Movie Review: The Fourth Kind

By Dave Hon

Ghosts and Saw movies never scared me. I always thought they were more of a gore factor than scary. Alien abduction movies have always frightened me, but never have I seen a more realistic horror movie than “Fourth Kind.”

The direction the movie takes is not only original but is what makes the movie as terrifying as it is. The way the director splices in original footage from therapy sessions adds to the element of realism that can be lost when cutting from scene to scene.

Another interesting way the director shoots the movie is the strange focusing he uses. He focuses on certain objects in some scenes rather than the people. This is so you focus on the audio.

Even writing this, I still feel the chills as characters stumble upon the truth about Nome, Alaska, which has the most reported sightings and abductions in Alaska and possibly the United States.

The dramatization of real events gives you enough information to make sense of the story but also keep you in the dark about the truth. There are a few plot twists that are easy to guess, and once you figure them out, you want to make sure you’re right by never taking your eyes off the scene.

Tying the small history lesson in with the abduction story makes for a better case. Let’s just say I never want to hear anything speak Swahili again.

The creepiest part of the movie is the main characters first hand interview about the events that took place. The videos shown of her before the events make her look like a sane and normal woman. Then, as they show her two years later she looks like a woman that has never slept in her life, her big eyes staring into the camera piercing your minding and testing your truths.

“The Fourth Kind” should go into the record books for originality. There is little to no blood and as a matter of fact, there is some gore censored out early in the film.
It’s rare these days to come across a director that doesn’t have to use gore to make a good movie. All he needed was a good story, some original footage and a creepy woman who may or may not be insane.

By the end of the film you are asking yourself, “If our psychologists go insane, who do I go to when I go insane?”