Cool News
Capone says THE FOURTH KIND feels more like The Fake Kind!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Here's the thing, if the idea of seeing actual footage of alien abductees going under hypnosis to remember being taken--a process that results in wild convulsions that literally breaks bones in their body--appeals to you, you're in for a hell of a ride with THE FOURTH KIND. I consider myself a person who would absolutely be excited at the prospect at seeing such footage, and this film certainly sets up the idea that we are about to see such material as we examine the life of Dr. Abigail Tyler (played at times by Milla Jovovich), a psychologist living in Nome, Alaska, who treats enough patients with the same visions of late-night visitors to realize that something more is going on than just sleep deprivation. The film establishes itself as a mixture of real footage of some of these sessions (most of which involve hypnosis to unlock these buried memories) and recreations from Jovovich, Elias Koteas as a colleague, and Will Patton as the disbelieving local sheriff.
If this footage is genuine, this might be one of the most incredible movies I've ever seen. If the taped interviews with Tyler are genuine and her story is true, it would be almost impossible for me to even wrap my head around what's being presented in THE FOURTH KIND. You don't have to dig very deep to find the countless articles and conspiracy theories who believe that Nome is some sort of epicenter for alien visitors, with the highest number of missing persons in all of Alaska, and FBI investigations that have brought a disproportionate number of agents to Nome since the 1960s. So even if this story is 100 percent fiction (and I'm not saying it is or isn't), writer-director Olatunde Osunsanmi has done a compelling job setting up a backstory (or maybe it's more of a cover story) to at least entertain the idea that this footage is the real deal. Here's the problem: everything about this movie screams "Fake!" The interviews with the woman we're told is the real Dr. Tyler made me feel like I was watching an actress--a good one--reciting lines. The fact that whenever something truly messed up happens on videotape, the tape becomes distorted and we only catch just enough of a glimpse of some truly horrific stuff is a bit unnerving, but feels phony beyond words.
Maybe the problem I had with the film is that it pushed so hard to be taken seriously that I felt like I was being sold a fiction. It's the classic oversell, and all I could do was push back and look for the signs I was being manipulated. In the end, it doesn't matter whether the footage is real for the simple fact that it feels bogus. I didn't really have issues with the performances. Jovovich is, for the most part, fairly convincing as the stressed-to-the-point-of-snapping Tyler, who believes her husband was murdered in bed next to her. He was also investigating these unexplained phenomena and may have gotten too close for comfort. I like the idea that hypnotizing these people to unlock memories unleashes some sort of message from whoever took them, and that doing so causes the subject to become unhinged. There are ideas here that are good; the fault with THE FOURTH KIND is in the execution, and it's a flaw that pretty much torpedoed the movie for me right from the start.
Let me review this film from a different perspective. I always insist on seeing any brand of scare film with an audience, and I'm guessing that the majority of the audience members at THE FOURTH KIND with me bought that they were seeing a film blending real footage with re-enactments. Again, I'm not saying that this film isn't exactly that, but it felt false at every note to me. The crowd was getting their asses scared clean off--not quite at PARANORMAL ACTIVITY levels of fear but this was a close second. So maybe your enjoyment of THE FOURTH KIND depends on a combination of gullibility, willingness to buy into a premise that is structured in the least convincing way possible, and an overwhelming desire to want to believe that aliens visit Nome with alarming frequency. If that sounds like you, enjoy this film with all your heart and soul. The rest of you can sleep in or go to bed early; you have better things to do with your life.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
Follow Me On Twitter
-
+ Expand All
-
I hate the ripoff title
-
if the footage was real chances are we would know about it already
-
They were sabotaging their wikipedia page for ages. Kept listing websites which referred to the "real" abilgail etc.. Then if you did a domain check on these sites, they were all registered on the same day, the day the movie trailer first came out.
Seriously. It's a poor fucking fake. -
I'm not saying that there are or aren't aliens visiting earth, but allot of these "abductions" can be explained as simply "night terrors", check out this article, it even mentions this movie http://tinyurl.com/yzq9cs6
-
[IMG]http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv92/MixedMartialArts03/weigh-ins.gif[/IMG]
-
You try to pass this kind of movie off as being "real", all it does is make me look for every available opportunity to call it out as being bullshit. On the other hand, you can make something like fucking Ghostbusters, and whether it seems "fake" never even enters my mind. Who gives a shit? It's badass, and it doesn't try to sell itself on a bullshit gimmick. Anyway, maybe general audiences will go crazy for this movie. Fair enough, people like what people like. But for me, I avoid these kinds of movies like the plague.
-
that for a movie to really scare people it has to have an air of "reality" around it? that reality is scarier than any movie perhaps? heck if you want the shit scared out of you, just turn on the news, that's scarier than any movie playing at your local theater
-
oops wrong forum
-
Yeah, how dare they steal from J. Allen Hyneck like that! He's probably rolling over in his grave (while puffing contentedly on his pipe, no doubt).
-
I'm no film expert, but I'm pretty sure that people have been using the "this shit is REAL" gimmick for a while now. Didn't The Exorcist also utilize the "based on a true story" gimmick, albeit to a lesser degree? Then there's those Amityville movies. And I know that Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre were both loosely "inspired" by Ed Gein, though I don't recall if that was part of the ad campaign or not.
-
I just didn't get the hype. The only fairly scary scene was her getting pulled out of bed, and the three-toed demon-monkey footprints made the threat laughable. For what it was, it was impressive, but hardly what it was made out to be. Lucky for it, hype perpetuates itself and amplifies what few scares there are.
-
and The Exorcist really was based on a true story, except it was a boy who was supposedly possessed instead of a girl
-
Really. It is...just like HAUNTING IN CT was...just like THE STRANGERS was...just like COMMUNION was...just like FIRE IN THE SKY was. They are based on true stories in the same way that Ernst Hemmingway is typing this right now...I mean, were both humans who descended from apes-what more proof do you need?
