The Fourth Kind
| release date | November 6 2009 |
| studio | Universal Pictures |
| director | Olatunde Osunsanmi |
| writer | Olatunde Osunsanmi |
| starring | Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Hakeem Kae Kazim |
| rating | PG13 |
| tagline | There are four kinds of alien encounters. The fourth kind is abduction |
| site | thefourthkind.net |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
2 Comments
mr.digusting is right. i am betting the reviews that follow will for the most part bash this movie. this is what happens with all movies “based on actual events/findings” or recorded with hand held footage. everyone gets on their high and mighty horse about how the movie is dumb or unrealistic becuase “they would never react that way in the same situation” HA! let the hating begin…..
prove me wrong…
i enjoyed the flick. not even going into details why, because they are my opinions. but as mr disgusting said, if your mind is in the right place (meaning not acting like you are supreme beings who know it all about good movies and anyone who thinks otherwise is dumb)then you will enjoy it
i grew up loving fire in the sky and communion and have been into movies like that ever since.
if that’s your thing, you have to go see this movie.
i thought it was great and an awesome addition to that genre of film.
real footage? i don’t know. maybe bits of it. but that didn’t really matter to me. they way it was used was really different and interesting and i think will have a lot of people talking after they see this.
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.
First off, I am a huge fan of UFO movies and TV Shows. I completely believe in UFO phenomenon and have seen something in the sky, that I can not explain.
So what can I say about The Fourth Kind? Well the movie is actually rather dull and in no way, shape or form scary. If they left out the Dr. Tyler interview that showed throughout the movie, the movie would have been 100x less dull. The other downside to the movie was that when the real footage was getting interesting, it got all scrambled and you quickly loose any and all interest. The combination of the hypnosis footage and actual reenactment was good and that’s the only real footage they should have used.
Honestly the whole movie should have been reenacted!!
Didn’t really know what to expect going into this movie. I came out of it quite satisfied though! Interesting movie with a few scene’s that made me jump. Really liked the split cam!
Yeah watched this and some of the footage is jump out of your pants scary, very effective and shocking.
The weakest thing about the movie is milla jojo who just cannot act, showing no emotion whatsoever when the video camera version of her character is excellent.
Definately worth a watch with a large audience and extra props go to the end credits which kept the audience rooted to their seats until the end with real Ufo witness reports.
crap! this movie is idiocracy in full effect
I thought that The Fourth Kind was fantastic. There have only been two movies that have actually scared me: Signs and now the Fourth Kind. The real footage was intense and creepy as hell. I personally believe all of it to be true and found the movie to be extremely real. Milla was fantastic (as always)!
I highly recommend this movie to anybody who really want’s to be scared.
Sigh… this movie was interesting but at the same time pretty damn stupid. Stupid because it expects the audience to believe the archive footage is real and then tries WAY TOO HARD to push that point… even outright lying to the audience multiple times.
Sadly I had already read up about the movie before I went to see it… and it’s pretty obvious if you do some poking around that the archive footage is completely bogus, extremely loosely based on events which were actually believed to be a serial killer a buncha years back. Extremely well done marketing campaign, ill give em that. My brother on the other hand went into it without knowing anything and totally loved it… only 100% based on the fact that he believed the footage to be real. Once he found the footage was fake, he felt duped, jipped, ripped off.
I’ll admit too the experience WAS ruined as the theater I saw the movie in was full of retarded teenagers who couldn’t sit still and wouldn’t shut the hell up (a group of them even loudly left multiple times to go smoke pot in the parking lot)… last time I go see a slow burning horror movie on a Friday night.
OK so don’t get me wrong here either. I DID enjoy the entire concept of the film, I REALLY like the Sumerian connection (Ive always been fascinated by Sumerian civilization) and I thought a few of the scenes were really well done. On top of this I absolutely LOVED the Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity as those movies were extremely effective using a “similar” concept… except without drilling the “THIS IS REAL” into your head. This being said — I only now wish they had completely ditched the “archive footage” angle and just straight-up made a movie about alien abductions in Nome (I.E. put the typical “this film is based on actual events” at the beginning… and that’s it)… the archive footage pretty much ruined it for me.
Anywho… Go see it and make up your own mind as I’m finding this is either a love or hate movie for most reviews here and on IMDB.
This is a movie that’s bound to divide its viewers. If you feel the entire notion of alien abduction is ridiculous, you’ll feel the same about this movie. If you are frightened or at all intrigued by the idea, then you’ll likely have a good time watching The Fourth Kind.
A lot of people will be annoyed by some of the plot elements and find them either too vague or just hokey. However, if you’re at all familiar with abduction “lore” then you’ll find these elements eerily familiar.
Due to my own personal experiences, I found the Fourth Kind to be far beyond just eerie. I don’t claim to be an abductee, and I’m not necessarily convinced there is such a thing, but the ufologists would tell me I’m a textbook example.
