The Fourth Kind

There are four kinds of bad movies. When movies are bad and you sense that they are going to be bad, that is the first kind; when movies are bad and you see evidence that they are bad, that is the second kind; when movies are really bad and you actually see it in person, that is the third kind; when a movie is really really bad and you are abducted to go and see it by another person, that...that is The Fourth Kind.

Ok, maybe I am getting a little melodramatic about this review. We went and saw The Fourth Kind (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220198/) last night. Basically it is a 'real' account with real footage taken by a psychologist working up in Nome, Alaska back in 2000. It basically is a movie that tells what happened leading up to a moment of terror in the lives of the psychiatrist and the people surrounding her studies. There are scenes that show the actors portraying the actual people and there are often split screen shots where you see the actors sitting in the same position on the right as the 'real' life footage on the left of that actual event that happened back in 2000. The director even synced the voice of the two splits together to the point that they are almost talking in stereo.

For this film there are a couple of aspects to consider. First off, there is the hype and selling point of saying that the film is 'based on real events and backed up by actual audio and video footage' of the event. So, you go in with a case of 'wow, this is real...this is some freaky stuff happening'. However, as posted on the IMDB "Alaska state licensing examiner Jan Mays says she can't find records of an Abigail Tyler ever being licensed in any profession in Alaska. Ron Adler, CEO and director of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute and Denise Dillard, president of the Alaska Psychological Association say they've never heard of Abigail Tyler." There are a few other things in the movie that popped up that had me going "ok, fake" but won't spoil the illusion of it, after all I am just a cynic :-) .

However, take away the hype of the 'real' footage and you are left with a mediocre film with pretty unbelievable acting and story line that would rate it in the area of a B-rated horror flick of the past. I think, however, that might be the one saving praise point that this movie might have in its arsenal. The way that the movie was shot (with the split screens and the 'actual' audio footage) along with the 'testimonies' of the 'real' psychologist Abigail Tyler, this B-rated horror flick actually might be considered to have a higher grade. Nothing more than a B+ rated movie, but still, higher than a B.

For this movie, I would definitly say don't waste time or money in the real theatre but wait to rent it on DVD or, even better, wait for your community library to get it in their collection and borrow it for free and perhaps then in the extras there will be more 'real' video or audio feeds of the abductions and you can have more of a laugh.