The Fourth Kind

Rating: 3/5

In a small town in Alaska, strange  events have been happening. Going between ‘real footage’ and  re-enactments, the mystery explored, to try and explain what happened  and how it affected those involved. That is The Fourth Kind in a nut  shell. The advertisements for this film, say this is all true, based on a  true story using actual footage from the real events. They really push  it as being real, the film even starts off with its star Milla Jovovich  saying she is playing the part of Abbey Tyler and the footage used is  the actual footage. However this is all not true, the footage is not  real, and this is a work of fiction.

I really do not think this will spoil  the film for you, you are better off knowing this is not true, because  if you think it is through the entire film and look it up and find out  it wasn’t, you will be disappointed. From the get go, it did not feel  real to me. The ‘actual footage’ while it looks authentic enough, and  the actress playing Abbey was convincing, it did not make sense that  real names would be changed but their faces not blurred out. The ‘actual  footage’ part of it was well done though, it is rather creepy at times,  and I liked the way they played that out. It does take time to get used  to the ‘actual footage’ getting shown with the ‘re-enactment’ footage.  After around 15 minutes or so, you get used to it and it flowed just  fine for me. It ended up meshing quite well, and I thought they had a  good idea with it and ran with it well.

Performance wise, I thought it was a  rather strong showing from Milla Jovovich, she was convincing and  sympathetic as Abbey. I really liked her a lot and I thought this was  one of her strong roles, very much a reason why I didn’t mind this film.  Elias Koteas can do no wrong in my eyes, I adore him and I thought he  was good here as well as Abel, friend and Doctor. He was the skeptic,  until he see’s certain things and he doesn’t know how to feel. Hakeem  Kae-Kazim was good as well, I liked the addition of his character to the  story as Odusami, a man who can help with somethings. I felt Will  Patton just over acted like there was no tomorrow as the Sheriff and he  really was not convincing at all. The actors playing the patients in  both the ‘re-enactments’ and ‘actual footage’ were all pretty solid and  sold it well.

Where I think this fell short was the  whole this is true, this is true stuff, they really shove it down your  throat and it is really just not necessary at all. I mean I understand  the idea behind it, but we get the drift. The story itself almost felt  as if by the end, it had not really gotten anywhere. I was into the  story of strange things happening, the hint of alien involvement (hardly  a spoiler since the title is the Fourth Kind which means alien contact)  and abductions of these folk and what things were they doing, to have  such an affect on the people. It is actually a sad story, especially for  Abbey and you do feel for her quite a lot. But I felt it didn’t really  go anywhere new as far as the story, and I wanted a bit more out of it. I  didn’t mind this film but I have a hard time recommending it though. I  will say that it did have some good creepy moments, and I liked how they  didn’t show too much as well. Sometimes what you don’t see is far more  scarier, and I felt that worked to their advantage.



(First written on March 7 2010, first published at SuperMarcey.com)

Last updated: 2010-04-07 00:45:36 by SuperMarcey

Starring: Milla Jovovich Thriller, 2009This movie is based on the true story of Dr. Abigail Tyler who was a psychotherapist in small town Nome Alaska . It focuses on what happened after her husband dies in 2000 while they are both in the midst of delving into some strange incidents being reported by her patients. What happens to Dr. Tyler and her family are said to be related to alien encounters of the 4Th kind. What you believe is for you to decide.

• I didn't know too much coming into this movie except that Jovovich was in it and that it looked scary. That was enough to make me want to see it.
• I found it very interesting how the raw footage from the actual events are shown in a split screen with scenes from the movie. The acting was so excellent that the movie scenes very closely resembled the real footage.
• It is especially chilling that everything in the movie is based upon actual audio and video recordings.
• This was a good movie. It had some good scary moments but when I walked out of the theatre I could only describe it as OK.
• It definitely gets you thinking about what might be out there can't be explained and that we know very little about.

Just Me

One of the oldest tricks of horror movies is to pass them off as true  stories. Texas Chainsaw Massacre did it, as did Amytiville Horror,  Blair Witch, and 09's Paranormal Activity.  Also out in autumn   of 09 was The Fourth Kind, an alien abduction thriller. (The Fourth Kind is  UFO code for abductions.)

It opens with actress Milla Jovovich talking to the  audience, informing us she is portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler, a  psychologist who investigated sleep disorders in Nome Alaska. According  to her, we are about to watch a dramatization of events in the year  2000, with accompanying archival footage, and some of the names have  been changed for privacy. In a nod to 1931’s Frankenstein, we are warned  that what we are about to see is disturbing.

The tale starts with Abigail’s own hypnosis, trying to recall the  night her husband died. (He also worked with Abby on studying the  disorders)Apparently an intruder stabbed him in the chest in the middle  of the night, and Abigail can’t remember the intruder’s face. Also  her young daughter Ashley is somehow blind after this event (which adds  little if anything to the story) and pre-teen son Ronnie is resentful of  his mom.

