In 2002’s The Mothman Prophecies, Richard Gere stars as John Klein, a columnist with the Washington Post. (The film takes place in the 1960s, presumably before the CIA placed Bob Woodward on staff… allegedly.) One night, while driving a car with his wife, Mary (Debra Messing), in the passenger seat, John swerves to avoid crashing into what appears to be a man with wings and glowing red eyes. Mary smashes her head against the car’s window. At the hospital, it’s discovered that she has a brain tumor. Mary dies a few months later, having spent her final days obsessively drawing pictures of the “Mothman.”

Two years later, a still-in-mourning John is assigned to cover a story in Richmond, Virginia. However, he somehow finds himself in a small town in West Virginia. When his car breaks down at two in the morning, John seeks help at an isolated farmhouse and is greeted by an angry farmer named Gordon (Will Patton) who claims that John has knocked on his door at the same time for three nights straight. The local sheriff, Connie (Laura Linney), shows up and calms things down. When Connie tells John that the locals are spooked by reports of a mysterious flying creature with glowing red eyes, John decides to stay in West Virginia and investigate the story. Gordon, it turns out, claims that he’s being stalked by a figure named Indrid Cold who sends him messages that predict future disasters. Soon, John himself is getting phone calls from Mr. Cold.

The Mothman Prophecies is a surprisingly effective horror film. At first, Richard Gere seems to be miscast as the lead of a horror film. The best horror actors have traditionally been touched by a breath of wind from the wings of madness. They carry a hint of instability, all the better to keep you guessing as to whether or not the horror is real or just a product of their imagination. Gere, on the other hand, is an actor who comes across as if he’s never had a moment of doubt or insecurity. His best roles—Days of Heaven, American Gigolo, Internal Affairs, Chicago—featured him playing charismatic but ultimately empty narcissists. The Mothman Prophecies actually puts Gere’s inherent blandness to good use. Gere comes across as being so rationally minded that it actually does make the scenes where he talks to Indrid Cold all the more creepy. A man who works for one of the nation’s most important newspapers comes across a story that cannot be solved through old-fashioned reporting. The supporting cast does a good job as well. That Will Patton is compelling as the paranoid farmer should not be a surprise to anyone who has seen Patton’s work. But Laura Linney, who is usually a bit too studied in her performances, is surprisingly natural and convincing as the sheriff. There are hints of a romantic attraction between Connie and John, but the film is smart enough not to make them the center of the story. The story is about the Mothman and Indrid Cold.

Director Mark Pellington is smart enough to keep Cold and the Mothman off-screen for the most part. The scenes where Cold calls John are frightening specifically because John can’t see Cold but Cold can obviously see him. The Mothman is frightening because the film never explains what the Mothman is or whether it even exists. (Much like the Boggy Creek Monster, both the Mothman and Indrid Cold were a part of the local folklore long before a movie was made about them.) Pellington takes his time telling the story and focuses more on atmosphere than jump scares. At its best, the film plays out like a deliberately paced nightmare, an examination of what might be out there. It’s a film that makes even the most rational of us wonder what might be out there.