As of 1972, encounters with extraterrestrials are classified by the way it happened. The first kind is a UFO sighting, and the second kind is a sighting of the being itself.
The third kind is contact with the being(s) in question. The fourth kind is abduction.
I am not entirely sure what to make of “The Fourth Kind”, a movie by director Olatunde Osunsanmi.
It is a dramatization of case studies by Dr. Abigail Tyler (portrayed by Milla Jovavich in the dramatizations and as herself in the video clips) into the abnormal sleeping habits of people living in Nome, Alaska, which had some admittedly terrifying outcomes concerning alien abduction.
The movie does scare its audience. Alongside the dramatization, there are a number of video clips shot from home cameras supposedly used by Dr. Tyler in her study.
The dramatization itself is not what scares you – what scares you is the thought that the video clips could be real.
But what can turn you off of enjoying this movie is just that: it could be.
From the point of view of a skeptical critic, this is a tough thing to look at.
It could be considered a documentary, but no verifiable empirical evidence has been found, and anything this movie claims is real could have been falsified with enough work.
Very little is available that would make this verifiable, and it remains to be seen whether Dr. Tyler is a real person or a fictional character created for the story.
The movie’s viral marketing campaign does not add much to its credibility.
It seems like a lot of resources were spent obscuring anything that could prove the movie’s claim that any of its content is real.
Likewise, I have trouble classifying it as a horror film or a thriller because it claims to be based on actual case studies, even if the studies in question are not specified and cannot be found. And it is surprisingly troubling to consider that this might be based on true events.
If it does turn out to be fiction, and classified as a horror/thriller film rather than a documentary, then it’s definitely good fiction, and succeeds at scaring people.
However, on the rare chance that it is real, then it is absolutely terrifying – and for good reason.
It’s tough to be a skeptic when any reasonable scientific explanation for paranormal events is beyond our current realm of understanding.
I honestly can’t say if it’s more unnerving to believe or disbelieve what this movie will show you. I believe it’s most horrifying when you question it and come to the conclusion that you really don’t know.
But whether or not you believe in this sort of thing, “The Fourth Kind” is definitely worth the price of admission – and it does make you question what you believe.