Moth (I) (2016) User Reviews

Awful, but with a Good Plot Point

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 10 February 2017]

"Moth" is another garbage made in the terrible genre called "found footage", a crappy means to make cheap and worthless films. The storyline is too short and full of clichés (a professor invites one student to travel with her to the countryside of Hungary to investigate sighting reports of a creature and they are stranded in the creepy wood); therefore, the screenplay is boring and annoying to complete 81 minutes running time. The amateurish acting shows a histrionic lead actress and her voice is so emotionless and strange that seems to be dubbed; and the lead actor is a weird guy. Cinematography, lightning, art and set decoration do not exist and are improvised and amateurish only. The surprising and unexpected plot point is wasted in a very bad movie. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Offensively bad, but with a great (although expected) twist

[manuelasaez · 2/10 · 11 February 2017]

One of the worst films I have ever seen, this movie is riddled with horrible decisions from the onset. The lead actress is horrendous and has no acting ability or talent. Her English is hindered by her strong Ukrainian accent, and made understanding what she said a chore. She delivered her lines with the tact of a community theater understudy, and had no semblance of an understanding in basic theatrical emoting. She was the absolute worst thing about this, by far.

The rest of the cast was either distant or oblivious, and the supporting characters were even more horrendous than the lead, although (thankfully) they get very limited screen time. The cinematography is a joke, and the script is inane. It comes of as "my first screenplay" levels of bad, although I don't think that the people responsible did a single rewrite or edit to the final "script".

The most offensive thing about this movie has got to be the over abundance of shaky cam. I grew nauseous with each passing minute, and by the end of the movie I was reaching for the Dramamine. It was so freaking bad, I barely made it to the credits without wanting to blow my lunch all over my new carpet.

Overall, this film is a bag of garbage left out on a hot summer day after a drunk girl vomited all over it the night before. It is so bad, that I am actively making the effort to erase it from my mind. It does not deserve a single iota of space in my memory.

Slightly less painful than having a screwdriver jammed in your ear

[roleplaygeordan · 2/10 · 8 July 2019]

I didn't expect anything from this movie going in and it was still awful. The acting was awful even for a low budget production like this. (which i can only assume consisted of whatever loose change the director found in his pocket that day). The plot is basically a rip off of the Blair Witch Project. (minus the scares, the believably and any semblance of fun.) And the plot twist at the end can be seen from a mile away. The only reason i don't give this movie 1/10 is because some parts were so bad they made me laugh.

Horrendous. Avoid!

[macadam122 · 1/10 · 13 February 2017]

This film just has no redeeming qualities. Moth, AKA the longest, most boring road trip you could ever take, is badly acted, boringly written and possibly with the least amount of chills per minute of film ever created. The lead actress has the personality and charisma of a dead fish and her male support is at least as bad. They spend so much time cramped together in the car or saying, "did you her dat?" or 'wat is dat?' that at no point are you ever invested in the characters or the story. The shaky camera is also bad, offputtingly so. The real problem here is just the lack of anything happening. It's a real 'student project' type of thing; minimum cast, people in the car and then the woods, just no. Sorry guys, it was just ghastly.

Help me

[matthewfassero · 1/10 · 5 September 2018]

Paint a wall, then watch it dry. It is more fun. Fast forward to the credits. Take a nap instead.

Poor Script, Acting, Cinematography, Characters, Effects

[boz-58301 · 1/10 · 14 October 2017]

I rarely write reviews, but this film was so badly done that I just have to warn potential viewers to stay away from it. Firstly, the poster/DVD cover suggest the presence of a moth-man creature while there is none in the film. None, zilch. We only hear or see suggestions of such a being. The characters are one dimensional and not at all interesting from any standpoint. The lead actress is mostly irritating and over reactive while the leading man is simply boring. Cinematography, if you would call it that, is of the hand held, amateurish type usually seen in "found footage" films with nauseating movements, improperly exposed and focused images and poor framing. The editing must have been done by someone on drugs as the continuity and story development are confusing and irrational. The "big reveal" at the end did not surprise me at all and was, in fact, not such a "big" deal at all. About the only part of the film that held some interest for me were the locations: abandoned commercial building, cars, homes and the country roads and forest locations. Sorry I wasted my time with this film.

Bad acting, writing, photography and direction, but other than that, still bad

[Jozef_Lenders · 1/10 · 21 March 2017]

Positives: none

Negatives: the movie

I have seen movies made by high school kids that were better than this.

It falls into the "found footage" category, but I don't think it's appropriate, because if anyone had found this mess they would just toss it in the trash.

Did Anyone Tell Jozsef Gallai...?

[tmccull52 · 1/10 · 26 July 2020]

When he auditioned for the role of Adam in this movie, did anyone tell him that he was playing a Nazi prison camp guard, because that's what he brought to the role. He is unrelentingly dour and ill-tempered, and demonstrated absolutely no emotional range beyond terse and testy. I kept waiting for him to puff coolly on a cigarette, slap the female lead with a leather glove, and declare that he had ways of making her talk.

