The Fourth Kind (2009)

18% of critics liked it
(109 reviews)
43% of users liked it
(168,261 ratings)

Set in the fall of 2000 and purportedly based on actual events, The Fourth Kind stars Milla Jovovich as Dr. Abigail Tyler, a Nome, Alaska-based psychotherapist whose videotaped sessions with her patients offer the most compelling evidence of alien abduction ever documented. Elias Koteas and Will… More Set in the fall of 2000 and purportedly based on actual events, The Fourth Kind stars Milla Jovovich as Dr. Abigail Tyler, a Nome, Alaska-based psychotherapist whose videotaped sessions with her patients offer the most compelling evidence of alien abduction ever documented. Elias Koteas and Will Patton co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Written By: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Genres: Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Nov 6, 2009 Wide
On DVD: Mar 16, 2010
Studio: Universal Pictures

Critic Reviews

Ian Buckwalter, NPR
When the director divides the screen into quadrants for his big finish, the effect is just laughable -- but then by that point, the movie is too.
A.O. Scott, At the Movies
[A] dull, clumsy little movie.
Michael Phillips, At the Movies
No, no, no, no.
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
Badly acted by everyone (including the director, Olatunde Osunsanmi, who appears onscreen), this insipid jumble's idea of fright is incessant screaming.
Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle
Ultimately, the film's narrative segments are far too glossy and over-stylized, larded with ponderous scoring, obvious melodrama and split-screen visuals that offset the "reenactments" with the "real."
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
The mission here is to demonstrate how, in this explosive age of dubious information, cynicism can be quickly trumped by gullibility.
Neil Pond, American Profile
Something weird is going on in Nome, Alaska. Unsolved murders. suicidal freak-outs. a bunch of people having eerie, similar nightmares. and a spooky white owl.
Joshua Starnes, ComingSoon.net
It's an interesting meta-textual experiment, but that doesn't in itself make for an interesting movie, or a suspenseful one. There are things to like about it, but the whole doesn't really seem equal to the sum of its parts.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
[The] ostensible archival footage proves so clunky and transparently phony that the entire gimmick collapses.
Nick Rogers, Suite101.com
If there were a low point of viral movie marketing last decade, consider "The Fourth Kind" the Marianas Trench. The title refers to four levels of alien interaction, and the pedestrian plotting on display proved Steven Spielberg stopped at the right one.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
"Attempting shock value and extraterrestrial disturbance to generate a cult smash, Kind will likely tire audiences before it ever has a chance to swindle them."
Joseph Proimakis, Movies for the Masses
click to read full review
Brian Holcomb, CinemaBlend.com
The arrogance and ignorance on display is truly amazing. Arrogance of its superiority over the audience's intellect and ignorance of filmmaking craft.
Paul Chambers, CNNRadio
It's my policy to sit through every film that opens theatrically in Atlanta. If I was going to violate that policy, it would be for this film. I hope I make my point. Paul Chambers, CNN.
Jason Zingale, Bullz-Eye.com
The Fourth Kind is more likely to elicit laughter than the suspense it promised in the opening monologue.
Michael Szymanski, Sci-Fi Weekly
Frankly, this movie is quite scary when it's viewed with the idea that this is the film version of creepy disappearances that are really happening in Nome, Alaska. When it's not that, it's almost laughable.
Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters
Where is Fox Mulder when you need him?
Jolene Mendez, Entertainment Spectrum
The "The Fourth Kind" poses as another successful documentary on the hot trail of "Paranormal Activity". Too bad this film is missing many ingredients to make it a blockbuster success.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
He apparently thinks white owls are a lot scarier than they are. (I mean, I guess because their heads swivel around, you can't sneak up on them from behind. But when would you need to sneak up on an owl?)
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
Purporting to be a true story of alien abduction, in reality it's a clumsy attempt to update the hoax technique Orson Welles perfected seven decades ago.

Read all 25 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Directors C

It has some built in scares and although you lose a bit of interest in the second half of the film it still manages to be quite astonishing with the help of actual footage. Whether the footage was edited or not however, The Fourth Kind was put together pretty well.
Alexander D