-
Nov 06, 2009 1:51:55 AM CST
Ebert gave incredible reviews to this weekends films, except thi
by orionsangels
Except the 4th kind.
-
Granted, on any given day, most of the scary stuff won't happen to YOU. But in any given Nightmare On Elm Street, Freddy Krueger usually only slices up about half a dozen teenagers. Nightmare On Elm Street, most people are probably no more afraid of Freddy Krueger than they are afraid of killer bees. Yeah, that was your point. But consider that if Freddy Krueger ACTUALLY existed in the real world, he'd get about as much press coverage as
-
"Bigfoot. At most, he'd be a two paragraph blurb on page 8, while the rest of the world worries about unemployment or health care reform."
Lack of an edit feature is annoying, but am I the only one whose posts occasionally get snipped in half when I click "Post Talkback"? -
about scary reality vs scary movies. And Crimson_King's claim that "people need to think it's real in order to be scared". That's actually something that may be an interesting little cultural detail. When times are tough and people are scared about the future, do they gravitate towards scary movies, or optimistic movies? When the real world is really scary, are more people likely to AVOID horror movies that claim to be based on reality? You know, since reality is scary enough already. Or are people more likely to gravitate towards the ghost/alien movies that PRETEND to be real? Since then the "real" scary thing is a freaking ghost or an alien. Which gives people an opportunity to channel their fears about the state of the world into a fear about a silly little movie monster that would in real life be easily avoidable. That's actually sort of gotten my interest, and I'm wondering how thorough any studies have been done on this kind of stuff. I'm sure that the major studios have probably looked into this long ago, because that's research into a potential market. And if studios haven't seriously looked into this, they're pretty stupid.
-
And much more realistic than Paranormal Activity. Which still, I say, shame on you Capone for giving that film such a glowing review.
-
Nov 06, 2009 2:23:13 AM CST
"...not quite at PARANORMAL ACTIVITY levels of fear..."
by gibsonusa returns
But Paranormal Activity wasnt scary. You can find twitter messages from 12 yr olds wondering why that movie was so not scary.
-
Just like FARGO =P!
-
But on the other hand, I make it a point to never trust the opinions of people who are entering puberty. I remember when I was 12, and i was a fucking douchebag. You could show me something so scary that I'd literally shit in my pants, and I'd turn and say to you, "pfft, you think that's scary? You must be a total pussy." Yeah...12 year olds might think that something isn't scary, and they might think that something is shit. But 12 year olds also like to call EVERYTHING shit because they think that makes them more badass.
-
why the hell would Larry King's opinion influence people to see a movie? I mean, Larry King? really?
-
Nov 06, 2009 2:37:30 AM CST
Sites mentioning Tyler launched the same day as the trailer
by juansanchez
Good job setting up a fake history the same day as you released the trailer.
-
The fact that they're claiming it's true makes it less frightening to me; because it's NOT, obviously, and now I have to watch the movie whose makers think I'm an idiot.
-
How'd that go?
-
Nov 06, 2009 2:50:46 AM CST
yeah what the hell ever happened to the Poughkeepsie Tapes?
by the_crimson_king
I remember seeing the trailer for it before The Mist almost two years ago and I haven't heard anything about it since
-
Maybe then you would have gotten a chance to see it.
-
THE CRIMSON KING DEMANDS IT! there did that work?
-
E.T. Phone hoooommmme... ooouuuuuch
Please.. anyone actually going into this thinking it was credible seriously needs to be slapped -
You should have demanded it about three years ago.
Seriously though, did that movie never get released, or something? I might be wrong, but I could've sworn that it actually got a wide theatrical release, and then quickly disappeared without anyone ever giving a shit about it. -
I see that the Poughkeepsie Tapes has still not gotten a full theatrical release or a dvd release, man it's awfully strange to see a trailer for a movie 2 years ago that's still not out
-
If I recall the buzz was it was beyond wretched.
-
I saw the trailer for that movie as a kid and was dying to see it. I think I saw the trailer for over a year and it never came out. Never saw the movie.
-
The director of this movie is actually a Chapman University alumni. I know of a few people who were in their film program (which is supposed to be pretty good).
-
I only mention'd he went to Chapman University because i think you can see the school logo on the original interview tapes with the doctor
-
Nov 06, 2009 3:50:25 AM CST
Larry Kind would call Hitler "a gifter speaker and leader"
by wickedjacob
If he was sitting across from him. I would bet actual money that there is not a single clip of him ever being critical of any of his guests. Why do you think Wolf Blitzer just happens to fill in on the nights when something quasi-real (like "balloon boy") is being discussed?
-
this movie is bullshit, badly trying to pass itself off as genuine.
-
a fucking degree don't help much these days.
-
Nov 06, 2009 4:06:30 AM CST
Larry King obviously mindlessly accepted the footage is real
by juansanchez
-
Why the fuck is GibsonUSA Returns reading twitters from 12 year olds? Creepy ass. If anyone thought this footage was real you are A DUMB ASS. Some dumb fuck came out of Paranormal Activity behind me saying "Was that video for real why did they play that?" Umm good question why would the police hand over real footage of a murder to be distributed into movie theaters? Dumb ass. These people need to not produce.
-
It's one thing to present a fictionalized account of a situation that actually happened, because at least you can say they took dramatic liberties with the story to be used as a jumping off point. It's another thing entirely to fabricate "documentary" footage and sell it as actually happening. Blair Witch tried really hard 10 years ago with this concept but it was clear once the movie was released that it didn't actually happen. This movie on the other hand is like, "No, seriously guys, this actually happened. Here are all the tapes. We even had to change some names." Which in turn puts you into really bizarre territory of a poorly made movie and awful, and fictional, documentary footage. The whole thing just reeks of poor quality.
-
King of the fucking zombies, more like.
-
Like the Exorcist. I don't know how many people claim that movie was "based on real events" just it was a young boy instead of a girl.
