Okay, before I even talk about the film, let's get the one big thing out of the way first: the "true story" allegations behind it. While it's difficult to verify Dr. Abigail Tyler's true involvement in the film and whether or not the "home video" style footage was real, there was a slew of (poor) viral marketing used to promote the film before it was released. By poor, I mean rushed and futile in the shadow of Paranormal Activity. The Fourth Kind's biggest mistake was attempting to capitalize on the kind of advertising put forth by Paranormal and Cloverfield. It succeeded to get audiences and media hype because of its wishy-washy stance on its own "true story," but one statement revealed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner stated:
"On November 12, 2009 Universal Pictures agreed to a $20,000 settlement with the Alaska Press Club 'to settle complaints about fake news archives used to promote the movie.' Universal acknowledged that they created fake online news articles and obituaries to make it appear that the movie had a basis in real events."
I can't say without 100% doubt that the film is completely fake, but that's the direction that I'm leaning in, especially with Universal admitting that they created a huge fake database as the source for most of the film's citation.
With that out of the way, The Fourth Kind is pretty bad. It follows the story of Dr. Abigail Emily Tyler (Milla Jovovich, Abigail Tyler), a psychologist who resides in Nome, Alaska. After sessions with several different patients, she notices a strange trend and continuity in their stories that assert the witnessing of an owl or owl-like figuring either inhabiting their homes or stalking them outside. When put under hypnosis, these patients soon show signs of psychosis, schizophrenia, etc...but more importantly, they all seem to be deathly afraid of some kind of invasion in their home. Several events take place, and Tyler decides to call in her colleague, Dr. Abel Campos (Elias Koteas) to witness and assess the patients alongside her. She then notices a strange language being spoken and calls another professor, Dr. Awolowa Odusami (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) to interpret.
Well, hell ensues. As you probably could have guessed, alien abduction becomes the main suspect in the various cases. The premise (including the marketing) is certainly interesting and doesn't fail on its own, but the problem lies within the execution. The Fourth Kind retains a few choice moments that will send chills down your spine (including the police investigative videos and the ending sequences), but overall, it's a bore. One, long, painful-at-times bore. At some point, you'll wish you'd get abducted from the theater to save the intermittent "plot points" to connect the shock shots.
Perhaps I'm being a little cruel; at least some of the crucial plot points occur within the scary moments so they're not JUST for show. In the end, though, The Fourth Kind is extremely shallow and falls prey to the basic horror formula. Scares are incredibly predictable, but not in that fun way that they were in Paranormal Activity. One of my biggest gripes about a lot of horror films is the "loud noise" that occurs in order to scare the audience. Without such a sound effect, the moment would not have been nearly as scary or threatening and it's just a cheap and artificial maneuver to grab some gasps. Time and time again, it works, but I have a feeling even the most scared, attention-grabbing sorority damsel in distress will tire of these cheap tactics.
There's also no momentum in the film to really propel it forward. You're looking forward to one event the entire time: the advent of the aliens. Similar to the propulsion used in M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," you just want to see the damn extraterrestrials already. I don't want to give away anything, but I'll just say that the plot ending is pretty disappointing. If we're going to talk about the ending, though, the last few scenes are full of sheer terror and relatively inventive filmmakin; nothing too exciting, but worth mentioning. I have a bias to be scared of anything dealing with the paranormal or extraordinary (like ghosts and aliens), so I couldn't sleep for a while...but that doesn't necessarily mean the film was good or highly effective in its attempts.
Milla Jovovich does a surprisingly good job playing Dr. Abigail Tyler, and alongside the attention-catching gimmick, she provides the main source of intrigue in this film for me. I may not be her biggest fan, but she pulls quite the dramatic punch with her performance in The Fourth Kind. Again, nothing to write home about...
And that remains the problem. The film is full of interesting ideas and concepts and handles them poorly at times but only moderately well at others. The Fourth Kind is shoddy and becomes uninteresting halfway through. In fact, it feels like a chore; it draws you in with its remnant of a storyline and then just bores you to tears. It's bitter-bitter: you want to leave yet you can't...attributing to this may be the promise of a hugely shocking scenario. Early on the film, you witness one specific scene (just wait for the police-car footage) that makes you think the rest of the film will be just as intense and disturbing...then you realize that it's not.
All in all, The Fourth Kind has its share of chilly spine-tinglers, but has somewhat of a glass ceiling over itself that it never breaks through. Believe what you will, but there's no denying that The Fourth Kind just didn't live up to its own hype. We may now face an alien invasion due solely to the fact that any otherworldly race may feel insulted by this.
4.0/10
-Kyle Shelton
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