Occasional use of the "found footage" concept makes for a sometimes disturbing, but otherwise dull, psychological/science fiction thriller about alien attack. And this is no CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. When I Googled "The Fourth Kind", the fourth result… More
Occasional use of the "found footage" concept makes for a sometimes disturbing, but otherwise dull, psychological/science fiction thriller about alien attack. And this is no CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. When I Googled "The Fourth Kind", the fourth result was an article titled "'The Fourth Kind' Is A Hoax". No! Really? For anyone who has seen it, that is obvious! These people are bad actors, and the screenwriter makes the story inconceivable. Yet Milla Jovovich, in the beginning, says that the film will show the actual tapes, along with re-enactments. The actual tapes (I hate to break it to you, fans!) are false. This event could have never happened, and both versions of footage are absolutely staged. The story (yes! STORY!) is set in Nome, Alaska, and centers around Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich). After her husband's death, she, a psychologist, continues the research he had started. She videotapes sessions with patients, who appear to be put over to the edge and driven to insanity. Little does she know that the reason her patients are so traumatized is that they are being abducted by aliens (the "fourth kind" of alien encounters being abduction). Aside from the fact that THE FOURTH KIND was completely staged, it still angers its audience. I, personally, was hopeful of a decent alien film with even a few good scares. But did anyone get that? Maybe, if there are for some reason any believers in alien contact this ridiculous. Oh! And by the way: the ending was terrible. (So was the beginning and the stuff in between.)
Eric A

Unbelievable. In a bad way.
Alexander W

This is like an extended X-Files episode starring Milla Jovovich, although there are parts of the film you wonder why they shot and cut the story in half with seperate actors to play the "real" people and the "actors" that just gets confusing because nobody would… More
This is like an extended X-Files episode starring Milla Jovovich, although there are parts of the film you wonder why they shot and cut the story in half with seperate actors to play the "real" people and the "actors" that just gets confusing because nobody would believe the yarn anyway, yet we are told we are supposed to in the end. Still, I thought it was worth watching, and it wasnt too awful. Besides I like X-Files ;)
Bethany M

Awful! Hated it! It was scary at times and that was about it.
MisterYoda ?

three stars...
Sophie B

A thought provoking piece. I'm not sure if the FBI stats were real or not but it was interesting. I've heard a lot about this and honestly expected it to be much worse. They could have gone down the "small, green, bug eyed men" route which they didn't; they… More
A thought provoking piece. I'm not sure if the FBI stats were real or not but it was interesting. I've heard a lot about this and honestly expected it to be much worse. They could have gone down the "small, green, bug eyed men" route which they didn't; they left it to the imagination.
Curtis L

A bit pretentious but still entertaining. I couldn't help but feel like she was totally nuts. Pretty convienient that the camera always blurrs out right when stuff starts happening, even when they're just remembering via hypnosis.
Thomas J

Blair Witch Project + Fire In The Sky + any documentary = The Fourth Kind. None of which were good!
Cynthia S

Eh. The movie was ok. It moves a bit slow, but there are a couple of good jolt moments. They use the same gimmick as Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity by alluding to "the threat", but never actually showing them. At least Paranormal used the gimmick to much greater effect… More
Eh. The movie was ok. It moves a bit slow, but there are a couple of good jolt moments. They use the same gimmick as Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity by alluding to "the threat", but never actually showing them. At least Paranormal used the gimmick to much greater effect though. One thing to point out--THIS IS NOT BASED ON REAL EVENTS! I've seen people write reviews saying "I didn't think it was that great until I realized it was based on real events." Well, it's not so you can go back to thinking it wasn't so great.
Nani V

It was a bit disturbing with the video footages and I found myself being a little creeped out on the way home from my friend's house where we were watching the movie. Overall, it was believable and made you think...could this really be happening?
Alexis N

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's spooky or scary. But I would say, if you actually believe in aliens and abductions, this is for you. It was Blair Witch Project with aliens. Kinda dull.
Morgan S

First of all, This movie is ten times better than Paranormal Activity. There are not whinney fighting couples. I was soooo freaked out by this movie its unbelievable. I dont know if that footage they showed was actually real but it sure looked like it. O my gosh. It was soo freaky.… More
First of all, This movie is ten times better than Paranormal Activity. There are not whinney fighting couples. I was soooo freaked out by this movie its unbelievable. I dont know if that footage they showed was actually real but it sure looked like it. O my gosh. It was soo freaky. Just to see some of those things happen on a real recored camera. *(if they are real) and I kinda think they are. Scarry stuff happens. But ahh if you want tsomthing to scare you out of your seat then watch this. I believe it is a seriously underrated movie..
Richard C

i actually liked this. I don't see what's so bad about this movie, it's not a great movie but it's good. you don't have to believe what there saying just be entertained. B
Lewis C

There's an interesting concept buried in The Fourth Kind. Buried deep under messy execution and general boredom, but it's there. This is billed as being an amalgam of true events and dramatizations, but it's not nearly realistic enough to pull in anyone except the… More
There's an interesting concept buried in The Fourth Kind. Buried deep under messy execution and general boredom, but it's there. This is billed as being an amalgam of true events and dramatizations, but it's not nearly realistic enough to pull in anyone except the most gullible or eager to believe. Don't expect The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity, by any means. It's also billed as a horror movie, despite the fact that very little of it is even mildly frightening. Not much really happens, and when something does finally happen - we don't get to see much of it. I have a habit of seeing suspect movies, just because a favorite actress of mine happens to be in them. And that's what happened here. I can't really recommend it to anyone, even if they're a fellow Jovivich fan. The Fourth Kind takes a semi-interesting idea, and makes another boring, run-of-the-mill, tv quality horror flick out of it. It's not horrible, it's just not remarkable or interesting in any way.
Steve K

