Seen on: November 3, 2009

The players: Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi, Writer: Olatunde Osunsanmi, Cast: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Corey Johnson

Facts of interest: Apparently based on actual case studies...

The plot: The film follows a psychologist investigating mentally unstable patients who claim they made contact with aliens.

Our thoughts: Contrary to my expectations, Olatunde Osunsanmi’s “The Fourth Kind” totally failed to scare me. Sure, the film boasts a couple of creepy moments here and there, but most of the time, it finds itself resorting to incredibly cheap thrills to keep its audience captivated. In my book though, this one misses its mark.

In case you didn’t catch the film’s TV spots or trailers, you should know “Kind” is sold to cinemagoers as a movie based on actual case studies. Now that I’ve seen the film though, I personally think everything in it is fake, but that’s just my personal opinion. I mean, I did some research on the Web, and nothing really adds up.

Anyway, featuring a mix of reenactments and “real” archived footage, “The Fourth Kind” follows Dr. Abigail Tyler (portrayed by Milla Jovovich), a psychologist who investigates the unstable mental state of patients who claim they’ve had multiple encounters with aliens in the small town of Nome, Alaska.

That’s pretty much all we get to see in Osunsanmi’s film: scenes of Tyler videotaping therapy sessions during which she puts her patients under hypnosis to find out what they really saw and what traumatized them so much. None of this is pretty interesting, and it sure isn’t really scary either.

I admit that some of the “real” archived footage from therapy sessions looks and sounds creepy, but we never get to see enough of it to really engage in the scenes. The reason for that is the film’s immensely annoying editing, which suffers from countless unnecessary split-screen cuts and an overpowering sound design.  

While the archived footage at least looks authentic at times, the reenactments are often too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Especially Dr. Tyler’s multiple encounters with Nome’s moronic sheriff (Will Patton) are more laughable than they are dramatic. Luckily, Elias Koteas offers a decent performance as Tyler’s colleague.

“The Fourth Kind” works best as a mockumentary trying to lure cinemagoers into believing what they see on the big screen is real, and I think that’s the best way to approach this film. Do your own research online after you’ve seen this, and you will realize that the authenticity of all this is quite questionable.

Apart from a decent ending that boosts the film’s pace and generates at least a little tension, “The Fourth Kind” doesn’t have much to offer. Parts of so-called “real” interviews with the supposedly “real” Abigail Tyler are creepy because she looks like an alien herself, but as I mentioned before, that’s it for the suspense.

Freaky quote: "Tell me about the owl." - Milla Jovovich

The final word: “The Fourth Kind” may make you feel uncomfortable at times, and that’s fair enough. As far as I’m concerned, it didn’t move me at all; it actually bored me more than it captivated my attention. Too bad, because they sure could’ve made this one way scarier than it is…

Article by Franck Tabouring