I have all the “signs” including the odd dreams and childhood memories, mysterious metallic objects found under my skin, etc. So I’m a little more easily frightened than most when it comes to this topic even though I remain skeptical.
All that aside, I still found the Fourth Kind to be a solid genre pic. The presentation was odd and jarring to me at first, but it really came together well as the film went on. There were flaws to be sure, but they are easily overlooked if you’re in the right frame of mind while watching the movie.
Also, as opposed to what I keep reading from critics and viewers alike, I found Jovovich’s acting to be pretty solid. Her performance won’t win any Oscars, but it was definitely above par for a horror movie.
All in all, I’d say Brad (Mr Disgusting) was right in saying that if you enjoyed the Mothman Prophecies and Fire in the Sky, you may like the Fourth Kind. Otherwise, skip it. I gave the film only 3 1/2 skulls due to the fact that it’s not a guaranteed win for most viewers. Based purely on my own enjoyment of the film, I’d give it a solid four.
(Relevant note: If you liked the Fourth Kind, I’d recommend picking up the Mothman Prophecies book, whether or not you liked the film. It has far more in common with the Fourth Kind than it’s own film adaptation. And it’s “non-fiction” for what it’s worth. It’s the scariest thing I ever read.)
a pretty good movie
This movie is COMPLETE BULLSHIT!! Another hyped up piece of crap.
I never really write reveiws cause i never find movies good enough that i need to rave about it. but i LOVED this movie
The way it was shot where the “real” fottage is next to the movie was genius, and the acting was accually pretty good
I put “real” in quotes cause ive read other reviews at are saying it was fake, i really hope it wasn’t but even if it was it still scared me pretty bad
I have seen a LOT of horror movies, none of them really got to me, all of them are just some crappy remake of something that was great, or just pulling the same idea into 20 different movies, but The Fourth Kind was orignal and amazing! i jumped and cringed and was haunted for the rest of the night
ive always been a believer in aliens and i was excited to see this movie but i did not expect to get the shit scared out of me…
the real footage mixed in with the reenactment was crazy and scared me to hell..i was shaky as hell after this movie and will never be able 2 think of aliens now w/o getting frightened.
i will definitely see this again nd is one of the best horror films of the year
i reccomend this..better than paranormal activity
I had seen the preview for this movie and when I was checking what movie to see this past Friday, I saw The Fourth Kind and said “Really, that’s out already?” So, I went to see it and saw it, expecting it to be more like a higher budget version of Paranormal Activity because of all of the fuzzy camera shots in the preview. I was right in a way. The movie was presented as a pseudo-documentary and the “older documented camera footage” was as realistic as it could get. However, one must think that if something that extraordinary had happened on film, word would have been out years ago. Some of the older scenes were very creepy and the younger girls in the theater were screaming at times because one must remember that it is PG-13, which I was a bit surprised by. I would very much like to see what was cut out to give it that rating. Overall, I was impressed by it. However, some parts of the movie disappointed me, such as when he was getting “probed” (I guess you would call it probing). I didn’t think that type of scene should be shown because it takes the more realistic feature out of the re-enactment of documented footage. Overall, I would give The Fourth Kind a 7/10.
I had watched the trailer for this and was immediately intrigued by the archival footage and that the story was based on actual events.
This film did not disappoint. Mila Jovovich and the other actors did a incredible job. Mila’s performance was just as raw as the doctor she portrays. The director did a great job of setting up the scene and the characters. What neat was when they would splice together the doctor’s footage with the dramatization. Although it seemed like the events were real and the story is heart breaking, I am not sure what to believe, but the director and the characters make sure you at least care and left you wanting to stick around to find the answers along with them.
I thought it was really boring. I was skeptical that all of this actually happened.
I hated how every time something good was going to happen, you couldn’t see anthing!!
It was really well done, but it wasn’t for me.
Ya first off I was kinda excited to see this because they said it was based on true events and had actual footage of what was happening. 10 minutes into the movie I knew the so called “real footage” was fake and you can even tell its fake. I also went on to see if I was right and I was but other big name review people. Anyways after that I really didnt give a shit about the movie. Wasnt that good anyways, very boring and bad acting.
This movie too me was original and creepy. Rather you like the use of “homemade” footage or not this movie exercised the ability of that formula. Milla is awesome. The director took complete advantage of the movie time and I enjoyed it.
I would rather see it done like Paranormal Activity. This had to many split screens and repetition parts for me to truly appreciate it. The acting was OK especially the one that played the cop who arrested the doctor. Her soon was all too glad to be taken away from her which is a pretty depressing thing. Not enough suspense for me to like it.