Not that Lidia Szabo, as Thora, was much better. Thora is supposed the be a university professor hot on the trail of a mythical cryptid, and she brings all of the bearing and professionalism of a ditzy cocktail waitress to the role.

At the beginning of the movie, Thora gives a lecture on the fabled Mothman of American lore and legend. She has somehow deduced that the Mothman has left the United States, and is responsible for a string of disappearances in the woodlands and forests of Hungary. How she came through this stellar conclusion isn't even glossed over. She announces that she is going to Hungary to track down and document the winged horror, and asks for a volunteer to accompany her. Adam signs on for the mission.

Almost from the instant that they set out, Adam starts complaining about pretty much anything and everything, and demonstrates the personal charm and appeal of a syphillitic porcupine.

Long story short, you never catch a glimpse of the monster, because there isn't one. This is a movie about people making a movie about the creature, and Thora is an actress, and not a professor, after all. Adam ends up getting killed, which doesn't bother Thora or any of the others making this movie in the least. At one point, they're practically giddy over his death. At the end of the movie, Thora and the director are arrested for Adam's death.

Useless piece of cr@p

[AtLeastItsNot4 · 1/10 · 16 May 2019]

So someone made a bad movie about making a bad movie. Wow, just wow. The whole time I was waiting for the exciting part, but it just didn't come. The main actor should find a day job, because this profession isn't for him. The main actress was at least trying to give some quality to the movie, so kudos for her. But unfortunately it just wasn't enough. Overall, bad script, bad acting, just another boring movie. Don't waste your time with watching this. Really, just don't.

The worst acting i have ever seen

[martincmc · 1/10 · 21 November 2020]

This was the worst movie i have ever seen. The story was forced and the acting was mediocre. I was hoping to see a European version of the Blair Witch Project but instead i got a bunch of prolonged, cringy and redundant dialog that did nothing for the plot and some pretty lame jump scares.

Cool idea. A fair review in context

[forbesguitars · 8/10 · 5 December 2021]

You have to review these movies in context. This is low budget and English is not their first language. So you have to look past the awkward dialogue. The locations are creepy and the concept here is very cool. I am a fan of horror but there is not a lot of material in the genre. You have to take the good in all levels of production and this is a good one to me. It does not make sense to compare this to something Hereditary because it would fail in comparison. However, the story is what matters.

If you only like polished high budget horror then this is not for you. If you like atmosphere and story green give it a try. This is an 8 among movies in this budget category.

Interesting FF effort

[jimihendrixlive · 7/10 · 19 March 2017]

This is a remarkable indie effort as it manages to bring something fresh in the usual monster FF plot: guys get on the monster's track, camp out at night with nothing to defend themselves then they get on the monster's menu as dessert. You will find Moth is nothing like that, in a good way ! Good visuals, intelligent plot.

Equipped with a shaky camera and a non-existing storyline. Not the greatest of combos...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 30 August 2017]

Sometimes you just got to stop and heed the warning signs found listed for certain movies here on IMDb. I opted to ignore them and decided to sit down to watch "Moth" because the concept sounded alright and the cover for the movie seemed interesting.

However, this 2016 movie turned out to be an ordeal of a movie to sit through. Why? Well, because it is incredibly slow paced, and also because the character gallery in the movie is very flaccid and quite far from being interesting in any way. The characters are one-dimensional and doesn't hold much of anything to make you take a liking to them.

The dialogue in the movie didn't really do much to help the pacing of the movie, nor did it do anything to promote the characters. The writing of the dialogue was uninspiring and the delivery of the dialogue by the cast was monotonous and was a bit difficult to take serious.

"Moth" is the type of movie where you sit and watch it as you think 'I could just as easily have filmed that myself'. The camera is all over the place, and it feels like a home-made movie in every aspect. This particular style of movie presentation is one that I am not very fond of.

The movie runs with a minimalist cast, which means that there is some expectancy riding on the shoulders of those performing in the movie. And when the cast fails to deliver anything worthwhile, the entire movie just comes tumbling down hard.

And it doesn't really work well in favor of the movie that there is so little happening throughout the course of the entire movie that you will be a great risk of actually hearing your own snoring as the movie trots on at a snail speed pace.

So do take heed of the warning signs and flashing symbols that scream at you not to waste your time, money and effort on movies such as this. Some of us failed to heed the warning and find ourselves with time taken away from us that we will never get back, and got nothing in return for this trade off in terms of enjoyment of a fulfilling movie.

"Moth" scores a meager 2 out of 10 stars from me. And this is without a doubt a movie that I will never return to a second time.

"A" for effort, but this was pretty bad.

