The Fourth Kind Review

I love alien movies.  Really, it's the only genre that can still scare me.  I'm not saying that other spooky things don't give me pause or make me jump.  It's just that there is really no mystery left.  Sure, movies about serial killers make me triple check the lock on my door, but I watch cable.  I know what horrible things they can do.  I'm desensitized.  I'm always up for a good monster movie, but when I go home, I'm not really worried that a werewolf is going to attack me or that Gary Oldman in a top hat is going to offer me absinthe and bite my neck.  But aliens?  I'm hardly expecting alien lizards to come to our planet and steal our guinea pigs.  I'm just saying that, unlikely as it probably is, something could be out there.  Maybe.

So here is what you need to know about The Fourth Kind.  Since the 1960's there have been an unusual number of disappearances in Nome, Alaska.  Sure, lots of people think these things are the fault of suicide, alcoholism and accidents in the wilderness.  Dr. Abigail Tyler, a recently widowed psychiatrist in the area believes it might be something else.  Using hypnosis, she discovers that her most disturbed patients all seem to have similar visions.  An owl that is not an owl waking them up at 3:33 am.  (By the way, I have woken up at that exact time for the past few mornings.  No owl, but my cat staring at me is just as disconcerting.)  And they all have violent reactions to the memories.  She begins to believe that these people may have been abducted by aliens. What we see is a re-enactment of the story along with the supposed footage of actual events. (In case you were wondering, the title is in reference to the 1972 scale of measurement.  An alien encounter of the first kind is a UFO sighting. The second kind is evidence.  The third is contact.  And the fourth kind is abduction.  The visual that word gives me has been completely destroyed by the South Park anal probe episode.)  

The film begins with Milla Jovovich telling the audience that she'll be portraying Tyler and that the archival footage of her work and interviews is real.  It's really not important whether or not you believe that.  If you want to do the research and see if this person actually exists, there are plenty of websites that will be happy to mess with your head and/or comfort you with facts and figures.  We are shown the footage and the re-creation at the same time, often with Tyler and Jovovich/Tyler speaking the same lines simultaneously.  When the story goes deeper into Tyler's experiences, Jovovich is on screen alone.  The through-line of the story is provided by footage of an interview that Tyler gave to Olatunde Osunsanmi (the film's writer and director).   The interview shows Abigail getting more and more rattled as she starts to crack from the grief over her husband's death and the fear that this might be happening to her too.

I'm trying very, very hard not to spoil things for you when I speak about the performances.  Let me just say that everyone was convincing ... with one exception.  Will Patton, who plays the doubting sheriff, looks as if his head is going to explode in every scene.  A sheriff like that would have been demoted to desk duty long ago.  I kept wanting to yell, “do less” at the screen or hoping that some secret was going to be revealed.  Something that would explain his odd behavior.  

The Fourth Kind was one of the scariest things I've seen in years.  I'm going out to see it again, which tells you how much I care whether or not it's a hoax.  With the exception of Patton's performance, I enjoyed every thrilling minute of it.  Like Drag Me to Hell did earlier this year, The Fourth Kind made horror fun again.  God, I hope it's a trend.  (And considering the disappointing performance of Saw VI and the success of Paranormal Activity, that seems to be the case.)

It's the reality of the whole thing that got me.  (I'm talking about abduction, not the footage.  There was one particular moment that tipped me off.  You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.  I've read reviews that claim “the audience is too sophisticated to believe that this is real footage,” etc.  To which I must respond, “Yeah, so what?”  I'm also too sophisticated to believe that a clown doll is going to come to life and kill someone.  It's still fun to watch.) Like I said, the reason alien movies still have the power to scare me is that no one has been able to prove that the crazy abduction people are lying.  Um...I hope they are.

8.5/10

 

 

 

Follow Jenna Busch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennabusch

Comments

[DevilYouKnow]

I would like to know if this is true — I have a dislike for pseudo-documentary or "re-enactment" like the Discovery Channel hauntings or something posing as a movie and true story. Is it or isn't it true that something's amiss in Nome? (Or a-missing?) Does Dr. Tyler exist?

It's a weak (read: lame) filmmaker that would do this. Or cheap filmmaker. Make a good movie with a good story set in Alaska. (Not Bulgaria.) Do it right.

I agree with some the movie was lame. My biggest complaint is the lousy acting.
Milla Jovovich was a hardship to watch. One of those truly annoying young actresses that are most often seen on t.v. lately — they have a strange affect and habit of over-enunciating along with a just annoying manner. She should not be on the big screen. But neither should this movie.

