Think of The Fourth Kind as the illegitimate child of The Blair Witch Project and Alien.
Presented in a faux-documentary style, Olatunde Osunsanmi’s first feature follows Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) as she investigates alien abductions in the small town of Nome, Alaska. Through one-on-one interviews with victims of alien interaction, Tyler uncovers shocking new information. The title references the fourth kind of alien interaction: abduction, which is on full display here.
Jovovich, veteran of Resident Evil and Ultraviolet, is totally in her element among extraterrestrials, but her attempt to convince the viewer of the veracity of on-screen events is less than stellar and reads more like a deadpan comedy monologue.
Osunsanmi’s first major movie still carries the faint markings of the film school aesthetic — complicated camera movements, busy editing, a story with more holes than the finest Swiss cheese. However, the screenplay was a decent attempt at taking the recent trend of lo-fi horror films in a paranormal direction.
