prophecies. Mark Pellington’s eerie, underrated 2002 flick is an entertaining romp, mixing jumpscares with an atmosphere of dread. It’s an unnerving film that peels away John Peel’s excellent book into a more straight tale of mourning and an entity whose goal is never clear.

Tomanandy go for the abstract, almost musique concrete approach on their double album. It’s one of those records you can play on low lit rooms, with your headphones snugly put, and sinking into a deep sleep. It’s never as bizarre as Rules of Attraction. Instead, is more of a compilation of intrigue while venturing into a territory where an otherworldly beast roams.

Richard Gere is John Klein, our de facto Fox Mulder, a man who has just lost her wife Mary (Debra Messing) to a car accident. Her diary, a strange collection of Jeremy-esque ramblings and drawings, troubles him. Her carer is ominous with his warnings, and that’s our first unsetlling moment.

John then drives west, making it to Virginia in an impossible time. He’s confused and Connie Mills (a fantastic Laura Linney) first thinks he is intoxicated, but slowly realises something’s wrong. Will Patton, another reliable actor, plays Gordon Smallwood, who never fully trusts John Klein, but confides in him about strange things happening in Point Pleasant.

John slowly realises that the weight of mourning didn’t bring him to West Virginia. It was something else. That creature wants him to die there. His mind, still affected by his wife’s death, slowly unravels, and this is where the film excels: Pellington knows his camera tricks, and plays audiovisually with you. Is the mirror out of phase with John? Did we see or not a featureless visage reflected? The combination of music and these unsettling events is the biggest strength of the movie.

With that said, the dialogue does feel cheesy from time to time. Things are told, not shown, and it can be frustrating having great moments clashing with kitchen sink drama levels of dialogue. But in the end, these don’t become detrimental to the movie. It works so well when it hits a high that you’re willing to forgive the lows.

The music gets more abstract. Catasthrophes occur, and they become closer, from televised reports of airplane crashes, to tragedies in Point Pleasant. It culminates with a major disaster and both John and Connie barely make it alive.

My fondest memory of The Mothman Prophecies is watching it in May of 2002 with my friend Alivón. We started going out to the cinema every wednesday, from May until September, when I departed to Nottingham. The last movie we saw together was Signs. It’s a nice bookend, watching two horror flicks with good scares and memorable soundtracks.

Years ago, I talked about how I got introduced to Low during a bout of insomnia. I guess that was the proper introduction as a band, not as collaborators. Halflight, the spooky, disquieting credit song seeps from the closing shot, were Connie realises the messages she received meant she was going to die that night. The light fades and Low and Tomandandy’s take us to a nightmarish romp. A beautiful one.

-Sam J. Valdés López