Scary? Come on. And these stories look more like demon possessions than UFO Alen lore. I think even the Ufologists would have trouble with this. I could believe some folks have gotten posessed though.

I thought the actor playing the sheriff was decent. For t.v.
It was a t.v. show, let's face it. And at least he express the annoyance so many of us felt watching Milla Jovovich!

This should have gone straight to DVD.

And with a little luck, this is the end of the Faux-Documentaries currently littering the big screen.

[MithaM]

For argument's sake lets say the film is accurate in its portrayals...I would call the entity demonic rather than 'alien'

2nd Thessalonians 2:9-12 9 "The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

[vmd239]

Dear Jenna,

We did not see the same movie, then. The movie I saw was so lame, 12 people walked out of the theater before the first half hour was up, and many more fell dead asleep. It was boring and far from scary (save for the scene where Milla playing Abi listens to herself on the tape recorder, which was truly terrifying), which is a shame because the IDEA for the story is great. However, the execution (as mostly everyone agrees) was absolutely horrible. The pacing is slow and there just really isn't much going on. The split-screen effect was more distracting than anything, and Jovovich's breakdown about losing "her" daughter was hilariously bad. In closing, I respect your opinion and politely disagree.

From, I'm mad I paid $12.50 to see that

[fantastico]

This review was spot on, Jenna. I couldn't agree with you more. Saw this movie just yesterday, and like you said, it's definitely by far one of the scariest movies around. The Fourth Kind does an excellent job in really building up suspense from start to finish. I really thought the split-screen footage technique was a clever way to really build up the suspense and take the intensity to take next level. The sounds and footage worked so well together that it really got my heart racing. I was so freaked out by the movie's end... and I got to admit, this film really dug into my innermost fears once I left the theater.

Other than that, I have to give the filmmaker a whole lot of credit... I think he did exactly what he was looking to achieve in terms of leaving the audience thinking and questioning. I'm with you about seeing this again... it is an engaging and entertaining movie all around. I think all the sci-fi and die-hard horror moviegoers out there are in for a treat.

[JoeCorrao]

I really liked this movie...don't know why its getting negative reviews...never heard the story before (and i love paranormal stuff) so I am combing the web for info on its validity...even if its a hoax story the movie was very well done IMHO...

[Alina Farace]

Milla Jovovich was tweeting from set in Toronto, Canada its good . If all knows Milla Jovovich’s coming in new movie ‘Afterlife’ , The Fourth Kind, debuts this weekend. Milla Jovovich also stars in The Fourth Kind, debuting this weekend, Resident Evil and two other movies all hitting in 2010.

[ianlegend]

I am just coming home from seeing this. The review sounded intriguing, it was date night with the wife - Perfect storm. And I loved it. I thought it was very smart, very different and, above all, absolutely terrifying. So thanks.

[MonteCristo65]

I agree 100%. I got to see it, too, and had very much the same reaction. It was very thought-provoking while being terrifying at the same time. The realness - outside of the conceit - comes from the way that the reprecussions of abducion - or at least the belief of having been abducted - spreads and affects a person's life. Kudos also for the ambitious unconventional story-telling technique. It seemed like a perfect match between the form and the substance.

[RolloDutchDame]

gotta agree with you completely, jenna.
saw a screening the other night and was totally freaked out.
i'm a sucker for the genre too, so this thing really pushed my buttons. but the friend i was with, who is more into ghost stories and paranormal stuff for scares, was pretty chilled by this one, too.
also agree in hoping that films like this and paranormal activity mark a trend away from gruesome torture porn and more towards horror films built on suspense and deep psychological fear.

[Oldbull 56]

Excellent review, with a nice personal touch. Nice to see Mila Jovovich breaking out of her blow things up mode for a change.

[Merlin1]

Just so everyone knows... Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind is part of a set of Definitions used in the UFO community to classify different kinds of events. It was developed by Jaques Vallee and consists of four main Definitions and five sub-categories for each. This system is used every day to classify events.

I will only address the sub Defintions for the Close Encounter event:

Defintion #1 AN Anomolus Lights
#2 FB Flyby
#3 MA Manuver
#4 CE Close Encounter
1-Sighting
2-Physical Effect
3-Living Entities (Remember Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
4-Reality transformation
5-Lasting Injury

[believethelie]

cool, thanks for that information