I have read too many things and heard too many theories to not believe in alien abductions. Evidence is overwhelming, and even though I am someone who is jumpy, I do not get scared easily. Yes some horror movies are disgusting and disturbing, they don’t leave me shaking afterwards. I have to say, after seeing The Fourth Kind merely an hour or so ago, I am terrified. Not because of all the hocus-pocus bullshit they had in the movie, there was barely anything that they showed you. It was seeing Dr. Abigail Tyler in the interview. How much she aged, changed, her skin color was different, pale, her eyes, her hair, it was horrifying. Type of horrifying I don’t think photoshop and makeup can produce. Watching the movie didn’t so much scare me, as it felt wrong to see it. I don’t know how to explain it. Like almost familiar, even though it wasn’t. Cause seeing ghosts and whatnot, as mentally hurtful it is, it’s nothing compared to being abducted. The dreadfulness of always remembering something you cannot physically explain. Over all, if you believe in this shit, don’t watch this movie. You will never go to sleep
I thought this movie achieved what it set out to do. Come on people its about aliens..its not gonna win any oscars but it did make me jumpy. The levitation bit was done fantastic i think.
The “real” footage was good and added extra creepiness to the film.
I liked the split screen the movie tried a few new things which makes it stand out from the rest.
I did not like this movie. just straight up didnt like it. I will give it props for being so original in so many aspects of it though. Its kinda funny, I believe in alien and believe i saw a UFO once, but i dont like this movie. The other people i saw it with loved it more then paranormal activity and were scared shitless, and they dont believe in aliens. I was not scared during this movie at all. Our worlds a funny place, isnt it?
I went and saw this movie at midnight in arizona where back in 1998 i experienced the Arizona lights. Ever since that day my older brother has had nightmares of alien abduction so of course i dragged him with me. I had seen all the trailers stating this movie was based on true events, but as seen with paranormal activity and blar witch project i was weary of this truth. I went into this movie trying to make myself believe it was in fact true so i would maybe for once get scared during a movie. Well this movie didnt end up scaring me but I did enjoy it fully. The cuts between supposid archived footage and filmed footage was well spliced which to me enhanced the film in itself. The moment i realized this film was NOT true was when the UFO flys over the house and the camera goes blank. This would have been on national television everywhere if this was a true video especially today in the youtube age. The characters were decently developed while the actress who was the supposid real doctor to me resembled an alien. I honestly would suggest this film to the avid horror fan because it is a lot of fun and there are some freaky scenes that made people in the audience jump and scream. This is a movie you watch to have fun and scare yourself with. If you go into this movie expecting a ton of backstory and intelligent dialogue you will be disappointed. So enjoy it for what it is. A scary alien abduction film and as yourself..if this was you..what would you do?
This was a wierd one! Very confusing and kinda fake. ok.
I don’t see the appeal of a supernatural movie especially in 2009. Give me a fucking break!
With Paranormal Activity out, I figured if Paranormal could do me some good than so can this movie. I was always interested about this movie ever since I first read about it. The idea of it was awesome and the homemade footage adds to the realism of it…but it didn’t click. The one sheet and idea are awesome, acting is well done and is borderline to the real story, this movie carried all its potential but just wasn’t as scary as predicted. There are some really intense and freaky parts, but it takes a while to get there and my buddies in the theatre along with me kind of sighed through the dialogue. There isn’t too much to say about this movie but it’s another love or hate film. I am half and half on believing in things like this so it’s credible still. I think it’s worth seeing, believing if you really think so.
I Loved this movie. I cannot wait to see it again and again. The fact that they used real footage to tell the story automatically boosted its credibility. Leaving the ultimate question unanswered was brilliant. Too many movies go ahead and show the aliens at the end or something like that. I also dig the originality of the actual footage side by side with the recreation. I just so happen to enjoy paranormal sci fi type stuff so it really appealed to me from when I firast read about it. Having Milla Jovovich in the lead was just pure bonus. Must see
Movies about aliens are either really good, or really bad. This one, is really good. The marketing of The Fourth Kind was highly effective in adding to the horror feel of the film; i felt what i was watching was real. With a PG13 rating, and “Archive Footage” driving most of the scares, this film used Hitchcock style thrills to get its payoff. I enjoyed the unique way this film was edited together. The archive footage and reenactments were often on screen at the same time fading in an out of each other. The acting here was good, as was the writing, directing, and cinematography of the reenacted shots. My favorite aspect of The Forth Kind was being left to answer a basic question for myself.
just great
very good
I was slightly disappointed with the Fourth Kind. This movie was marketed “based on true events” and claimed that some of the footage used was “real footage” however i was not convinced… Milla Jovovich was the only saving grace in this movie, she herself is a very underrated actress and deserves more credit for the roles she plays. The Doctor she played in the movie, the “real footage” of her seemed to be overacted which made me doubt it’s authenticity. In my own opinion, the Fourth Kind did have its moments and stirred genuine intrigue however, I do think this movie is just a clever money maker released at just the right time with a fantastic marketing campaign. I avoided this at the cinema because of this fact and watched the DVD instead. In the end “Fourth Kind” did lave me feeling a little cold and cheated…
Whether or not the footage was ‘real’ in the movie, I had goosebumps on more than one occasion while watching The Fourth Kind. It gave me that same sort of rush Paranormal Activity did, I guess. Instead of trying to decipher whether or not the movie is based off true events, just focus on the entertainment and let your mind go with the flow.
