Phénomènes paranormaux

This is a review on wrote on my website: www.TheCoreJunction.com

I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to see a free, advance screening of Universal's highly-anticipated film The Fourth Kind at Columbia University's Alfred Lerner Hall on October 29, 2009. The Core Junction is proud to bring you this review, a week before the film's November 6 theatrical release.

It seems that horror and thriller movies have entered a new era. The long-lived genre of grisly and sadistic horror—marked by Lionsgate's Saw franchise over the last decade—is gradually being pushed aside by films that appeal to a different fear factor. The Fourth Kind falls into this up-and-coming genre of horror/thriller movies that tap a visceral core of human cognition and trepidation. Beginning with the 1999 sensation The Blair With Project, more and more films are choosing to cut back on gratuitous gore and violence and take a more original approach to scare audiences. The 2008 blockbuster Cloverfield and, most recently, Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity, are also founding fathers of this "genre". While The Fourth Kind ultimately isn't as successful as its predecessors, it takes an original approach on an audacious premise of alien abduction.

The Fourth Kind begins with an introduction by lead actress and former Resident Evil star Milla Jovovich, who dramatizes psychiatrist Dr. Abigail Tyler in the film. Jovovich explains that every scene is supported by real archive footage but, in the end, it is up to the audience to decide whether or not what they are seeing is real. She also says that real names of people have been changed for privacy purposes. Jovovich then closes her remarks stating, "Some of what you are about to see is extremely disturbing." To some extent, she is right.

An interview conducted by director Olatunde Osunsanmi with Dr. Tyler is woven into the movie intermittently as she recounts her experiences with alien encounters and abductions. Set in the small town of Nome, Alaska, located on the state's southern Seward Pneinsula, the movie picks up with Dr. Tyler doing case studies on individuals who suffer from abnormal sleep problems. These patients all have one main thing in common: waking up in the middle of the night to an owl looking at them. Archive footage is cautiously integrated whenever possible, albeit often for only a few seconds of dialogue. All-the-while filming each session, Dr. Tyler begins to induce her patients into hypnosis to unlock otherwise vague memories from the nights they wake up to the owl. The yielded results are usually disturbing, egregious reactions by the hypnotized patients. From here, the plot unravels into the personal development of Dr. Tyler and a few of her patients.

In terms of production, The Fourth Kind is rather sloppily assembled. It seems like almost every scene includes overly detailed text explaining who each character is and what the audience is either hearing or seeing (e.g., "Actual audio, Dr. Tyler dictation, etc.). While sometimes necessary, the excessive use of this text forces the audience to constantly be snapped back into reality, and usually not in a manner beneficial to the film's cogency. Furthermore, while used cautiously, the actual utilization of archive audio and video often awkwardly overlaps the acted-out scenes.

The acting in the film also detracts from the overall experience. Hollywood commonly "sexualizes" real-life people, but this is ineffective when the delirious-looking, pallid, and emaciated Dr. Tyler is played by the beautiful Milla Jovovich. This is especially inopportune when scenes of the real Dr. Tyler and Jovovich are literally placed next to one another on screen. This flaw, however, is not Jovovich's fault, but other actors are culpable for deficient acting. Canadian-born Will Patton, who plays Nome's sheriff, over-dramatizes nearly every line he is scripted, producing laughable moments during otherwise tense scenes.

Despite some blemishes, the movie does have some genuinely disturbing, frightening scenes that transcend contemplation over what is or is not real. Whether you are skeptical about extra terrestrials or not, some shocking footage is guaranteed to get your adrenaline flowing. But of course, the notion of what or real or not crescendos the entire film. The audience is constantly forced to challenge what they believe and, while easy to make excuses for some of the alleged "evidence", there are certainly some aspects that will be difficult for skeptics to explain without extensive research.

Whether you look at it from a cynical standpoint or as someone who simply enjoys movies, The Fourth Kind is far from perfect. Regardless of its shortcomings, it's successful at delivering some terrifying moments and is guaranteed to make you think. It certainly is emblematic of a still young and fresh genre of horror and thriller movies that gear towards natural instincts rather than superfluous blood spilling.

The Fourth Kind is a creative, highly terrifying film. I'm not sure what I expected going into this film but it was something completely different. But combining supposedly real archive footage(that actually looks real for once), an intro and outro by the films star and director and a dramatization of the events that occurred is ingenious and realistically effective. The films tells the supposedly true story of a psychiatrist in the small town of Nome, Alaska who decides to finish her husband's work after his murder on sleep studies. What she finds is a common disturbance amongst most of the towns people of seeing an owl looking over them while they sleep. As the film progresses along and truly disturbing events take place we discover with them that their may be something more going on. Something to do with alien abduction. A subject that has always left me feeling uneasy especially after seeing Fire in the Sky when I was younger. The film's subject matter is carefully handled in a really creative way so that it feels genuine and all too real. The film is at times an absolute nightmare to watch. Glimpses of terrifying footage both dramatized and real footage shown really make for a one of a kind mind blowing experience. I was actually tearing a little I was so frightened. But the film's far from flawless it does seem to be long in a few spots and the performances are uneven especially from Jovovich although she gives it her job and does alright. The film is beautifully shot and evokes a surreal experience. There is once scenes where we just follow an owl staring at us as it's head spins all the way around. It's truly unsettling and this film is a new experience all together. whether you love or hate it, it's something that has never been done before.

I don't necessarily know if this movie should be dragged as much as it is, because it's not trash. The premise is kinda campy once you realize that it's not actually real and it is somewhat problematic to piggyback on the real-life tragedies of a small town in Alaska. However, taking the movie for what it is, it's not terrible. It's not great, but it's not terrible. It's enough to make you feel weird about owls though.

I just saw a screening of this movie last night. I didn't know a thing about it when I sat down. By the end of the movie I was sitting in my seat and staring at the screen with hollow eyes.

I looked at my girlfriend and our faces said: "No way... but... no, couldn't be... good god!"

The use of real vs. recreated footage gets you. The sounds in the real footage and recordings will REALLY get you.

Do yourself a favor and don't research the film before you go in. This is a movie that needs to be taken in with a blank and open mind to be appreciated.

The UFO genre is one of my favorite genres to kill time when I'm watching a horror movie, The 4th Kind was a pretty hype movie the time it came out, at least in my city, I remember there was a lot of emotion about the trailer and the cover it presented, and how it was part of the sacred genre ''based on real events''. Oddly enough, I didn't see it on opening day, so I can say that by today's standards, it's a great meeh.

It's a combination of fake-documentary with dramatic film scenes; a somewhat interesting mix that manages to build a good narrative (although if you read the story behind the film you're disappointed.) But after that, the film is somewhat boring. It's slow/fast moving, you know? It feels like they're spitting things out but the movie itself doesn't advance, and the climax ends up being mediocre at best. The script is bland, and they always put in the typical UFO movie clichés, so that lost a lot of interest.

The movie is decent, not terrible, but not excellent either, it can entertain a little, and the first minutes of the movie are a bit disturbing, but after that, it loses its seriousness and also its total entertainment.