[j-nickturner · 2/10 · 6 April 2020]

Found Footage is my favorite and I always love seeing what independent directors are able to accomplish with almost no budget. This had some interesting ideas and the twist is pretty unique! I can see what it was going for, but it just didn't work for me.

One reviewer stated that people missed the point and that this is actually a drama. Maybe so... But if so, its not a very good one. You know the type of person that thinks they are super deep, but gives you secondhand cringe all the time? This is the movie equivalent of that person. It thinks it has something really important to say, but really its pretty surface level and nothing you haven't read on some cheesy Facebook post by your best friends mom.

No scares, no entertainment value, and nothing new to say. Skip it.

I saw it.. I saw it

[devils_neighbor_667 · 3/10 · 22 September 2019]

Poor acting, weak story, and not scary! The only plus side to the movie was the unexpected twist at the end.

Another bad mothman movie

[africe · 2/10 · 17 January 2020]

I gave this movie a 2 instead of a 1 because the female lead was quite good. The male lead should give up acting because he is the worst actor I've ever seen. His outbursts were annoying at best. I will look for other movies with the female lead but do avoid this one

I saw it

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 1 August 2017]

Thora (Lídia Szabó ) is an instructor in London. She has been following incidents of Moth Man destruction throughout history. There is an appearance of the Moth reported in Hungary. She requests volunteers to go and film the creature. Only Adam (József Gallai) volunteers to be part of a very boring found footage film. They travel together on the back roads of Hungary doing the "what is it?" cam from inside a tent. We get to discover the mother issues our two adventurers reveal, very boring stuff. We hear the moth, but don't get to see it. This is a very non-entertaining found footage film, reminiscent of the ones where they go look for Bigfoot. It is for the most part a lone star film.

I really liked the ending. Too bad the rest of the feature lacked entertainment value.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Filmed on location.

really great

[sonaldaaaelly56321 · 10/10 · 2 April 2018]

I watched this movie today and I was positively surprised. This movie was drama packed, but still tasteful and fun to watch. I haven't seen the prequel and still enjoyed this movie a lot. If you want to see a good movie, this is a must watch!

Underrated and misunderstood

[blackcat-99471 · 7/10 · 28 April 2017]

I feel I have to write my first review now! Honestly I don't get all bad reviews and those bunch of a-holes who watch and rate FF movies despite they hate these kind of movies.

Unfortunately many stupid people have seen and rated this movie describing it one of the worst and blah blah, while they didn't even notice this is NOT a horror movie, but rather a drama with FF and horror elements. Great atmosphere, great storytelling and one of the most surprising twists I've seen in an independent movie so far. A great (if not the best) addition to Wild Eye Releasing movies.

Not perfect for sure - I didn't like the main actress either, but a great film. And please stop bashing indie horror films and ff films. If you don't like them, choose something else.

Amazing, simply amazing

[Medjoa · 10/10 · 2 April 2018]

I really love the movie. The fact is that it takes time to discover anything about the plot not a problem for me, but it was clear to many. If you can just keep asking questions until the end of the movie then this is for you. The plot is really engaging and unique. For me, it was a great Drama and it did a perfect job of blowing up the laughter. Easily one of my favorite movies of all time, and the best movies of recent months!

Something different creeps this way!

[toshka210 · 6/10 · 12 February 2016]

Not so long ago I was lucky enough to get a private screener of the latest found footage film made by Gergo Elekes and Jozsef Gallai. After some time has passed and I got to process the film in my brain for a while I think that I am ready to give a proper review of this film.

POSITIVES:

First off, I would like to admit that the film took a very different path and way of progression that I had imagined in my head from the trailer and such. I was expecting more of a straight forward non stop creeper. But what I got instead was sometimes a slow burner film. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so.

Another thing that I would like to mention is that the film feels dated...and I absolutely love that. Just hear me out for a second! The way it progresses and just the feel of the film takes me back to the Blair Witch days, the film had some nods to the pioneers of found footage films first presented back in the days and I think that makes the film look more nostalgic for me.

Lidia Szabo gave a very convincing performance for the most part, she had layers to her character which opened like a fresh tulip as the film progressed which benefited the film more as the story unfolded.

NEGATIVE:

One of the main problems I had with the film was Jozsef Gallai's performance in most of the scenes, but I am struggling a bit on that part, because I don't know if its his performance or some of the cliché dialogue that gets delivered.

Which leads me to the second part of the problem. Some of the conversations between our characters in the film gets so clichéd to the point where its like every single dialogue in every found footage film you have seen. But it's not that big of a deal sometimes since there's not THAT much clichéd dialogue scattered through, but when there is it is very noticeable.

In Conclusion I will be giving the film 6/10. But I believe that after multiple watches I might boost the grade. Sometimes I realized that found footage films for me are like fine wine. The more you let it sit, the better it gets.