Nearly redefines awful. Cross-cutting between the fictional and documentary doesn't work when the "documentary" is even faker than the fictional. A couple of interesting moments, and a good try by Jovovich, but a huge waste of time.
Film C

Im shocked i actually really liked this movie, ithought that this would be similar to paranormal activity and that i would hate it but i actually really enjoyed this move!! Although i still dont believe in alien abduction, and im still not convinced with all the appearent proof the… More
Im shocked i actually really liked this movie, ithought that this would be similar to paranormal activity and that i would hate it but i actually really enjoyed this move!! Although i still dont believe in alien abduction, and im still not convinced with all the appearent proof the movie gives but i still really enjoyed it, ive come to really like milla jovovich as well!! its a goood movie thats based on real events with actuall recordings and videos provided by dr emily turner with her giving an interview with a university!! i liked the movie and i think if you liked paranormal activity then you should like this movie!! Worth a watch!!
Lanning :

Geez, the flixster site has become so cumbersome to negotiate. It seems to take forever and a day to get where you want to get to nowadays. But I digress. For those of you around the world who might know David Letterman, you know how he sometimes attempts to… More
Geez, the flixster site has become so cumbersome to negotiate. It seems to take forever and a day to get where you want to get to nowadays. But I digress. For those of you around the world who might know David Letterman, you know how he sometimes attempts to launch a phrase into the world of pop culture? Well, I'm going to try to launch one myself. Milla Jovovich is a babe! Oh, sorry, that's not the phrase I want to try to introduce. The one I want to send off into pop culture-dom is: The Fifth Kind. The Fifth Kind has to do with movies that involve anything having to do with aliens --anything including siting them, communicating with them, being abducted by them -- ANYTHING having to do with any kind of alien encounter that is beyond stupid. You know what I mean when I say beyond stupid, right? The movie doesn't just insult your intelligence, it head slaps your intelligence, stabs it, shoots it, then beats it with a steel pipe, and then chokes it to death with one of those plastic bags they give you at the grocery store. If you haven't caught my drift yet, I'm saying that there is a juicy red and ripe space for movies having to do with aliens that is beyond stupid, and that these movies should be categorized as THE FIFTH KIND. Following my argument, this particular movie would fall in that category, despite its title, and Milla Jovovich really is a stunning woman. I just decided I want to volunteer to be her new agent -- commission free : ) She gets two big stars.
Justin Y

Olatunde Osunsanmi's The Fourth Kind is an interesting mock documentary that ends up as a mixed bag.The marketing and concept of the film indicates that it is based off of actual events. Therefore, the film uses "real" footage and audio, and… More
Olatunde Osunsanmi's The Fourth Kind is an interesting mock documentary that ends up as a mixed bag.The marketing and concept of the film indicates that it is based off of actual events. Therefore, the film uses "real" footage and audio, and combines it with "recreated" footage and audio. The entire 90+ minutes is a constant mixture of the 2 types of footage, with scenes interchanging, as well as split screen segments to show the comparisons between them. Regarding this, it constantly gives a realistic feel to the picture, along with the introduction by Milla Jovovich. "I'm actress Milla Jovovich, and I will be portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler in The Fourth Kind..."As for the pacing, it is quite slow, especially in the early going. Still, the subject matter is intriguing, despite losing some credibility in the second half.Milla Jovovich, Will Patton, and Elias Koteas all deliver up to par performances. These end up as a breath of fresh air after watching the people in the "real" footage.The Fourth Kind is a creepy film, not scary, that mildly entertains with its approach and story. If a mock documentary sounds agreeable, then check it out.
Josh L

A hokey movie that tries to convince you it is of real footage when it actually isn't. All it takes is a click of a mouse to figure it out and you'll hate the filmmakers for trying to convince you otherwise. There are some interesting parts in here and a few chilling… More
A hokey movie that tries to convince you it is of real footage when it actually isn't. All it takes is a click of a mouse to figure it out and you'll hate the filmmakers for trying to convince you otherwise. There are some interesting parts in here and a few chilling moments, but it is too contrived at points and the directors decision to use fake "real" footage alongside the "dramatization" of his fake footage doesn't work and only pulls you out of the experience rather than the other way around. It doesn't feel like a real movie, but it also doesn't feel like a documentary either. It's in that middle ground of nothingness. That's not a good thing. Despite all its failings, The Fourth Kind is at least an interesting failure, but one that most people will be infuriated by because of the filmmakers choices.