If you look it up, the author tells you that it's based on his memory of a newspaper article he saw when he was a kid.
For all we know he saw it in Weekly World News or something, when he was too young to know that newspapers are allowed to print shit which isn't true. -
In other words....so painfully fake it's funny to watch.
-
Glad I didn't see it. As for Fire in the Sky, Travis Walton did dissappear for a week and there was an investigation into his whereabouts. My family had a videotape documentary called UFO's are Real in which they interviewed Walton and others involved in the case. Also Betty and Barney Hill were interviewed on this tape. If you can find this film I highly recommend it.
-
You're better than the "I was way too cool for this movie, so i'll go ahead and pre-insult anyone who may like it as gullible and a bit tardy in their thinking, as that's what you'd have to be to enjoy this not cool enough for your intrepid reviewer" film review.
Not that I wanted to see this film in the first place, because I was waaaay too cool to even watch the trailer in its entirety. -
"i think it's fake!" DUH.
-
and I consider myself extremely open to the paranormal but the narrative is poor, regardless if it were real or not. Do we really need to watch milla jovovich play out a scene side by side with someone else doing the same thing... it takes you out of the film regardless if it were real. Also, when Millal istens to her own voice recording, it's the other actress's voice. The "real" scenes are so full of control it shouldn't even be questioned wether this film is anything more than a failed experiment.
-
Did people really find paranormal activity scary? You get more from an episode of ghost hunters on SyFy... people want to be scared so bad they convince themselves something is scary.
-
So the point of the movie is to make people believe the footage is real? From the trailers I saw, I never once thought or wondered if it was real footage. I knew it was a movie with actors and that is how I am going into the film when I do see it. Never once did I get an inkling of a thought that the footage was genuine. It's a movie...take it for what it is!
-
Biggest marketing snow job of this decade.
-
Is actually a way better show than Ghost Hunters and the shows that rip off Ghost Hunters. The host, Josh Gates, has a great sense of humors, and does some ballsy shit. Scuba Diving down an unexplored cave at night? Climbing with ropes down a 100 foot cliff? Walking around friggin Cherynobl in a fall out suite? Plus, his spanish female assistant has a hot little ass.
-
You can't be mad at a film for being effectively marketed; you can only be mad at yourself for falling for effective marketing once again.
-
Paranormal Activity did not live up to the hype. Not even close. Scary? Maybe the price I paid to go see it, otherwise it was a cute little movie that got lucky enough to have a major studio hype the heck outta it. Now, The 4th Kind, although it stinks of more of the same old "this is REAL!" BS, has at least an interesting concept, but has already been trumped by being released the same weekend as The Men Who Stare at Goats (my Go-To movie this weekend) and the Disney juggernaut.
-
Have you seen or heard from Smokey Crabtree lately? how is that fat old bastard holding up?
-
Went opening weekend with a sold out crowd. Was the best horror movie ever made? No. Did the crowd get into and scream and act scarred? You bet.
-
Or is it just another alien movie with no payoff? I like the subject of alien abductions, and I feel like this film might be enjoyable if you go in knowing IT'S JUST A MOVIE!
-
the marketing ("It's real!") was done so badly. Like registering all the websites that mention Abigail Taylor on the same day as the first movie trailer. And sabotaging the wikipedia pages, with sockpuppet accounts which are created the day of the edit, but never edit another page ever again. That sort of thing. It's just pathetic.
To market something as being real, when it's fake, is actually hard to do properly. It's the one area where marketing people would really have to EARN the outrageous fucking sums they charge. You can't just shout it long and loud "It's REAL" and pretend that's a fucking campaign. -
So instead of falling asleep in the aisles, the audience actually DIED of boredom?Are you fucking kidding me? What kind of moron would even pretend that movie was the slightest bit scary? Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you people???
-
Nov 06, 2009 10:24:39 AM CST
CAPONE: "You can't be mad at a film for being effectively market
by manifestchaos
RE: "You can't be mad at a film for being effectively marketed; you can only be mad at yourself for falling for effective marketing once again."Let me see if I am getting this straight. Somebody goes to see an AWFUL, heinous piece of cinema (to stretch the term downward), gets upset that it sucks so terribly, and says it was over-hyped. Now the same asshole who gave that stinking, festering piece of shit a POSITIVE review (yes, you, Capone) is telling the complainant "this is your fault for seeing the movie"??? How about we place the blame where it belongs, on the filmmakers for making such a piece of crap?? Hell, YOU told him to fucking see it, that's not the fault of marketing, it's YOUR fucking fault.I'm never going to believe another word you write.
-
I mean, if he ever had any plans to make a sequel to "Close Encounters," the best title is now off the table.
-
Man, did that "documentary" scare the holy hell out of me when I was a naive scamp. 'Member that shot in the living room, it's night, everyone's freaked out, and suddenly, one of the women discovers the creature's paw sitting on her shoulder, coming through the living room window? Screamed so loud, what a little bitch I was... And that's why there will ALWAYS be "based on a true story" type flim-flams like this one: because there's always a new generation of little bitches who will swallow the bait hook, line and sinker. Which is good and right; I had fun being a little bitch. Wish I could still get scared at movies like this...
-
The movie was well executed in terms of scares, but what held me back from loving this movie is the fact that the leading couple in this movie were 2 moronic douchebags
-
For all the people on here bashing that movie, saying it wasn't scary, that it was boring or stupid please enlighten us with what movies are scary. If PA didn't have an effect on you I find it hard to believe there is any movie out there that would and makes me question why you would even watch a genre movie like that in the first place.
-
It was refreshingly scary and well done. I'm not a fan of torture porn, so maybe that's why I'm not desensitized to the point where I can't appreciate a good, simple fright.
-
...but she's going to be hard to get rid of, cuz she's another one of these hollywood chicks who's fuckin a producer. I consider that kind of shit to be an enemy of cinema.
