In Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a tight-knit group of high school seniors fates takes a dark turn by a riverside near an old mill. What begins as a mischief-filled prank aimed at their friend Jamie ends in tragedy when he drowns in the river. To hide the accident, the teens stage a cover story, insisting Jamie’s death happened after he struck his head while jumping in—an act that plants the seed of guilt and fear that will fester for years.
A decade later, Katherine Grant, now a reporter for Washington Weekly, returns to town to cover the tenth Mothman Festival. The reunion with her ex-boyfriend, Derek Carpenter, and the rest of the group stirs old memories, especially as they confront the consequences of Jamie’s death. Among the first jolts of the festival night is the terrifying murder of Jared, who heads back to his RV only to fall prey to the same unknown force that haunted their youth, the Mothman.
As Katherine and Derek investigate Jared’s disappearance, the festival atmosphere is punctured by a warning from a blind elder, Frank Waverly, who senses the looming danger. That night, a desperate man named Richard nearly ends his own life only to be interrupted by a supernatural terror that enters through reflective surfaces, a clue that will prove crucial. Later, the Mothman slams into Sally’s car and leaves her dead, adding a fresh layer of fear to the familiar legend.
The next day, Katherine grows convinced that there is truth to the town’s folklore. She seeks help from Frank, who reveals a deeper history: long ago, white settlers murdered the local Indigenous chief, Cornstalk. In a desperate act, Cornstalk’s dying spirit called forth a malevolent presence to avenge the dead—an evil that can only cross into the world through mirrors and reflective surfaces, sealed inside a mirror-lined coffin. With this revelation, Katherine understands the danger she and her friends are facing and the specific vulnerability the town carries.
Back at the motel, the barrier between worlds seems to thin as the Mothman surfaces from a television screen to attack Katherine. Derek rushes to his partner’s side, and they retreat to Frank’s shelter, where Frank admits he blinded himself after a car crash that killed the mayor’s son while he and two others were drinking and driving. The revelation about Frank’s guilt intensifies the town’s complicity in the tragedy and the consequences that ripple through the present.
When Casey discovers Jared’s remains at the RV, the Mothman strikes again, forcing the trio to confront the danger head-on. Frank provides a bone-like artifact and guides them to perform a banishing ritual at the old mill, near the incinerator—a ritual that initially seems to work but may actually summon the creature instead. The Mothman pursues Katherine and Derek through the claustrophobic mill, and the trio must navigate fear, betrayal, and the town’s dark history to survive.
After a tense sequence of chases and near-fatal confrontations, Casey fires at the Mothman, and the creature is driven back, but the danger remains imminent. The trio discovers Casey alive but battered, and they hurry toward a final showdown at the Mothman Festival. Frank is killed in the chaos, and the town’s leaders fail to stop the menace as the Mothman destroys those closest to the truth. Casey makes a last-ditch effort by ramming the creature with a car, but pays the ultimate price when the Mothman kills him.
Katherine and Derek confront the creature once more, and Katherine’s desperate strike with the bone-like object finally causes the Mothman to burst into flames, followed by a cascade of black moths spiraling into the night. Yet the danger isn’t over. The next day, Katherine visits Derek in the hospital, only to face a chilling development: her eyes turn red and black moths spill from her, suggesting that the Mothman’s power has somehow taken root within her.
The film closes on a haunting, unsettled note: a single moth ignites into flames, and the Mothman’s red eyes glow with renewed menace, hinting that the town’s history of violence and fear may not be finished. What began as a legend becomes a brutal reckoning, where guilt, memory, and the price of silence converge in a war between the living and a vengeful presence that feeds on reflective surfaces and buried secrets.
