The Fourth Kind - (film review)

            The first review I read of this film was by Pat Jankiewicz from Fangoria.  I was aghast at   how amateurish the review was, relegating interesting horror filmmaking techniques as a ‘gimmick’.  If you’ve read that review I should clarify some details—the split screen does not play constantly throughout.  It’s used here as a dramatic narrative device that although still directs the audience in what to focus attention on, manages to effectively push boundaries of reality-based footage from the reenactment.

            Perhaps what this reviewer (and many like him/her, ‘Pat’ is quite ambiguous and I do not want to make any assumptions) finds most abhorrent is the tried and tested annoyance of claimants that this film (and many like it) are based on or a representation of a true story.  There is an obsession with the truth—both in the production and marketing of the film and in the audience’s desire to unearth the actuality of the narrative unfolding before them onscreen.  If the film strays too far from tangible facts and representation, then somehow the film becomes veritably annulled.  It’s existence becomes unnecessary, and any merit the film claimed to have had prior to the resolved fallibility of its conveyance is abolished.

I have to admit that I tried extensively to research Dr. Abigail Tyler and her research through various online archival sites and legitimate academic psychiatric journals (through my university access), and have come up with nothing.  Most sites point to the research conducted as commencing at the same time the film began its marketing campaign.  The Alaskan Psychiatry Journal that boasts original research by Dr. Tyler is not a real academic journal.  It is unquestionably suspicious as to why the producers have gone to such massive lengths to convince the audience of its archival authenticity.  Other films that claim “based on a true story” make no such efforts—The Haunting in Connecticut, The Amityville Horror, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose have all managed to back up the actual ‘true’ stories they are based on, regardless of how fictionalized the accounts have become in the reframing narrative.  However, the reality of the situation is that proper archived footage of a man killing his family, or a therapy session of hypnosis to recount an abduction resulting in the paralysis of the patient, would never be released for major theatrical distribution, so it is not surprising that there are no documented cases that resemble the ones in The Fourth Kind.

            One has to ask themselves if the deception the film subjects its viewers to, actually lessens the experience of the movie?  I would argue that it doesn’t.  Although the central ‘gimmick’ of the film is to recount actual events that have been conveniently documented by video or audio footage, the most intriguing element in The Fourth Kind is the narrative structure and symbiosis of ‘reality’ and reenactment and how it manages to traipse through its boundaries—where does art imitation end and life begin?  It seems as though the film is relying on its believability in order to keep the thematic reality/reenactment lines blurred, for if it was discovered that the footage is actually a hoax this argument would be moot.  Which raises another interesting notion: the susceptibility of audience’s naivety in direct contrast with their skepticism for anything attempting to be ‘based on a true story’.  This is evidenced in the monumental backlash that films Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project have received, two films which have graciously admitted to the unrealness of it all.

            This film decidedly and pointedly moves through interviewed footage with Director Osunsanmi from Chapman Univeristy—of which Osunsanmi is a film alum and Dr. Abigail Tyler is nowhere to be found in the universities list of faculty members—and reenactments by Milla Jovovich and Elias Koteas.  The presentation and structure of the film as reenactment and the collision of reality and the fourth wall is a clever way in which this film taps into the alien subgenre of science fiction.  Most narratives of this kind strive on truth, and the inclusion of the audience.  The structure here goes beyond simple narrative devices, and instead attempts to insert poignant split-screen techniques with actor/character self-realization.  The fact that the film addresses itself as a film can be seen to serve the narrative structure of the story as well as heightening the assertion of its truth claims.  Its central thesis interpretively fluctuates between two positions: the blur between dramatization and reality (as mentioned above) and/or the heightened disturbance of being witness to actual events.  Both are viable, and both are intriguing.  However, given the debunked ‘reality’ of this film, one must consider a third option: the desire to represent a fictionalized ‘truth’ and the subsequent manipulation of audience susceptibility this entails.  It seems that lately there is nothing more infuriating than the manipulation of big-studio filmmaking—a number of reivewers and horror fans cannot stress enough the infuriation from being blatantly lied to, as if filmmakers have mandated an oath of truth to which they are obliged to uphold.