-
That's a good question. I am not that much of a horror fan, and I guess I am looking for something that will actually make an impression.I did not go into PARANORMAL ACTIVITY wanting to hate it (I love movies, good ones anyway), but it bored me to fucking tears. A semi-likeable guy and his huge bitch of a girlfriend; a huge laundry list of cliches (the ouija board, the supernatural 'professional' who is instantly terrified, etc.); and a one-hour 'introduction' to a five-minute payoff.The problem with it is that it didn't escalate quickly or far enough. Nothing, NOTHING, happened for the first hour, and by the time something kinda scary happened (the girl getting dragged out of the bed) the movie was 10 minutes from over! The fact that they would just sit there in the room after something invisible makes footprints right up to their bed is just retarded. They didn't behave believably, and frankly they weren't nearly fucked-with enough. There were so many more options, even on a tiny budget: have an ax chop through the wall right above their head while they're sleeping. Have bloodstains appear on their bedsheets, or blood ooze through the wall. Have the window explode. Fucking do ANYTHING except lame-ass bullshit involving a piece of plastic moving around a ouija board. OOOOOOOOH SPOOKY!!!! No, it was just dumb.So back to your main question, about scary movies. I've never seen a lot of the classics (Halloween, Friday the 13th), but I've found that the movies that actually scare me are more psychological (Jaws terrified me, Silence of the Lambs got under my skin). Certainly, SAW and HOSTEL are not the least bit scary, only off-putting and disturbing in some ways.I saw the french HIGH TENSION and it was intense but I'm not sure about "scary," I'll have to re-watch it. I found THE STRANGERS a little scary, maybe just because I've gone camping in creepy forests but that is a much more effective scare setting than some retard couple's urban apartment. Why the fuck wouldn't they run out of there and go to a public place? Go to a fucking 24/7 McDonalds where other people can at least witness what's happening to you if not help you somehow.I want to see INSIDE (A L'INTERIEUR), I've heard it's scary. People have recommended the original THE THING. Do you have any suggestions?
-
When I said off the top "I'm not much of a horror fan" I didn't mean I am predisposed against them, only that my personal experience is limited. But PARANORMAL ZZZZZzzzzz certainly didn't make me want to expand my horizons -- so I would sincerely appreciate it if people could recommend some GOOD scare movies to bring me into the fold. Yes, I mean that.
-
ITS. A. MOVIE.Its about as believable as that cartoon movie coming out called Planet 51 which actually looks like a better movie; and I usually don't like the cartoon movies.
-
Thank god the movie never got released. It is the most amateur, boring, poorly crafted indi film I have ever seen... Seek it out yourself type "Poughkeepsie Tapes Video SCPS44 Myspace" on google.com and purge yourself of the "What's it all about, does it live up to the hype?" bug you've been dying to smack.
It's honestly not worth one iota of your time. Bad acting is one part of it's failure, and inability to know what kind of film it wants to be is the other. Check it out, very easy to find. -
Nov 06, 2009 12:22:54 PM CST
I thought it was illegal in the US to try to pass something off
by royston lodge
I was under the impression that, after Orson Welles' War of the Worlds incident, the US passed laws about trying to pass something off as real.
Maybe that only appies to broadcast media though...
Do the credits for this movie list the people who are in the "real" segments? Wouldn't be too hard to google their names. -
is a moron
-
I can't figure out why I was banned. Was it for saying Chud posted something 2 days before you guys did. There was no malice or ill will meant. It was more of a please keeping being AICN- keep giving us exclusive "New" news. I've been on the net since 1995, and with you since the very beginning when the site banner had rainbows in it. That really sucked guys. Why hurt the hardcore viewers who actually support you most of your views and wish and hope for more success in your ventures like "The Home"
I'll never say "Chud" again, unless it's about the movie.
-The Pilgrim. -
Is a great show. Those guys do some dangerous shit. They found a 'nest' in this past episode and hair, which was sampled for DNA. Result? Unknown Primate. No shit. To diss this show out of hand because it deals in 'unknown' subjects is to be an ass.
-
I'm tierd of the ol' 'BASED ON REAL EVENTS' bullshit. Who writes this shit? Teabaggers?
-
Nov 06, 2009 12:37:00 PM CST
Saddest part of the concept of faux based on real or is real
by u_banned_me_down_the_stairs
Is that no ones really figured out a way to do it to cause the same levels of world wide pandemonium/panic that O.W. did. They should make a film about Watchers. People who watch and monitor and control us, who seek and destroy those of us who discover them. Like They Live, and The Net, and the Matrix with out the superior kung fu world with no realities bullshit. The film should play like a leaked tape that was never meant to be leaked and it would never work in the theater. It would have to unfold on youtube or something like that to be effective.
-
" The interviews with the woman we're told is the real Dr. Tyler made me feel like I was watching an actress--a good one--reciting lines."
this line makes zero sense. a 'good' actress would not make you feel like you were watching someone read lines. that is what separates the good from the bad.
she must be a 'bad' actress. -
Alien abductions is the modern day age version of the devil's possession of the more ancient times. It's the same phenomemum. The exact same phenonemum. Science even knows what trigers it. It's a psyco-somatic loss of cordenation and control, and people allucinate. It's origins is in the brain. And it has been provoked in laboratory and all. What is most suprising about all this is the willingness of some people to even give credence or a chance for allt his to "maybe" be true. That is not open-mindness, that's ignorance and naivité. It's almost as dangerous as the delusions of the "true believers". This is supposed to be the modern times, and yet there's still so much dark age shit going on.
-
That's because she was still rocking the post-preg baby weight in this one, just like in The Perfect Getaway. Google the nudes she did for Purple Fashion Magazine to see that she's got the bangin' bod back.
