Kind of Good

A couple years ago, I was steered away from seeing the alien abduction thriller The Fourth Kind by a fairly savage batch of reviews. But in the last month, I've been trying to feel like I'm getting value out of my HBO subscription beyond just watching True Blood, so I went trolling for movies to record. I remembered how I'd originally wanted to see this movie, and decided to give it a shot.

Perhaps this was a case of clearing low expectations, but I actually found the film to be much more entertaining than I expected. Perhaps by telling you that, I've already raised your expectations too high for you to enjoy it. In any case, I don't think the movie deserved the critical drumming it took.

The movie stars Milla Jovovich as a psychologist in Nome, Alaska who begins to uncover a disturbing pattern of alien abduction in her patients through the use of hypnotherapy. And while it's far from a perfect movie, it does have several genuine moments of strong tension and good scares. In particular, there are two things the movie gets very "right" in my book:

First, the movie respects the fading horror film tradition that imagining "the monster" can be more effective than seeing it. I find this a particularly effective choice for an alien abduction film, since everybody knows exactly what the stereotypical abductor alien looks like. You don't need this movie to show it to you.

The second strong choice is in the structure of the film. It begins in a very jarring manner, with Milla Jovovich walking right up, looking straight into the camera, and introducing herself -- her real self, the actress. She tells you that what you're about to see is a true story, and will include some very disturbing material taken from real audio recordings, video tapes, and interviews. It's up to you to decide what you think of what you're about to see.

At every step of the way, the movie reminds you it's a dramatization. Whenever a major character first appears on screen, a caption identifies the name of the actual actor playing the role. Staged footage is sometimes intercut, and sometimes presented in split screen, with video camera footage of the events. Sprinkled throughout the film are excerpts of an interview with the psychologist to whom this all actually happened.

But here's the thing -- it's all fake. This movie isn't actually based on a true story. All the video and audio footage that's presented as real? It was created in the production of this movie, just like everything else. Every major role was cast twice, once with the likes of Milla Jovovich and Will Patton -- recognizable actors -- and a second time with unknowns selected to play the "real" people. I found this a very novel way to approach the trendy "found footage" movie. It's all done in a very credible manner. Even more importantly, I think it all works even when you know it's not real. So credit writer-director Olatunde Osunsanmi for a fun new spin on an established format.

Overall, I found The Fourth Kind to be more tense than most of the horror films I have seen in theaters lately. I rate it a B-. I think it's a good choice for a lights-off viewing in the creepiness of your own home.