I recommend this movie to anyone who won’t try to pick it apart piece by piece.
Alright, not great
I LOVE MYSTERIES
this movie was great
and i really enjoyed the real
footage scenes and it was SCAAAARY
specialty ” IM GOD ”
I donno if its real or fake
but i do believe there’s non human
Jesus Christ people… “I don’t know if it’s real of fake”
I’ll help you out… it’s fucking fake.
I would really hope the human race has a little more brain power than to be fooled by this ridiculous mockumentary…
As a movie, it was 4/10 at best… maybe an extra star for the creative hypnotism/exorcism moments. That was cool (if not for the cheesy camera malfunction that happened right on cue every single time.)
Now, as for the final product, including all the “supposedly read footage” and based on actual events crap… are you kidding me? Honestly. I could write an essay on how idiotic it was for Universal to put so much stock into the based on real events campaign when they should’ve just focused on the director making a competent movie. Did they think they were fooling anyone by having an unnatractive actress play the supposedly read (but in real life, fictional) Doctor Abigail?
Or the supposedly real footage that has never been mentioned or shown on any UFO discussion until this movie? They were just saving it right? For this low budget film with no real story or third act.
Wow. I feel like I’m being to hard on it, but this movie kind of has it coming. I mean, when a film begins with the actors saying, “Hey I’m Milla Jovovich, and I’m playing a real person and all this happened, and here’s the real footage that we’ll show you along with our own dramatized reanactments…” and then it ends up all being (obviously) fake! I mean, you can’t just let it get away with that…
Blair Witch was one thing… but this goes OUT OF IT’S WAY to try to fool the viewer, but it does so so idiotically.
What kind of psychiatrist would let a movie studio use tapes of her patients going into seizures without their consent? And I love the whole, “I can’t show this footage to the cops because the tapes didn’t record right,” yet, the footage still shows the patient levitating and speaking in tongues, it’s just a little scrambled.
Well… nice try. The more I think about it, you know, it’s an original idea… they just went about it so fucking dumb. It’s real! Believe us! Here’s real footage! Compare! I promise you! It’s real real real!
(oh yeah, it’s not real)
I really enjoyed this movie but you really do have to be in the right mindset to enjoy it.
I can safely say this is the 1st movie I’ve seen to envoke an irrational fear of Owls.
Seriously, fuck some Owls. I dont like them. They should die.
Ever watched a film that gave you that dreaded `sinking feeling’ in the first few minutes? From the ominous faux-horror music to the misty, aerial establishing shot of the setting, everything all just feels a bit worn out and clichéd. If you have previously experienced this, then I’m afraid you’ll perceive The Fourth Kind as something similar when you begin watching it -it’s a film that had so much potential to be something great, but instead turned out to be a monumental flop in the eyes of not just myself, but pretty much everyone who has seen it so far. The whole idea behind Universal Studios’ tale of abduction and aliens is that it’s supposed to be true, backed up by `actual audio’ and `real video footage’ that run alongside the `dramatizations of real events.’ This in itself is a clever concept, running `real’ and acted out footage parallel to each other in the film, so top marks to both the editor Paul Covington and director Olatunde Osunsanmi for that masterstroke. However you simply cannot begin a so called `true’ film with a monologue from Milla Jovovich (who plays the film’s main character, Dr Abigial Tyler) telling audiences `believe what you want to believe’. This doesn’t so much as damage the credibility; it completely destroys any sense of the word related to this movie: If the film really did retain any degree of truth too it, surely we would be told so? Don’t get me wrong; I never really expected the film to be a true story anyway, but a cop-out in the first minute? Even I didn’t see that coming.
So it got off to a bad start, but it still had 97 minutes left to redeem itself. And did it? Not in the slightest. The story goes like this: Since the 1960s, abnormal amounts of people have been inexplicably disappearing from the remote town of Nome, Alaska. Dr Abigail Tyler (Jovovich) is a psychiatrist attempting to finish the work her recently deceased husband (she believes he was murdered) started, investigating the sleeping patterns of several locals who claim to be woken up every night at 3:33am by an owl staring through their windows. No, that wasn’t a joke, this film really does imply that owls = aliens. Strange things soon start to happen and, backed by `real’ (I refuse to remove the quote marks due to the fact that IT’S NOT REAL) footage, we see a disastrously lacklustre tale of the paranormal unfold and fail in a spectacularly dull fashion.