-
Look, I may be stupid but I ain't so stupid that I actually BELIEVE any of this crap is real. They are all movies. Hell even documentaries are not real in many respects. So what is most important about any of these movies? If they are entertaining or not! Simple as that. The Fourth Kind appears to be entertaining but for some reason it loses points because it "tries to be real" and fails. Hell, The Godfather failed at the same thing. Marlon Brando didn't even use his own name in that movie! They called him something else! As for Paranormal Activity, that thing was just hideous. I walked into the theater for two things: A good meal (The Alamo Drafthouse always delivers on that!) and to be entertained. The movie failed at that. It wasn't because the characters didn't act believable, or that the story was lame or there were no "effects"... it was just... boring. And really not all that much fun to watch. As for movies that actually do "scare" me (or more like creep me out a little!): The Exorcist, The Shining, Alien, even a few of the Friday or Halloween movies. Hell, even Poltergeist had some intensity that made it fun to watch. To sum up- a horror movie has to be GOOD and ENTERTAINING first- scary second.
-
So, was there a reason why this film got zero prereviews on AICN? I saw it with a theater full of people (it was actually screened three times) and not one review on AICN? Something's not right here. If a movie advertises on ths site, does that mean you don't do sneak reviews?
BTW, this is most disturbing film I've seen since Session 9. It KILLS that dumb ass PA with that stupid fucking (The Uninvited 2! Buy it on Blu-Ray and DVD Tuesday!) ending... -
but is a well done hoax. when you're watching the film at no point do you think its fake, yet you know it is. the actors who portray the victims are absolutly awesome. they regular looking people. The video "footage" is well done and looks real. If anything, the movie has done its job of making alien abductions a conversation. 4 outta 5 for me.
-
And Destination Truth is the a great show...those guys are crazy
-
If Jaws is your kind of scary, I would recommend the original Alien, if you haven't seen that yet. Yes, it's far more graphic, but holy shit, is it scary. It's really like Jaws in outer space, I think. And WAY scarier. Also, not sure if this is up your alley, but I'd skip the original Thing and go straight to John Carpenter's balls-out masterpiece remake. Eye-popping special (practical!) effects and scary as all get-out. See both on a big screen, in a very dark room, with no distractions and no snack breaks. Two of the best ever.
-
I was totally sceptical going in, but was willing to immerse myself in a fun horror movie. Unfortunately this is not a fun horror movie-- it's two hours of people being hypnotised and screaming a lot. The central conceit of the film is shattered as soon as that 'archive' footage rolls-- all those people just look like actors. Actually they're better actors than the people who are meant to be actors. If you really need another couple of reasons to call shenanigans try these: If this was real footage, it would have been all over the net years ago. Or, if a university had kept this stuff back from the public at large and wanted to reval it, which platform do you think they'd choose? A documentary and a lecture tour or a fairly schlocky horror film? You decide! And if you have a brain you will decide the Fourth Kind is bullshit.
-
"Its in color and sound"Larry King as the only review source is as reliable as Harry as the only review (see GI Joe).
-
Seriously . Why bother reinacting the whole thing when you dont even show anything ? I actually would have enjoyed it if they would ahave shown us something. Show the Aliens , show the things flying over the house show us SOMETHING. It defeats the whole purpose of reinacting when you dont show anything at all . I get it the footage was overrun with interference , but the whole point of making a movie is to wow and or entertain . This sadly , did not . It just built up , to let down .
-
I've seen Alien, although not in a few years. I do remember the incredible atmosphere, especially the scene where they are watching the tracking device (?) showing that the alien is really near Ripley when she's in the ventilation system or whatever it is. Will watch again, but I would love some more "horror" suggestions.I'll definitely look into the THING remake.
-
Halloween (original or remake or any of the sequels)
Friday the 13th (original / remake / sequels)
Inside (A L'Interieur)
Deep Red
[REC]
Hellraiser
Martin
What Ever Happened To Aunt Alice?
Bug
Cronos
The Stepfather (original or remake)
Black Christmas
Rosemary's Baby -
"It's probably not real"
"I think it's fake"
No shit sherlock. I can't believe there's an actual question about it. First, even if you believe that the only explanation for missing persons has to be aliens from a distant planet abducting them, wouldn't this be a disgusting, morally blank snuff film if this was real? The fact that the movie exists is proof that it's BS.
Second, how many "true story" movies have to come out for people to realize that it's ALL FAKE. UFOs? Whatever happened to the whole "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" thing? or even the "No subjective testimony can prove a miracle" thing? Apparently all the extraordinary claims of alien abductions need for idiots to sign on the dotted line is a few missing people and a couple loonies to say they saw something. -
Or is it unsettling creepiness? Is it fear of pain inflicted to the charcters (our surrogates) on screen? I've seen almost all and enjoyed the movies on manifestchaos' list. I know The Exorcist scared the shit out of audiences in the mid seventies, would it affect audiences in the same way today?
-
skimn: so I should watch all of them? I've got em on my netflix queue, I am hoping for the best.PenguinSlide: the worst part of all, for me anyway, is the idea that aliens would travel billions of light-years using incredibly advanced technology we can't even dream of, and then hide away in orbit behind some cloaking device for a hundred years, abducting the odd cow and probing/raping a homo sapiens now and again.If another species was going to invest that kind of effort into exploration, surely after finding other intelligent beings ('intelligent' by terrestrial standards, anyway) they would communicate with us. The whole invasion thing is kind of silly, because if they had the means to travel all the way here they obviously have perfected nearly self-sufficient space travel/living, so why bother destroying us, and for what gain? Though I still find this billions of times more plausible than the "one abduction a month" bullshit.Anyone who thinks sentient extraterrestrials have entered the atmosphere of planet earth in the last two hundred years is dumber than dumb.
-
The reason this hasn't found a distributor is because it's supposed to be utterly horrible....not scary, tons of gore and torture...but legendary poor acting including some bad edits where the 'victim' was laughing but they overdubbed screaming instead of reshooting it. The whole thing was a tremendous mess.
-
I said that last only because I guess, conceivably (not that I buy it), aliens could have flown down here in the Middle Ages or anywhere up to the 1800s and decided it wasn't worth interacting yet so they'd come back in a few centuries (or millennia) instead.
