‘Fourth Kind’ worth four Ws

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As of late, the majority of Hollywood’s super-hyped thrillers have fallen woefully short of the promised scare quotient. While this should be no great shock for most movie goers, the true-account tone adopted by the latest crop of film bears closer scrutiny than the latest slasher sequel or vampire adventure.

“The Fourth Kind” follows closely on the heels of “Paranormal Activity,” a film best described as being as close to plagiarism as you will ever see. Simply put, it’s “The Blair Witch Project” in an expensive home. That film’s producers benefited from a call-and-request-it campaign and a few well-edited trailers. “The Fourth Kind” is an intriguing blend of real footage and film that hearkens back to “The Legend of Boggy Creek,” a film shot during the early ’70s Bigfoot craze. After all, this, like “Boggy Creek,” happened to someone. Which alone should scare the bejesus out of any rational human.

Milla Jovovich stars as Abbey Tyler, the centerpiece of this amazing and troubling tale. As a psychologist in Alaska, she was dealing with a slew of clients all suffering from strikingly similar problems. These patients were having trouble sleeping or awakening in the night and mentioning an owl at their window. While this is not shocking itself, the video footage of their subsequent hypnosis sessions most assuredly is.

Throughout the film, director Olatunde Osunsanmi splices together real-life footage with film of the corresponding scenes. Also, he plays snippets of his interview with a wraith-like Tyler, which serve almost as chapter markers for the viewer. However, during Tyler’s sessions with Tommy Fisher (Corey Johnson) and Scott Stracinsky (Enzo Cilenti), Osunsanmi gives the viewer a true side by side comparison of the real-life footage next to the actor portraying the scene. This comparison viewing is at its most powerful during these sequences, as the sound and palpable fear emanating from both men renders one speechless.

Tyler continues to administer to her patients even as she deals with numbing issues of her own. The viewer is introduced to her own nightmare, the death of her husband and her personal search to make sense of what she claims is a murder. Her friend and colleague Abel Campos (Elias Koteas) lends personal support by flying to Nome to view her patients and to check on her own mental state. Tragic consequences ensue following the hypnosis of both men which leads to the involvement of Sheriff August (Will Patton). A no-nonsense, fact-based individual, August has little time for conspiracy theories, only the safety of his citizens.

Osunsanmi does a remarkable job of presenting the information while performing the function of popular film: entertaining an audience. Despite one’s own personal belief regarding alien abduction/visitation theories, it is hard to dismiss the video and audio footage, some of which was shot from the dashboard camera of police cruisers. Equally hard to dismiss are the statistical facts presented for and against the abduction theory and evidence surrounding Tyler’s husband’s death. It is this careful balance that leads to the success of “The Fourth Kind.” Ultimately, however, the viewer’s sole question is whether or not they believe Tyler’s tale, because the presentation is unmistakably true.

Rating: W W W W

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