Movie Finder

FILM REVIEW: THE FOURTH KIND
By Roger Moore
Tribune Newspapers
1-1/2 stars

"I am actress Milla Jovovich," the star says directly to the audience at the start of her new movie, "The Fourth Kind."

And those are pretty much the last true words out of her mouth in this gimmicky, "Yes, this really happened" alien-abduction horror hooey.

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" fans will recognize the title. Alien sighting, close encounter of the first kind; making friends and phoning home, close encounter of the third kind; kidnapped, probed, poked and freaked out of your mind? That's "a close encounter of the fourth kind."

Jovovich plays a Nome, Alaska, psychotherapist whose husband has died and whose sleep-deprived patients tell her chilling, cryptic stories of owls and abduction when she puts them under hypnosis.

The conceit that writer-director Olatunde Osunsanmi milks for all it's worth is an interview, shot at Southern California's Chapman University, between the director and the "real" Dr. Abigail Tyler: A cadaverous-looking actress narrates her story, her encounters with patients who flipped out and even killed themselves over what they'd experienced.

Osunsanmi, a protege of Joe "Smokin' Aces" Carnahan, also uses split screens to show "real" police video and "real" hypnosis session video playing out opposite his actors re-enacting those moments. With "found video" again igniting the horror-movie market, these hucksters must be kicking themselves that the long-shelved "Paranormal Activity" came out a month before this one, stealing their whole video veritas thunder. The video conveniently distorts at every payoff-shot moment - victims levitating, their mouths distorting to roar some ancient language that some "expert" identifies as Sumerian, as if anybody knows what Sumerian sounded like.

"What you believe is yours to decide" is the awkward way actor and director make their case. OK. And a quick check of the Web, where The Anchorage Daily News and others have exposed the hustle and hoax, helps. What the real Chapman University got out of buying into this fake-out isn't clear.

The movie isn't helped by a blank-faced turn by Jovovich, channeling her decades as a "if you smile or frown, you'll wrinkle" model. Elias Koteas is here to play therapist to the therapist, though he doesn't lend the credibility you'd expect. Only Will Patton, as a sheriff and a guy who doesn't have to turn to the camera to insist he's not lying, finds pathos and fear in what's happening in his town.

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality).

Running time: 1:38.

Cast: Milla Jovovich (Dr. Abigail Tyler); Elias Koteas (Therapist); Will Patton (Sheriff).

Credits: Written and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi; produced by Paul Brooks, Joe Carnahan and Terry Lee Robbins. A Universal Pictures release.