-
I can't speak for Bug or Aunt Alice, but you do have some classics there. PS..go for the originals when you can.
-
Wow.
-
Too many fucking people have had the same experience, seen the same damn little grey people next to their bed for this to be some kind of weird mass hallucination , or a psychological problem.
Read Whitley Streibers ' Communion' if you want to be scared of these things, because it really happens. -
As a thorough fan of the X-Files, allow me to say, you are an utter crackpot.
-
I smelled BS when the trailer showed floating people and fucking spacships over a the house. Come one, it's fake. Duh! Still, it looks pretty cool. My girl will freak out and won't want to sleep alone, and therein lies the key.
-
Bug: Not scary in the least
Aunt Alice: Not scary
Cronos: awesome but not scary
The Devil's backbone had more fright than cronos.
Martin was good but not scary.
I'd throw the Ring (both the remake and the US version) on the scary list, along with the Descent. -
..is there any scenes with Milla for me to fap to?
-
And no sign of Media Messiah or BendersShinyAss? Their big moment has arrived and they're AWOL.
-
.. probably the scariest "Alien Abduction" movie ever..
-
used to give me night terrors! Scared the shit out of me when I was young... more than Freddy, Jason, everything.
-
compared to the voyueristic flavored Paranormal Activity, The Fourth Kind was Superior although flawed thanks to a pitiful sheriff
-
...amateur torture porn. Seen any German gore crap? Seen an August Underground or any of that type of garbage? Welcome to Tapes. It's the kind of movie that makes you wonder why you love movies so much.
-
...may be a querulous old woman now, but back in the day he had a late night radio show that ran four hours. You'd get two hours straight of a Nobel Prize winner or an Academy Award winner, or a bestselling author, more in-depth than you can probably believe. Or you'd get the guy with the "final, definitive proof" that bigfoot lived in northern California. Maybe the best radio show ever. I remember one night with Peter O'Toole, so drunk he was barely coherent, explaining why he wore watches on both wrists.
-
The show has zero credibility. Sure, the host starts off each show with a sense of humor about everything, but by the end he usually makes the full on jump into "Most Haunted" style theatrics. A telling example: The one were he was in Mexico looking for a giant bat or something--he stumbles into a den of some kind, empty of course, but immediately tells us that the bones on the cave's bottom, which on screen look about the size of cat bones, "may well be human." He's from the Glenn Beck school of investigative journalism: If you can't disprove it, it must be true. A logic by which you can claim anything.
-
...what scares me might not scare you. What scares you might not scare me. Watch a bunch, find out what you like. Here's some decent scares, off the top of my head: The Children (2008, British film), Black Christmas (original), Texas Chainsaw (original), The Relfecting Skin, The Evil Dead (the original, low budget mean-spirited film, not any of the comic adventures that followed), of course The Exorcist, The Haunting (the original), Repulsion, Suspiria (not so much the whole movie, but the first ten minutes are absolutely perfect), Lemoria, The Car, End of the Line, The Uninvited, sure, Halloween, the original Nightmare, maybe the original Phantasm just for its odd surrealism...really what scares you is like what makes you laugh. People could list a thousand that would all be perfectly valid, but you either care enough to find the ones that work for you or you don't.
-
For scary movies from that period I would recommend Burnt Offerings and the Sentinel.
-
most of the time it's the subject and not the "action" that scares ppl... well it is for ppl who don't walk on pins and needles. Aliens are scary shit. Death is until you realize how fragile a human is and every single human is "on the clock" then it's no big deal and you make the best of your life. Aliens, again... *scary shit. Let's just hope their motto is "long live and prosper" and not "we come in peace".
-
we're scared of them because we don't know what their deal is, but what if there actually nice guys trying to help us? we must look like total dicks making all these scary movies about them
-
Fuck it hard.
-
I was hopeful that this film was at least "based" on real events, but Ebert wrote that that's not even true. It's basically one big bullshit scam, a lie that purports to be "truthfully based," but isn't remotely.
UFO believers are going to hate the makers of this film. The balls it must take to foist such tripe... my god. -
About "Destination Truth." I watched that show once, or most of it, and it was the most lopsided, lie-filled piece of non-investigative bullshit I've ever seen.
Just like "Ghost Hunters."
I hate this kind of sensationalistic garbage posing as "truth." It absolutely comes from the Glenn Beck school of conceited, braindead lies posing as truth.
Unfortunately, people are so vulnerable to the power of suggestion, thus easily manipulated, that they believe the lies.
Fuck both of these shows. -
It's based on true events and yadda yadda yadda. I'll spoil every 'true story' in movie theaters from now on -- assume it's bullshit until PROVEN OTHERWISE. If you can't enjoy it on its own merits, regardless of 'authenticity', it's not a good movie.
-
Thanks for the list, but did you spell "Lemoria" wrong? Wikipedia/Google suggest "Lemuria" instead, but I still don't get any film results. Is it super obscure, or was there a typo? What year/director?
-
Paranomal bullshit Activity, Fourth Kind, Men Fucking Goats, This is it? Shit, whatever happened to real fucking movies?
-
I've been reading and studying many of the claims out there for a few decades and am very skeptical of most. BUT: I do enjoy DT very much-its more of a travel show with some interesting happenings. The host, Josh, NEVER pulls shit out of his ass like some of you on this talkback claim. He seems very reasonable and open. Just for kicks though, what shows are you backseat critics watching? Really-I wanna know.
-
Because the title of that other movie is 'men who stare at goats' so when you put 'fucking' in there instead of 'staring' it's hilarious.
-
I want to see a movie, but crap, there's so much shit out there.
-
is part of a cheesy title of an amazing stories story by richard shaver regarding a kooky hollow earth tale. I think the title was I remember Lemuria! ... nice title
-
Owlien!
-
...were the completely bullshit character motivations. The characters actions, and reactions, especially those of the boyfriend, were totally unrealistic.