Meanwhile the narrative as a whole is being told by the real Dr.  Tyler, who is being interviewed on camera at Chapman University. The  whole time archival footage of hypnosis sessions is interspursed with  the dramatization. This seemed redundant and (pretend this is true)  changing character names doesn’t mean much if you SHOW THEIR ACTUAL  SESSIONS SO THE WHOLE WORLD CAN SEE WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE.

But I digress. Abby interviews her clients, and with some nice camera  work we see they all tell the same tale, around 3am they wake up and  see an owl with big eyes staring at them. (We get some nice ominous owl  shots too.) One patient agrees to hypnosis and realizes he doesn’t  really see an owl. Coming out of the trance, he won’t say what it is and  goes home.
Later that night, he snaps and kills his family and himself. The  alleged police footage is shown, which if this really happened, I don’t  think it’d ever be shown in a movie.
Will Patton plays the local sheriff who comes down hard on Dr. Tyler  wanting to know what’s going on. Abby talks to herself about the case on a tape recorder before going to sleep, leading to the scariest part of  the movie.

But first a colleague and friend Dr. Campos watches another hypnosis  with similar frightening results. Up till now there’s no alien talk.  After the client leaves Abby brings up abductions, which leads to some  clunky dialogue about how 11 million people saw UFOs since 19-something  and how it really could be just swamp gas. (Hey idiots, were not talking  about lights in the sky, we’re talking about abductions)

Anyway the tape. We hear Abby talking about the case from  that previous scene, then she falls asleep and the tape continues.  Suddenly we hear Abby screaming and shrieking in terror, and a creepy  non human voice talking some gibberish. Dr. Tyler ends up contacting a  specialist on ancient languages and learns that ancient Sumerian is  being spoken on the tape.  Next is an oddly shot scene where we get a  lecture about how the Noah flood story was borrowed from Sumerian tales,  (which is relevant how?????) and ancient sumerian artifacts that were  told look like men in oxygen masks, even though they don’t look like  that at all.

Anyway she ends up going to her last patients house as he’s  distraught and another tape session begins. The patient starts screaming  and actually levitates on the bed. Okay we’re watching an alien movie  not the Exorcist.
Next her daughter gets abducted one night, and not returned. The  Sheriff isn’t hearing any of it. With no where else to turn her  friend hypnotises her to try to recall her abduction from a few nights  before. The Sumerian scholar video tapes it.
What occurs next could have been the absolute scariest thing I’ve  ever seen on film if not for the GAPING PLOT HOLE THE SIZE OF A FLYING  SAUCER.

With the accompanying screams of terror preceded by seeing and owl  and “Oh my god it’s not an owl” she actually channels  the creepy Sumerian voice. 
Now remember, she’s recalling an abduction event that was BEFORE her  daughter was missing, and during THIS abduction, she asks for her  daughter back.
The creepy Sumerian voice responds, (and we get the translation on  screen) ”CHILD…… NEVER….. MY….. WILL…. BE….. DONE….. I…. AM………… GOD……”  which would have been absolutly totally horrfying if not for that  dam plot hole.  An evil sadistic creepy god angle takes some real  cinematic balls to pull off.
Then there’s screaming from all three people and the camera goes  fuzzy before landing in the sideways on the floor angle (end of Blair  Witch) as apparently all three have just been abducted.

Abby wakes up in the hospital. The sherrif and Dr. Campos (who either  doesn’t remember anything or denies it, ????) are present. The Sheriff  makes a revelation that makes no sense. Dr. Tyler’s husband actually  shot himself, just as her patient did. How she thought he was stabbed  when he in fact was shot is truly an unexplained phenomenon.
We end with the allegedly real Dr. Tyler (I wonder who played her)  who we now see is in a wheelchair. She tells us that she doesn’t in fact  think these creatures are gods, but “it could pretend to be.” Way to  ruin that awful helpless horrifying feeling for us. (She’s religious as  we see her pray before meals) Finally our heart strings are tugged as we  get cute daughter pictures and the frail emotionally unwound Abigail  talking about how she needs to keep hope alive. She has to believe her  daughter is still alive.

Before the credits there’s text revealing what happened to all these  fictitious characters after the made up events of the movie. The credits  roll to various audio clips (with text telling us when and where they  were recorded) of people reporting UFOs. That was pretty neat. The last  two clips are perfect. First, a young girl talks about how her little  brother tells her parents to lock all the doors because the spacemen are  coming to take him, and that a star follows him around. Last is an  adult talking about abduction, saying, “What if they come back.”

This story tried to hard to convince you it was real. Big words  “ACTUAL FOOTAGE” etc fill the screen. Perhaps a different approach was  in order. Maybe this should have been a straight dramitization, perhaps  with just a tiny bit of archive footage. Either that or make it straight  up Blair Witch documentary style like.