The `real’ footage seems to go out of its way to discredit itself by blurring out as soon as something off-the-wall starts to happen. Look at it this way: there are about 5 instances in the film that contain `real’ clips. 4 of these involve something strange and otherworldly, with the other being attributed to a triple murder and suicide caught on a police-car camera. Let us compare. The footage caught by the police camera, of an event containing NOTHING in the slightest extra-terrestrial, is crystal clear in its entirety; the only thing blurred out is the victim’s heads when they get unceremoniously blown off. However when aliens get involved in the other clips, the clarity of the picture skips town and refuses to return until the real (snigger) aliens have left.
One of the fundamental problems with The Fourth Kind is that for an alien abduction film, there’s not really that many aliens (in fact, I counted 3 aliens in the entire film, and you couldn’t even see them properly) and there’s not really that much abduction: It’s all talk, something you expect to see of the Sci-Fi channel instead of the cinema screen. Admittedly there does need to be some form of emotional background for audiences to relate to our protagonist Abi Tyler, but 10 minutes of aliens and 88 of Milla Jovovich crying isn’t exactly what you’d call a harmonious balance.
(cont)
I cannot believe how high the rating is for this incredibly silly alien abduction flick! Milla is decent though.
ok quite liked the ending and the final ‘video’ evidence thing
This movie is mainly composed of people having seizures or something in lounge chairs. The “actual footage,” is unbelievable and it took me around 5 hours to watch cause every ten minutes i stopped it and played some call of duty or did something else. watching a movie shouldn’t be a chore, which is exactly how this felt.
Excellent mockumentary about alien abduction, very tense and thrilling, with a very good cast (especially Milla Jovovich), a great story, beautiful settings and wonderful cinematography. Highlights are the ‘real footage vs. recreated footage’-scenes: there were some jump-scares that really made my heart stop. Good work!
Milla Jovovich is in this one. I don’t know what rating to get it. The movie is not great but the story and ethics of the film is interesting.
this movie for some reason really creeped me out and disturbed me. it wasn’t the same type of disturbing as say the devil’s rejects, because this one doesn’t rely on being intense and very brutal, but it disturbed me by the emotions being portrayed on screen and how it felt somehow real.(not trying to bash the devils rejects cuz i love that movie.idk if that sounded like me bashing it but whatever..you get the point) this movie definitely not for skeptics or people who are gonna bitch throughout. watch with an open mind and you’ll enjoy it at the end.
Although i have not got it yet i watched it with my mate. It is a film where, for some unknown reason, are truly terrified. I like the idea of basing it on truth unlike Paranormal Activity. Film’s like this are becoming more popular. Where yo watch it from a video camara rather than an ordinary styled tv. I think this film has dug to deep into my mind though. I mean, i imagine that snowy white owl looking through my window then i get abducted. In my opinion, Paranormal Activity did not deserve the Hype it got. This deserves some Hype along with Paranormal Entity (which is real fooage found by Police officers after they get a call saying that people have died. By the way, if you plan to watch Paranormal Entity, you’ll find it scarier than Paranoral Activity). Anyway, this film was terrifying, even for me who has seen every so called SCARIEST-MOVIE-EVER-MADE film you can think off and not scared so this is definately the second scariest movie i have ever seen. But Paranormal Entity is the first. You should see this film and i DO recommend Paranormal Entity to anyone who thought that Paranormal Activity was not enough. This is a must buy. You can get it from ASDA for around
The fourth kind, which is supposedly based on a true story, is really compelling. It was also very creepy. As for the doc footage shown throughout the film, I enjoyed it , I just don’t know how real it is. Overall , this is definitely worth seeing.
OK….im going to be nice about this movie and give it 3/10 only because the filmmakers were trying. and the result is an EPIC FAIL. I did not like at all how this movie was presented. cutting between the actual footage and the reenactment footage was too much. you didnt know which one to pay attention too and it threw what could have been some creepy scenes just completely off. I like Milla but to me she just kinda phoned this one in and i cant say that i blame her. I understand that alot of people went missing in this town of Nome, Alaska. but nobody knows the real reason so anyone who actually might believe in what there seeing here needs there head checked. the “actual footage” is painfully staged and its better than the reenactment footage! i think its funny how the movie is about ufo’s and alien abduction but yet there never mentioned at all during the films runtime nor do you ever see anything resembling an alien. i dont know if thats on purpose to add to the realism (haha) of it or the filmmakers were just that lost. as you can tell i did not like this movie at all after thinking i would as i normally like these types of films but they should have stuck with one style of footage instead of presenting both and it might have been better.i dont recommend this at all, skip it!