When a character acts in a fashion so far and away contradictory to what anyone of us would more than likely do in the same situation, we as an audience no longer root for them, and in fact wish them ill will. A sort of "good, you got what you deserved" thought washes over us.
Fuck calling an expert, I've got my fancy ghost-repelling baby powder. But then if they didn't act like they were lobotomized, the movie would've been about 40 minutes long. Tops. -
I wouldn't call my suggestions "scary" so much as "spooky". They're generally more atmospheric than anything else. These are the types of films that personally affect me more than straight up slashers.
Frailty
The Orphanage
The Others
Sleepy Hollow
That's all I can think of right now. -
When it first started, they took a much more skeptical approach to everything, rarely called anything proof of haunting, and had many investigations were nothing happened, and they essentially admitted as much. Now they act like everything is proof positive of the paranormal--vague meaningless EVP's that could be literally anything, personal experiences of 'seeing' things in the dark (see the problem with that?), the obvious pressure is there to make the show more exciting and eventful. Destination Truth does the same thing. Every rustling of a branch, which could have been done by literally any kind of animal, is pointed to as proof that something strange is going on. Searching for a river monster in Thailand? As long as the boats' radar found anything, it's proof that there may be a cryptozoological creature there. What?
-
---and one of them walks amongst us daily---
-
in my opinion its the religious connection .. i watch the history channel every week about shit like this and the little sumerian translations just blew my mind..even if they were fake the thought that every thing u thought u knew about relgion was a sham is scary itself..look up the studies of Zecharia Sitchin
-
may be the title you were looking for, the long versions being Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural and Lemora, Lady Dracula I just watched it a few weeks ago for the first time, decent low-budget 70's horror, reminded me of Phantasm
-
If you ask me, the "religious connection" was the most interesting part of the movie, certainly not the scariest. Of course, how many times has that been done before? Also, if people are pissed off that this movie is "fake", think about Chainsaw Massacre, Fargo, and countless other movies these days claim to be true, but aren't. It happens, get over it.
Either way, I didn't like this movie much. Poor execution, no focus, boring. -
This isn't a comment on the film itself, which I haven't seen yet, but did anyone out there REALLY think this was going to be REAL? That they had some sort of GENUINE alien abduction footage??? C'mon! It's marketing campaign, people. It scares me that a film reviewer wouldn't actually pick up on that the minute the trailers hit. If I see one more review that rips on this film for not being 'real', I'm giving up all faith in humanity.
Use your brains, people! -
...Lemora, A Child's Tale of the Supernatural. And though I wish it had just been a typo it was in fact a failing memory.
-
....this is exactly what I meant. Now for me Burnt Offerings works. The Sentinel not so much, though it sure has its moments. But there's a scene in The Car, where James Brolin's girlfriend is in her house at night, that, for me, is just perfect horror. I mean I love The Car. It's a great fun scary romp. But that scene, and the immediate aftermath...man that works for me.
-
...cool that you saw it. Glad you liked it. Always feels good to find a decent one you hadn't seen before. In the case of that one, some folks are going to be too put off by the obviously low budget or some of the intentionally odd, cartoonish aspects (like the gangster dad dressing in pinstripes). But if you like surreal horror it's a pretty creepy little movie. I remember it staying pretty alive in my head for a couple weeks after I saw it (about 25 years ago on a big box beta tape).
-
unless it's archival footage.
-
But then you watch them alone at night without internet access or anyone to relate to for any form of personal or psychological comfort and the premise they put out, if done well, end up scaring the shit out of you... Im thinking this is one of those very few movies that can do that and look forward to seeing it.
-
you can say anything you want about them when marketing them, call it real, say it was written by the ghost of Harry Houdini, whatever. Why dont we start showing JURRASIC PARK in science classes and say its based on reality; call KING KONG based on a true story, as there ARE island, and some of the once had Dinosaurs, and there were Explorers...I guess then that KING KONG and JURRASIC PARK and TRANSFORMERS are just as REAL/TRUE as SHINDLERS LIST; ALIVE; MILK, etc. After all...all movies are 'fake' right?
-
Barnum and Bailey's once bred or surgically altered a long haired goat with a single straight horn. They marketed it as a "real" unicorn.
Whitley Streiber swears "Communion" is his true story as he experienced it. The novel reads like an amalgamation of every crackpot alien theory ever published in cheap paperback.
We're seriously going to try to decide who is allowed to fabricate "true events"? -
It's a fucking movie. Made to sell tickets, DVDs and shit like that. Mila Jovovich is in it. It's a fucking movie.
-
We need to compile a 'disbelieving local sheriff' Hall of Fame. Once we determine the winner, Roy Scheider can come back from the dead and shoot them in the head.
-
You know, I get sick of the people putting down horror movies as 'not scary' because they themselves don't find it scary, or they think its cool and good for the ego to say it isn't. While to some, Paranormal Activity may not be that scary - those particluar viewers may not believe in the paranormal, therefore a believability factor is already an obstacle. Therefore that brand of reality horror may not strike a nerve. To others who really connect with the fear of the unknown, what you CANNOT see (something that has been demonstrated over the decades by the likes of Ridley Scott's Alien etc) is what disturbs and frightens the most. The fact that some people believe in this phenomena, and are frightened by the psychological horror factor, the fact that something unseen, and hidden is preying upon the innocent (see The Exorcist). The other aspect of this brand of horror is the 'reality' aspect - movies like Blair Witch and Cloverfield received the same amount of hype, and no matter how far-fetched the story, you will get the same two categories of people who enjoy it and loathe it. What I find irritating is the be all and end all naysayers who dismiss these movies as garbage, purely because they didn't connect with it and cannot appreciate that some people enjoyed the hell out of it and got a kick from a well-executed and suspenseful horror movie.