For the curious check out http://community.adn.com/adn/node/143292 Dr,  Tyler isn’t real.

If I were to rate the first hour of this movie, I’d honestly give it a  9 out of 10. The performances were really good from everyone. I liked  the sheriff a lot. Most of the camera work conveyed the suspense and  creepiness well, and this movie SOUNDS really scary. Sound is so  important to horror. Remember Halloween? This is probably the scariest sounding movie I've ever seen. It’s also very smart not to  actually show big eyed aliens, the closest we get are shadows. There is a  good creepy UFO shot in the archival footage though.

Unfortunately the gaping plothole and nonsensical elements at the  end, along with the other things I mentioned really aggrivated me. I  haven’t been this mad at a movie in 3 years. (I hated 2007 movies) But it’s not 2007 “this  sucks” anger, it’s disapointment. Watching The Fourth Kind is like  watching a potential honor student fail an exam. This could have been  the absolute scariest thing I’ve ever seen. 6/10.

http://jemurr.wordpress.com/<br />
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Last updated: 2010-04-05 21:17:07 by jemurr

     I attended a matinee showing of "The Fourth Kind" because I didn't want to risk paying the full night/weekend ticket price on what might be a less than stellar movie.  I still paid too much.  I want my money, and that hour and a half of my life, back.
 
     "The Fourth Kind" is Hollywood's (failed) attempt to make a 'found footage' movie.  It's a mix of movie footage and so called 'real' archival footage.  I actually thought that this technique would have made "Paranormal Activity" a much better movie, and it might have.  "The Fourth Kind", however, only manages to make the entire movie seem completely unreal by constantly trying to convince you that it is real.
 
     The movie begins with Milla Jovovich breaking the fourth wall and lying to the audience by telling them that the archival footage in the movie is real.  It quickly becomes apparent that it is not.  Jovovich plays Dr. Abbey Tyler,(who is not a real person, despite what faked web sites tell you,) a psychologist in Alaska, who is continuing her late husband's work with people having sleep problems.  She quickly stumbles into the possibility that these people are being abducted by aliens.  Under hypnosis, her patients discover the truth of what is happening and begin to go nuts.  This is where the movie lost me.  We are treated to, so called, actual dashboard camera footage of a standoff in a house where one of these abductees is holding his family hostage.  In poorly shot, grainy footage, we see him shoot his wife, both children, who are across the room, and himself, in a matter of seconds, and the police don't manage to fire a single shot.  If this had actually happened, it would have been all over the news.  The cable news outlets would have been giddy over actual footage of someone killing three other people and himself.  Of course, this didn't really happen, but the movie is so incredibly persistent in trying to convince you that it did all actually happen, that one simply loses the ability to suspend disbelief.  We are continually treated to split screens of movie footage and 'real' footage, audio tape recordings where the actors and the tape are heard almost simultaneously, and barely audible, subtitled audio, all in an attempt to get you to believe that it's all real.  "The Fourth Kind" beats you over the head with with it's attempt to make you believe that the found footage is real but it only manages to destroy any illusion of reality that might normally be created by a movie.  The acting is poor, the direction is poor, the story goes nowhere, the characters are unbelievable, and the plot is based entirely on you believing that what you are seeing is, somehow, actual reality.  On top of that, there is nothing actually scary about anything that happens in this movie.  The 'taped' evidence is not scary.  There is no tension.  When something happens on tape that might be frightening, the tape, conveniently, goes out.  Of course, they even fail at the tried and true method of, what you don't see is scarier than what you do see, by actually showing you a bit of something completely unbelievable as the tape is flickering in and out.  They show you just enough so you can't believe what's happening, but not enough to actually create any fright.
 
     The only way this movie is scary is if you actually believe that aliens really are abducting people, nightly, all over the world, and everyone, except for a handful of people in Nome, Alaska, are blissfully unaware.  If you believe that, then this film might actually frighten you, (and you might actually frighten me,) otherwise, it's an hour and a half of bad movie making and oversell of a poorly thought out concept.

Brian
Ciné Critique Américain

I went to see this with a friend last night due to the fact i've seen pretty much everything that's out at the minute. At first i was a bit hesitant about watching this but afterwards I definitely had a different perspective.

The use of "real" (i'm pretty sure i spotted a couple of goofs with that, most names of characters in the dramatised version being mentioned and later omitted) alongside the dramatisation was a great concept and definitely helped to highlight that this is based on (albeit unconfirmed and subject to opinion) true events.

Some of the scenes were definitely powerful enough to make you question the possibility of "The Fourth Kind" and the basic premise is extremely interesting.

Worth watching if you have some time to kill and fancy a bit of a philosophical debate with yourself.

P.S. it was hilarious watching some peoples' reactions during the "jump" moments. One girl in front of me must've left her seat by at least 4 inches. Genius :)

Vincent Snavely