            It’s a shame that what mires The Fourth Kind most is the actuality of its claims, because at the epoch of the film is a rather disturbing and unsettling notion—the possibility and probability of initial sparks of religion and spirituality being based upon alien life-forms, and the subsequent underbelly of how this notion derails contentions of God and an afterlife.  Muddled into this conception of extraterrestrials as supreme beings is the drive the film has in ‘fooling’ the audience into its reality—because a work of fiction can be dismissed as just being fiction, but translations of ancient Sumerian documented in actual footage is far more difficult to ignore.  The reality of fearing nothing beyond our carnal existence with only a void entity who has none of the compassion and empathetic warmth of the god religion has concocted for us to ingest, can be quite disturbing, especially for those who rely and depend on something more—to be stripped of faith is not an easy pill to swallow.

            However, this film can be understood as a metaphorical manifestation of the shredding away of faith and the inevitable anger which results.  The very essence of fiction as truth and the underhanded manipulation necessary to pull off such a stunt is relatable to the uncertainty of religion and faith—however, more people believe in it than they do in this film.


ADDENDUM: The Fourth Kind portends to draw conclusions of disappearances listed here.  There have been considerable infuriated backlashes reported here, as well as a law-suit against Universal Pictures reported here.
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Grade: 80% (A-)

Paranormal Activity - (film review)

            I don’t believe it is a necessary requirement for a horror film to actually be scary to be effective.  As in any genre film, there is no specific end goal other than to relay a particular narrative through a specific style.  Only horror films are charged with this cross to bear—critical reviews of horror films always harp on whether the film succeeds in scaring its audience.  This ‘scare’ factor, like most critics themselves, is highly susceptible and intensely personal and subjective.  For a film to truly scare someone is differentiated from one person to the next, hence the birth of this blog—to discuss horror films without getting stuck in the all too common criticism of whether it is scary or not.  The actuality of a film being scary is a side-effect of the atmospheric direction and/or the narrative itself, not the purpose (despite the intentions of the filmmakers).

            If a film succeeds in scaring its audience, which is getting more and more difficult as more and more audiences are becoming immune and desensitized to horror film narratives, it can come at a rather high cost.  Inevitably, in most cases, the initial scare factor of a film quickly dwindles upon subsequent viewings, and one can easily determine clichéd devices used to acquire such scares—such is the case with films like The Blair Witch Project, Halloween, The Ring, and Friday the 13th.  Fortunately for some of those films, the narrative, direction and action is strong enough to entice interest on a level beyond the initial scare tactic.  Ultimately, a film requires a few more viewings to determine whether the film is truly a good movie in addition to being frightening. 

            This is the case with Paranormal Activity, a film I found to be disturbingly frightening, whereupon the remainder of the day seemed to have this omniscient presence of gloom and depression.  A number of times I have turned to my fiancée to exclaim: “That movie really disturbed me.”  He continued to recall the events in his previous condominium, explaining how he had felt a presence enter his house, close the front door, walk up the steps and make an indented impression on his bed.  The film manages to relish on that undeniable fear that there is something beyond what we see, something potentially harmful, rare, and excruciatingly terrifying—that fear that as we find our way around our houses in the dark, if we dare look up we’ll see it, the shadowy figure we’ve been trying to convince ourselves doesn’t exist.

            The technological devices used to drive the film’s narrative forward is a key factor to the success of the film itself.  Had this been a traditionally cinematic venture, I doubt the usage of bangs, bumps and door slams would have resonated in the way they actually do here.  In fact, what becomes so effective in the way that this film unfolds is the hand-held home-movie feel.  Because the audience is only privy to the information filmed, we are restricted to Micah and Katie’s house, never venturing outside it, never being able to temporarily quell our fears.  We become engrossed by the couple’s interactions with each other and discover, as they do, the happenings of the possession.  Fortunately, the dialogue and acting here is miles better than The Blair Witch Project, which is the significant folly of that film.

            What is the most salient aspect of this film is how personal it becomes.  The distance between audience member(s) and character/plot that is common amongst more traditional narrative films is quite apparent, one can always reassure oneself that ‘it is only a movie’, and that ‘these things don’t happen in real life.’  This film attempts to demolish that boundary between audience reality and the going-ons portrayed on the screen.  It really feels like you are watching actual footage of preternatural occurrences, and that those involved are psychologically damaged from their experiences with it.  This connection to the audience is real and formidable, it is what manages to hold the audience in its grasp and effectively trigger those psychological subconscious fears of sensations one suspects may be paranormal.  Even as I right this I can’t help but consider the possibility that those creaky noises I hear from my basement are the beginnings of someone or something making its way up to hover over me as I sleep.
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Grade: 84% (A-)