-
The "real" footage is also played by actors. It showed nothing apart from a few glimpses of something which is scrambled by electric interference. The "real" Abilgail seemed so distant and one-note I sensed there was no emotion in what she was recounting to the point where I felt this was scripted... right down to the camera pull back where we see her as an invalid and in a motorized wheelchair at its close! If you want to watch a good alien abduction movie based on real facts watch Fire In The Sky. You don't need to have an open mind to see this movie, you need a brainwashed one.
-
The minute someone says PA or Forth Kind is stupid, not scary and a complete bore, or God help us "Not Real!" you know instantly they are full of shit. It's like watching the Wizard of Oz and screaming at the screen, "That witch isn't scary! She's probably not even naturally green!"
These are movies that are fun to watch. Like a rollercoaster is fun to ride. Sam Raimi made a really scary movie that was completely unbelievable but a whole lot of fun. -
This is NO rollercoaster ride... it's a dull 1-dimensional account of an event that didn't happen. In the few moments it did show so-called actual footage they were nothing special, in fact they were so fuzzy and quick I needed a freeze button to see it properly. I've seen better alien hoaxes on Youtube. This movie deserves bad word of mouth due to the fact it's so phoney and so uninvolving that most of the audience (including myself) nearly fell into a deep coma Wait for this pile of crock to come to DVD in a couple of months and see for yourself why I despise this so much. It doesn't deserve a theatrical release, it needs to be in the bargain bucket at Blockbusters!! Oh.. And Sam Raimi's unscary movie was made for uncultured Stateside teenagers who haven't seen or can been bothered to see Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon and wouldn't know a scary movie if it puked CGI embalming fluid down their scrawny throats! Drag Me even ends on the railway tracks just like in Night of the Demon when the demonic creature comes for the victim with the cursed piece of paper (ancient rune). I just wish some of you so-called movie geeks actually knew your movies and weren't full of shit yourselves... ... which some of you most definitely are.
-
Yep!
-
Nov 08, 2009 4:59:35 PM CST
Best proof I ever heard that aliens have not visited Earth.
by royston lodge
If you want to know if something is real, take a look at the United States' military reaction to it.
If aliens had really visited the planet Earth, then the US military would be begging Congress for gazillions of dollars to build up anti-alien defenses.
If there's one thing the military loves, it's an enemy. The idea that the US government would try to cover up aliens makes ZERO sense. Since when has any government tried to REDUCE fear and panic amongst its citizenry?! Getting "Tough on Aliens" would be a sure-fire vote-winner for any presidential candidate.
The fact that the military researched the possibility of alien encounters back in the 50s and 60s, and actually ruled them out, tells me that there's no evidence. If there was ANY evidence AT ALL, they generals would have gone ape-shit and all the defence contractors would have made gazillions selling anti-alien weaponry.
(Similarly, when the US Navy starts factoring climate change into the planning of its naval bases, that's when you know it's time to start worrying about it.) -
to freak me the hell out!!
damn. waaaay scarier than paranormal activity. -
It is funny to me how many people are getting so upset over this flick:"OMG, IT IS FAKE DON'T WAsTE YOUR MONEY!!!!"
Of course it is fucking fake..It is a horror flick that uses a very old "gimmick" to get it's scares. I mean, H.P. Lovecraft did the same thing.
At the beginning Milla even says something along the lines of "Is it real or fake,you decide". It is all part of the movie. Relex dudes. -
it takes place in Nome, Alaska. as if anyone would name a real place Nome.
-
Nov 08, 2009 10:17:31 PM CST
Odd choice to film, light, and present the real Dr as they did
by chromedome
Purposefully made her look more creepy, pale, mental.
-
is the same exact distortion even on different video cameras with different resolutions
-
and how does the professor know the PRONUNCIATION of the fragmented ancient sumerian language? How does he (independent of the film) presume to know how the hieroglyphs sound?
-
Did anybody really believe "Blair Witch"? Maybe I'm being dim, but I always assumed that the con job was "wink wink", rather than expecting genuine credulity. So I'm asking honestly--who out there believed it, or knew sane people who did? I enjoyed the hell out of "Blair" and "Paranormal" but not for a second did I buy into it, except in the campfire story "now, this really happened..." sense.
-
I realize I'm late to this dance, but Capone's review makes it seem that the fakeness of this film is up for debate. It's not. Unless you weren't paying attention, unless you had your eyes closed at times, this movie is obviously like any other scripted Hollywood drama. If watching the movie didn't clinch that for ya, maybe you weren't paying attention to the credits. Though while the movie was clever, or trying to be clever, in its presentation, I don't see how someone can look at the "real" footage, footage that is supposedly nine years old, and argue its authenticity. Really? A guy floats over his bed while speaking in garbled gibberish and you think, "well, could be." See people levetate much? Hell, if this shit was real it would be leading the news every night. (And the "real" footage never gets so staticy that you can't make anything out. Indeed, you can see the actions on screen quite well as long as you PAY FUCKING ATTENTION!) The big giant flying saucer towards the end would pretty much seal the deal on the question of life in the universe. Hint: Clearly not a pie plate flying at 30,000 feet. There is nothing to debate, there are no subjective opinions to be argued back and forth. It's a kinda shitty movie that Universal Studios went to far in promoting.
And, if I might make a related point, Hollywood lies. About everything. If a movie studio or film producer says, "This is true," he's full of it. Don't be so naive, people! Hollywood fucking poisons whatever it touched. Hollywood cannot speak truth, they cannot possibly have a superior moral compass simply due to the fact that they have zero compassion. It is an industry built around the crafting of dramatic tales and sagas, around fiction. They're in the business of lying, but they long ago ceased to recognize the line between the lies we make up to tell rousing stories and the malicious lies people make to get their way. Why do I need to state this?
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 325 total posts 322 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 106 total posts 106 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 63 total posts 60 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 74 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 159 total posts 51 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 47 total posts 41 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 161 total posts 34 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 488 total posts 33 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 121 total posts 23 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 70 total posts 20 posts