Bland, unbelievable, and the “creep-out” factor is very, very minimal. It’s honest to say that the most interesting part of this film was during the end credits when several recorded calls reporting UFO sightings were played. The split-screen style of real vs portrayed is so hit and miss throughout the movie–almost to the point of asking why the hell did they bother with actors and didn’t just solely focus on a mock-documentary instead. This is similar in some ways to Fire In The Sky from a couple decades ago–Fire is MUCH better, and it really wasn’t that great of a movie. Pass on the Fourth–it is more like #2 (crap).
The Fourth Kind employs the successful pseudo-documentary approach of The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2009) to the largely neglected horror subgenre of alien abductions. Splicing supposed “actual footage” with Hollywood quality recreations, often in split screen, the film manages to create a unique and effective viewing experience that allows the audience’s imagination to run wild.
Most of the genuine scares are relegated to the “archival” footage which the film claims to have been taken in 2000. This includes the psychiatric therapy sessions conducted by the protagonist, Dr. Abigail Tyler, which eventually show disturbing body-bending levitations, and police dashboard cams. Assumingly due to magnetic disruptions of some sort from the aliens, each time the footage begins to show the evidence of an abduction the video will distort and obscure the audience’s view, leaving only glimpses of what is transpiring along with unsettling audio. Those hoping to see advanced CGI or monstrous aliens will be disappointed, as the director wisely leaves the majority of the thrills up to the viewer’s imagination, understanding that what we envision in our minds is always more frightening than what he could show us.
The film opens with Milla Jovovich, who plays Dr. Abigail Tyler, talking directly into the camera, telling us that the story we are about to see is based on actual (though conveniently unspecified) case studies and that what we ultimately believe is entirely our choice. This sets the audience up to be more accepting of the scenes to follow – the possibility that what they are seeing is real increases the terror factor considerably. The strong performances by the cast help in pulling the audience in (although Milla, who I credit as an underrated actress, can be distractingly beautiful at times). Of course, this is all a Hollywood gimmick to make the experience more potent (though it’s thankfully more sophisticated than vibrating seats), and all of the events are in actuality fictional. The “actual” Dr. Abigail Tyler who is seen in an interview session throughout the film with the director, Olatunde Osunsanmi, is in turn merely another talented, though lesser known, actress.
While I commend the film for taking this psychological approach, and executing its scares with a less-is-more attitude, the director unfortunately does not follow that same wisdom when it comes to selling his story as being based on actual events. He is too heavy-handed in beating it over the viewer’s head. Particularly in the end, which is understandably abrupt considering the movie’s nature, when we are told of an imaginary character still missing, given the current whereabouts of fake people, and then are still told to take the “evidence” into account and make up our own minds. There is a point at which a film asks us to suspend belief for entertainment purposes and a point in which it flatly begins to lie and mislead, and the line begins to be crossed in the last moments of the film, which I will not spoil here. This is what made The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) such a dishonest and manipulative film. While The Fourth Kind does not tread that far, and contains a premise far less harmful for the people who believe it, it is still in the end an insult to the audience’s intelligence. It loses people just when it really has them. Osunsanmi should have started the credits a minute earlier before he showed us too much.
The Fourth Kind is a creative film that works best when it centers on the fears of invasion and violation, where not even one’s locked home is a refuge. (There are also allusions in the film linking alien abductions to demonic possessions and religious experience – i.e. the intervention of a deity – which is an interesting idea that I wish they had explored further.) However, just when I think a director understands and trusts his audience enough to be confident that his scares will resonate, he instead relies too heavily on exhaustively selling the truthfulness of his fiction, and in turn distracts us from enjoying what could have been a fun, memorable story.
C+
this was one of those movies were you just had that creeped out fealing through the whole movie. i dont scare easly..the only other 2 movies that gave me this chill were the exorcist and paranormal activity..the footage really made the hair on your neck stand up and give you goosebumps. especially if you got to see it in theaters. this was a good movie i enjoyed it. i got to see a horror film and i fealt like i was being educated at the same time. good movie.
‘The Fourth Kind’ is a 2009 Sci-Fi, Alien/Horror movie, which This movie will boggle your mind, while if it real or not it is still a remarkable Alien Horror Sci-Fi
I couldn’t tell you if everything in this movie was real or fake, but i can tell you that this movie was well put together and very convincing.
The video evidence is disputed by many people, but if those videos are real then that tells ya something…lets try to stop being ignorant people!
I’m reading alot with people saying the “actual” footage isn’t real because every time something otherworldly starts to happen the picture gets all distorted. Don’t get me wrong, I have a hard time believing that the footage is real, but when has anyone ever seen footage of UFOs in crystal clear footage. Aside from that, this was somewhat better than I figured it to be. Whether or not the footage is real, I did like how they showed some of it compared to movie footage. Give it a shot some day if nothing else is around to watch.
