Canadian director Austin Birtch will be making his feature debut with Mystery of the Mothman, a horror movie centered on the mysterious winged cryptid that took to the skies of Point Pleasant, West Virginia back in the 1960s. The Mothman was most notably the subject of 2002’s The Mothman Prophecies, as well as a few […]
Canadian director Austin Birtch will be making his feature debut with Mystery of the Mothman, a horror movie centered on the mysterious winged cryptid that took to the skies of Point Pleasant, West Virginia back in the 1960s. The Mothman was most notably the subject of 2002’s The Mothman Prophecies, as well as a few other less notable horror movies.
The upcoming film “explores the legend of the Mothman, tied to a wave of late-1960s sightings in New Jersey of a human-sized, birdlike creature with glowing red eyes.”
“The Mothman legend is a unique fixture of North American folklore that has always felt ripe for adaptation,” Birtch said in a statement. “The original story of a town plagued with tragedy, a shadowy red-eyed, winged monster haunting the skies, bizarre Men in Black threatening UFO witnesses, and a telepathic alien calling himself Indrid Cold has always captivated my imagination. What really happened in Point Pleasant in 1967?!”
“While I want to honor that mythology, my approach to the material is as a creature-feature horror film with practical effects akin to early Carpenter or Spielberg,” Birtch previews. “I think audiences are going to love seeing this throwback creature feature that honors a familiar legend with a fresh spin – especially as audiences show renewed appreciation for practical effects and character-driven storytelling.”
The coolest bit of news in this particular story? Steven Kostanski (The Void, Psycho Goreman, Frankie Freako) is the effects artist bringing the Mothman to life on screen!
“Working with executive producer and creature effects artist Steven Kostanski, we’re aiming to create a genuinely terrifying practical Mothman that feels ripped out of a ’70s creature feature – something fans of the cryptid have been longing for for years,” Birtch teases.
You can learn all about the Mothman over on the cryptid’s Wiki page.
