Alien Abduction: Rapimenti Alieni

"Alien Abduction" is an example of a so-called 'found footage' movie. In other words, much, if not all the film is supposedly real and was filmed by victims of some sort of supernatural event. The best example was the hugely successful film The Blair Witch Project—a film that cost practically nothing to make and which earned many, many millions of dollars. It's odd, but I have seen very few such films, though I thought the Norwegian film "Trollhunter" was absolutely brilliant and is a real must-see.

When I looked through some of the reviews for this film on IMDb, I noticed that they were a mixed bag. Some really liked it but several didn't and complained that the genre is over-saturated and other films like "Alien Abduction" have already been made. I would agree with this sentiment, as although found footage films can be wonderful, after you've seen a couple, the well starts to run dry. Because of this, no matter how good Alien Abduction is, for many it's an example of too many and too late to care. If, however, you've not been exposed to these sorts of movies, then "Alien Abduction" is certainly worth your time.

The film is set around Brown Mountain in North Carolina—a place where many actual reports of glowing lights have been reported by many. Because of this Alien Abduction has an advantage because weird sightings have been reported in this area for years. Interestingly, I actually lived a couple hours from there and NEVER heard about such stories while I lived in North Carolina…but when I checked online, there were many, many reports. I am VERY dubious about all this, but apparently many people do believe aliens might be involved.

The story concerns a family that is going camping around Brown Mountain. They seem very ordinary in most ways—and this was a positive thing. Because they seemed just like other families in most ways, it made the supposed found footage more believable. The only oddity is that the youngest child supposedly was autistic and loved to film EVERYTHING—and that is supposedly how we got all this footage.

While the family has seen some weird lights, the enormity of the problem doesn't sink in until they happen upon about a dozen cars all abandoned— with doors open and belongings scattered everywhere. While searching through these vehicles, the men in the family are set upon by aliens; you know--the Roswell types you so often have seen in films. But, being a found footage film, you only catch tiny glimpses and it's all very hard to make out. What isn't hard to make out is that Dad disappears— taken by these creatures. Soon, the rest of the family is running for their lives and the aliens seem content at picking them off one at a time.

So is the film any good? Yes. I think it was constructed very well. I loved the music—it was probably the best thing about the film and really helped build the tension. Additionally, the acting was believable and I liked the footage seen at the very end of the video camera being tossed out of the spaceship (which, by the way, was also used at the beginning). All in all, a tense and exciting film in a glutted genre.

By the way, if you do watch, don't turn off the credits as you'll get to see what appear to be interviews with folks who have seen these strange lights at Brown Mountain—though, interestingly, none of these people have claimed to have seen aliens.

Now, I've only seen this movie once. And I plan to again at some stage, I actually went looking for it and got it confused with another movie that had a similar name. There's a reason it stuck out to me. You will find me covering my ears and eyes when it comes to ghost type movies, I still love them regardless, but alien movies are my favourite. They also hardly ever scare me because monster movies and aliens are my favourite genre. I can enjoy them without the suspense and anxiety of a big jump scare . It takes a special kind to make me clutch my chest because my breath got caught in my throat, Signs did it the first time I watched it, but it's quite tame in retrospect and I can enjoy it now without batting an eyelid

but this.... This freaking movie, made me jump so high in some parts. It's creepy, which I think the found footage helps establish that overall feeling because you don't know what's gonna jump out. The story may be a little lame but overall i felt it did what it was designed to do. Dark skies also can give off a similar vibe. It's all in the delivery for me! I don't think it gets enough credit! I get it if you aren't into found footage, you may not enjoy it, but if you want something a little less known and you love aliens , it may pleasantly surprise you!

How on earth does this film have a 4.8 average? I know some people automatically pan "found footage" movies, but give me a break. This is beautifully executed, tense as hell, and worthy of your time. The camera work deserves special mention, managing to both look like camcorder footage and serve as a clinic on how to work in low light and brilliant light to excellent effect. The sound design is brilliant as well - I watched this with headphones on and found the experience entirely immersive. In short, if the plot description interests you, don't be swayed by the low rating. This is a fine flick, as good as any found-footage film I've ever seen, and it's one of the scariest films I've seen - found-footage or not.

Let me start by saying this: I rate movies based on the genre, acting and technical work. I might rate a sci-fi 10, and then go on to rate The Shining 9. Different genres has different criteria!

Now for Alien Abduction.

I don't scare easily, so when I started this movie, I were expecting some cheap laughs, and no real horror-moments.

Well, I have to say I were fooled!

This movie actually succeeded in scaring me several times, and the acting is pretty good.

I thought I'd had enough of "found tapes" movies, but I definitely want more now! I rate this 7, because it's one of the better movies of the genre.

Worth a watch!

Just watched the movie and i thought it was pretty cool for an alien abduction movie. I can't understand why some of these people are giving it such bad reviews. If you don't like alien movies then don't watch it. I bet you could ask these same people giving bad reviews, what alien movies do they like and they prob can't mention any. @IndieDavid says in his pathetic review that the camera lasts for several days on one battery, well the movie only goes for one 1 day and 1 night and the child charges the camera at night. So Indiedavid didn't even watch the movie he just wants to turn people off a movie he has never even bothered to watch.. I am pretty harsh on all movies so 6/10 is pretty good review for me.