I thought this movie was great even though I think all that “real” footage was a bunch of bull…pretty much like The Blair Witch Project, i love that movie too
lol
I’m not a big fan of “alien” movies, but this was definitely one of the best movies I have seen in a while. Milla Jovovich is an amazing actress and does an excellent job at making you care about the situation and characters in the movie. The “real” footage is clearly there just to add suspense, but real or not, it scared me. There were times were I was more focused on the real footage than the actual movie. Definitely worth watching.
I wasn’t too sure about this one, but decided to give it a rent — and found that it didn’t suck like I’d expected it to. Didn’t even notice that Milla was in it until I started watching, and I enjoyed her portayal of the doctor.
The movie though, I didn’t enjoy so much. Liked it, but found it unsettling. Was I wowed by it? Not a lot. But it gave me real chills, and triggered subconscious fears. For the first time in a couple decades, watching a movie has caused me to feel some apprehension about going to bed.
Think I might buy this one when it goes on clearance. Whether or not the “real” footage was authentic, and even if this turns out to be another Blair Witch, it still got under my skin and gave me some things to think about.
Pleasantly suprised.
It does not matter if you choose to believe in this or think it is all fake. The Fourth Kind is creepy, disturbing, tense and just plain scary. The pace is quick and fast and does not drag. If you allow yourself to go along for the ride you will be in for a scary trip.
Watch with an open mind those of you that are narrow minded dont bother. For the rest of us this movie really sticks in your head long after its over,very disturbing.
The fact that it’s not real footage certainly took away from it but it was still very enjoyable. Very intense and thought-provoking.
In theaters, this almost made me wet myself (I am not very good with aliens) and I had to go home and do my research in order to allow myself to sleep. But once I saw it the second time it’s thrall wore off and it was just cheesy.
pretty good but not filling as a film sure at some points it was creepy but the ending was not a great payoff
This particular piece of filmmaking has a problematic existence. It is nothing without its “real” footage thar proportedly shows individuals re-experiencing alien abductions, with the majority of the story being a dramatization of the events that occured because of these abductions. The trouble is that the “real” footage just as fake as everything else. If there’s a chance for the viewer to find this whole ordeal compelling, its by not knowing this. Outside of its trickery, this is a tedious, bothersome experience that draws more eyes toward the runtime on the DVD player rather than the events being played out on screen.
The filmmalers know this. Even disregarding the hoax the plot is based on, the whole construction reeks of deception. We have numerous time-elapsed shots of the city and its surrounding enviornment, the flashback scenes look as if they’ve been drenched in chlorine, and how many variations can you have on the split-screen? There’s a split-screen that swings left to right, there’s the quadruple split-screen (like 24′s Jack Bauer got a party-line), and then there’s the scrolling split-screen. If a film can be pendanctic solely because of its techical aspects, this is it. An enormous amount of effort has been made here, which must be commended, but it has been made to distract us from how weak the narrative is.
There is a hint of cleverness though in how the movie uses its own cliches to build realism. I can see how this might play out:
Marks from abudctions, I’ve heard of that.
Repressed memories of abductions, I think I saw that on TV once.
Fourth Kind? That’s like close encounters of the third kind but… closer.
To the unknowing viewer, these elements reinforce rumors they’ve heard over the years, prolonging the ruse. To all others, this is lazy writing.
I must mention how much weird shit has slipped though the cracks with this production, almost begging us to call on how silly this all is. For instance, with the “real” psychologist, did they go out of their way to cast the most alien looking actress to portray her? The way her eyes pop out, and the way her face caves in slightly, it is so striking how similar this is to how aliens are seen in pop culture that its the first characteristic one notices about her. Also, the “actual audio” aspect of the story must’ve been done after splitting two handles of Jack Daniel’s with all crew members present, how else could such comedically long pauses make it into the final product? Finally, in the office of a PRACTICING psychologist, you can clearly see that a high school diploma framed. How oloose are the restrctions on Doctors in Alaska if you have empty wall space that seems like a reasonable achievement to flaunt to your patients?
I realize that to advertise a movie in a typical manner is becoming more and more expensive every year, and that smaller films need to find a way to make their presence known to the public without TV spots during the superbowl, but the film itself must never be weaker because you’ve put so much effort selling it as something that its not.
This is a poor film, and that’s I’ve decided is true.
Due to it’s incredibly slow pace it failed to keep my attention, and the archival footage just confused matters.
I thought that this film was actually intresting the acting is good and I though that the real footage was good to, you could say that when they levitate it could be something just to pick them up like strings or something else but I found the videos looked real you would have to watch it to make your own opinion but you have to think are we the only planet in the universe that you can live on NASA have found organsims on mars so why can there be a place where things can live.
