Directed and written by Oren Peli, in the style à laThe Blair Witch Project - the film features documentary-type footage from surveillance cameras capturing paranormal activity.

A young couple – Katie and Micah have just moved into their new house in California and Katie is convinced that their home houses malevolent, angry spirits that disturb them during the night whilst they try to sleep. Katie has had evil spirits following her since childhood and is much more sensitive to the supernatural but Micah is not so convinced. So they purchase a video camera and set it up in their house to record the happenings whilst they sleep and as we watch the camcorder footage, be prepared to be shocked by demonic presences, Ouija board games gone terribly wrong and other indescribable paranormal manifestations.

Katie and Micah are played by Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat with Mark Fredrichs as The Psychic.

Paranormal Activity Poster

Being dubbed as one of the scariest movies of all time is a huge expectation to live up to, and once again the concept of “the less you see, the more intense the scare” is proven. Otherworldly intrusions that are never or hardly ever seen on film might just be the deciding factor as to how horrific this film has turned out.

But although it’s more obvious than The Fourth Kind that this film is not real, there is definitely that element of horror that takes what made The Blair Witch Project so successful and blends it with elements of Poltergeist and The Exorcist and with a formula like that – this could well be the worst nightmare for many people.

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 8/10

Release Date: 25 November 2009

Director: Oren Peli

Writer’s: Oren Peli

Links: IMDB, Official Site, Rotten Tomatoes

The Fourth Kind is a feature/documentary film in the science fiction/horror/thriller genre about alien abduction, also known as the fourth and final kind in the classification of extra-terrestrial encounters. This film claims to be based on true events and boasts real archival audio and video footage alongside re-enactments  by actors.

This film was both directed and written by Olatunde Osunsanmi.

The Plot

Set in modern-day Nome in Alaska, the population of Nome is ridden with the highest number of missing people every year with the most unexplained disappearances despite the most FBI investigations and visits to the area. Psychologist Dr Abigail Tyler (played by Milla Jovovich) conducts an on-going study on patients with sleeping disorder who all seem to be claiming that they’re seeing the same owl by their bedside window who is causing them to lose sleep. As Dr Tyler digs deeper into this mystery, disturbing evidence is unveiled and all is not what it seems. Abduction theories seem to be the only theories to explain the sinister happenings.These patients and witnesses are all videotaped and audiotaped, with the validity of these claims being continually investigated during the course of the film and the end results are shocking to say the least.

This film also stars Will Patton, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Corey Johnson and Elias Koteas.

The Thoughts

Although the film claims to be based on true events, backed up by real archival footage, the case studies are not specified, leading to many critics questioning the validity of the claims and whether Dr Abigail Tyler is a real person or just a ficitonal character used in the internet viral campaign.

Upon seeing this film, I realised that it’s been a long time since I’ve been that freaked out by a movie. Throughout the film, I had constant chills, felt very tense and my blood ran cold a few times. I also jumped a few times during the more horrific demonic scenes. I had trouble sleeping the night I saw this film, and I’m usually pretty good with falling straight to sleep after watching a horror movie. Part of what disturbed me was the claims that this stuff is real, that alien abduction really happens but authorities just put it down to people going missing. A few of the most disturbing scenes featured patients under hypnosis re-encountering what happened when they were abducted and they go into a demonic possession-type state which is in my opinion, one of the ultimately horrifying showcases of the horror genre.

Another reason for why this movie has that ‘freak-out’ factor is because it doesn’t use any gimmicks that usual horror movies employ and almost no gore whatsoever. In fact, the source of the fear – the aliens – are never truely portrayed in this film. This is the genius part – the fear of the unknown. We never get to see the true nature or face of what is freaking us out and it freaks us out even more.

Overall I was completely shaken by this film, my senses had been brutally assaulted, my nerves felt like they had been put in a blender at the highest setting.

What you want to believe is your choice but if you give this movie a chance i.e. watch it with an open mind, you might just embrace it for it’s originality and be truly terrified at the same time.

The Film Buzz Review Rating: 8/10

Release Date: 6th November 2009

Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi

Writer’s: Olatunde Osunsanmi (screenplay and story)

Links: IMDB, Official Site, Rotten Tomatoes