The Fourth Kind proves a terrifying experience
The Fourth Kind (2009)
There are four kinds of alien encounters. The first kind is sighting; the second kind is evidence; the third kind is contact; and the fourth kind is abduction. The Fourth Kind begins with an introduction by Mila Jovavich who depicts Dr. Abigail Emily Tyler in the film. She explains to the audience that the supposed “archived footage” shown throughout the movie is deeply disturbing; and she wasn't kidding. Right after Jovavich's intro, The Fourth Kind dives right into an interview between the film's writer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi and the real Dr. Tyler. Overall the film is composed much like a docudrama.
The story is centred around Dr. Tyler's goal to complete studies and help patients who her husband was dealing with before his death. Tyler is a psychologist located in Nome, Alaska. Since the 1960's there's apparently been hundreds of missing people reports that have never been solved.
Tyler's patients depicted in this film all seem to be suffering with the same issues of waking up in the night, feeling uneasy, and share eerily similar reports of seeing an owl like figure looking at them when they awake.
The story takes place in the past but is supported by the interview footage with Dr. Tyler in present day. The extraordinary events that took place early in October of 2000 are wildly unnatural and the supporting ‘real footage' helps in convincing that such unbelievable events actually happened.
The Blair Witch style filming helps make the film feel more real as the audience watches in a voyeuristic manner. Archived interviews of Dr. Tyler with her agitated patients are cut and overlapped with the dramatized footage to help fill in certain blanks when a camera wasn't present. As the plot progresses there are additional audio recordings as well as occasional narration from the real Dr. Tyler in her interview with Osunsanmi.
As more is reveled by the patients through hypnotism treatments things become violent and patients bodies are contorted in a possessive way. Jovavich's performance gets stronger throughout the film but the real highlights were the interviews with the real Dr. Tyler and the disturbing archived footage.
The similarity in accounts from her patients' lead her to ask questions that she feels her husband would have wanted her to answer. Tyler has a theory and still, to this day, truly believes in everything she witnessed. She needs people to hear her story.
To say this film was a horror movie is an understatement. It was terrifying. But a film like The Fourth Kind will only gauge this reaction from certain viewers. You'll love it or you'll hate it, it all depends on what you believe. The Fourth Kind is definitely a movie made for that niche audience who loves feeling petrified but also believes in the possibility that there is life out there beyond what we know and understand on Earth.
After researching deeper into the film it is hard to find any information on whether or not this ‘actual archived footage' is real, or any information surrounding Dr. Tyler and her family. With that in mind one will only feel the horror if they believe the background story. If you think this ‘real footage' is a load of garbage you'll think the same of the movie. In my opinion this ‘real archived footage' has yet to be proven false, therefore I would highly recommend going into this film with an open mind and an ability to accept that some things simply cannot be explained.
There are four kinds of alien encounters. The first kind is sighting; the second kind is evidence; the third kind is contact; and the fourth kind is abduction. The Fourth Kind begins with an introduction by Mila Jovavich who depicts Dr. Abigail Emily Tyler in the film. She explains to the audience that the supposed “archived footage” shown throughout the movie is deeply disturbing; and she wasn't kidding. Right after Jovavich's intro, The Fourth Kind dives right into an interview between the film's writer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi and the real Dr. Tyler. Overall the film is composed much like a docudrama.
The story is centred around Dr. Tyler's goal to complete studies and help patients who her husband was dealing with before his death. Tyler is a psychologist located in Nome, Alaska. Since the 1960's there's apparently been hundreds of missing people reports that have never been solved.
Tyler's patients depicted in this film all seem to be suffering with the same issues of waking up in the night, feeling uneasy, and share eerily similar reports of seeing an owl like figure looking at them when they awake.
The story takes place in the past but is supported by the interview footage with Dr. Tyler in present day. The extraordinary events that took place early in October of 2000 are wildly unnatural and the supporting ‘real footage' helps in convincing that such unbelievable events actually happened.
The Blair Witch style filming helps make the film feel more real as the audience watches in a voyeuristic manner. Archived interviews of Dr. Tyler with her agitated patients are cut and overlapped with the dramatized footage to help fill in certain blanks when a camera wasn't present. As the plot progresses there are additional audio recordings as well as occasional narration from the real Dr. Tyler in her interview with Osunsanmi.
As more is reveled by the patients through hypnotism treatments things become violent and patients bodies are contorted in a possessive way. Jovavich's performance gets stronger throughout the film but the real highlights were the interviews with the real Dr. Tyler and the disturbing archived footage.
The similarity in accounts from her patients' lead her to ask questions that she feels her husband would have wanted her to answer. Tyler has a theory and still, to this day, truly believes in everything she witnessed. She needs people to hear her story.
To say this film was a horror movie is an understatement. It was terrifying. But a film like The Fourth Kind will only gauge this reaction from certain viewers. You'll love it or you'll hate it, it all depends on what you believe. The Fourth Kind is definitely a movie made for that niche audience who loves feeling petrified but also believes in the possibility that there is life out there beyond what we know and understand on Earth.
After researching deeper into the film it is hard to find any information on whether or not this ‘actual archived footage' is real, or any information surrounding Dr. Tyler and her family. With that in mind one will only feel the horror if they believe the background story. If you think this ‘real footage' is a load of garbage you'll think the same of the movie. In my opinion this ‘real archived footage' has yet to be proven false, therefore I would highly recommend going into this film with an open mind and an ability to accept that some things simply cannot be explained.