The Fourth Kind is really scary, this film scared me to death. The real footage made it more scarier, and I know it was a based on the true case files that happened in Alaska almost 11years ago. This movie will scare you to death, and this movie is for real, so you better watch out for alien aubduction.
I knew that this was going to be a great film or a complete failure. It all depends on what you as a person really believes in your own everyday life.
If you are very practical and rational then you wont like it but if you are open minded and very curious to the many possibilities into the unknown, then you will enjoy it.
It stars actress Milla Jovovich who is best known for her role in the “Resident Evil” franchise in the recent years. It was a big change to see her go from a superpower zombie killing machine to a simple innocent widowed mother. I personally loved her performance as an average mother with everyday problems. She deals with an unfinished sleep study her late husband had been working on and eventually notices a bizarre connection that only puts her into harms way.
Out of any film I’ve seen that deals with alien abductions to contact with aliens, this is the best! Even the use of the so-called archive footage is a interesting idea. But did it really happen? I have some mixed feelings on what the true facts are dealing with the events that took place in Alaska. But it’s still a great film when dealing with the abduction theory and is the best of “it’s Kind” … The film also does a great job with leaving the viewer with many curious questions. They introduce some idea and additional theories that don’t exactly give an answer to the events but only to expand the possibilities in the mystery. (The Sumerian Tribe)
This film still would have worked without the use of the “True Story” or “Archive Footage” but it’s still a lot of fun and exciting to see! I really recommend it to anyone that has an open mind.
I was surprised when I watched The Fourth Kind. I really expected cheese all the way through, but ended up with a decent movie. I think that they did a pretty good job making it realistic, especially with the “actual footage”. I will say that it isn’t a GREAT movie, but when it comes to a fun popcorn flick that might give you a few scares, The Fourth Kind is definitely a decent choice. Much better than I expected. One scene in particular gave me the creeps, but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone that has not seen it.
Acting is better than run-of-the-mill and in spots it is rather good. Some performances weren’t exactly lifetime achievements, but it was a decent job.
I would watch this if you are looking for a fun flick. If you want something to have a few “creeped out” moments with a friend, I would recommend it, but it isn’t one for those looking for some intense, ultra-dramatic film.
Excellent film. Very believable and one of my favorite films of 2009.
This is by far one of my favorite horror films. I absolutely adore milla jovovich to the core and shes one of, if not, my favorite actresses. I think she did a wonderful job portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler and the whole film just completely moved me and I never took my eyes off the screen. Im very interested in the paranormal and abduction theories and believe there could definitely be aliens out there, which only further coincided with my love for the film. Ive watched it over and over again and never get sick of it. I also think that Elias Koteas was amazing and I love his films as well. This is definitely a movie I bought the first day it came out onto dvd and would recommend it to anyone that wants to watch a good horror film. I really liked how the footage was played alongside the movie and like Milla and the director say in the beginning of the movie, in the end, what you believe, is yours to decide. I believe in this movie
I really liked this movie, filmed in part as a documentary, anyway they lie to us with it’s ” based on real events”. It was not really necessary to lie so.
Even so, it is very good with some real moments that produce deep fear.
Bit slow for my liking but still worth a watch plus Milla Jovovich yummy.
If the archive footage is real, then I’m the inventor of Chef Boyardee… But honest, it’s an alright film. Nothing special. It’s not believable and it’s not scary. It held my interest ENOUGH, but it’s by no means a good film to pick out.
I was pleasantly surprised by this entertaining, though not overly original film. Trust me, it’s not great, but if you’re looking for a Friday evening VOD with some popcorn, it’s entertaining and enjoyable. Certainly no real scares here, but not every film needs to have me jumping out of my chair to enjoy. Don’t expect too much, and you might just find yourself enjoying this.
Please check your local criminal code, but I believe it’s a crime when a movie portrays something as “actual footage” or the like even though it is a total lie. OK, many viewers are familiar with this type of cinematic deception, and many others will figure out fairly quickly that it is not true, but that still leaves millions of people who are knowingly deceived. Maybe the studios have reasoned that there’s not “much” harm in doing it — not enough to be sued badly in court — but the harm is real.
Even though such lies are becoming more common in modern cinematography, anyone involved in such a production should make sure there is a clear statement — at least somewhere noticeable in the trailing credit screens — that the so-called actual footage was actually fake. I don’t have the resources to make sure it becomes an actual law, but people in the movie industry should act responsibly.
I didn’t know that this movie was about AT ALL, so I saw it without having seen a trailer. I never get scared at movies, and this just scared the shit out of me. One of the top 5 scariest movies ever (alien abductions just scare me, too).
Decent movie. Entertaining and interesting. Not super scary but has its moments.
I thought this movie was great even though I think all that “real” footage was a bunch of bull…pretty much like The Blair Witch Project, I love that movie too.