Monday, June 6, 2011

Movie review: Alien abduction Incident in Lake County



The McPherson tape is a 1998 made-for-TV movie
and supposedly the recreation of a real tape showing a real alien abduction.Some TV channels even cut the credits out to make it look more convincing (because, you know, it's kind of suspicious when you see "Alien 1" and "Alien 2" in the credits).
While I don't believe in alien abductions, I can't get enough of movies about them - the depiction of an advanced alien race taking you for a research project is just too much scary fun (except if you like anal probes). I do enjoy movies like the "Alien" franchise, but in the end what really gets to me are the sneaky gray heads that hide in your room at night.
Picture related: A gray head

First things first; if you didn't like "The Blairwitch project", you won't like this movie either. It's done in the exact same style, made to give the impression of being a real home made movie.
The film begins with a seemingly normal Thanksgiving party at the house of family McPherson. The whole footage is seen through the youngest son's handycam, who films regular family business like his big brother's implied racism and his mother's alcoholism. A few minutes into the movie, you know the basics about all characters and the action begins: A thunderstorm hits the area and all electronics are down while there's weird lights in the woods. Three of the brothers go explore what's happening and witness a group of extra-terrestrials minding their own business of slaughtering cows at night. Soon enough, the McPherson's find themselves under siege in their home.
The movie's title is a dead giveaway of what will happen at the end, but that didn't bother me much - for one and a half hours, you see aliens fiddle with the house's electronics (it is shown that they can remote-control any electronic device), shoot laser beams and flying red orbs and basically show off how superior their technology is - half an hour into the movie, you know they're just playing with their prey like a cat plays with mice.
This is basically what you get to see of the aliens

The best thing in this movie is not what you see, but what you don't see - it leaves a lot of space for your own imagination since a lot of the images are dark and blurry or the camera doesn't directly face what's happening. This is called implying things and it works a lot better for me than cheesy CGI effects (and I do realize the movie was made that way rather because the production value was probably about 20$). The so-called McPherson tape works with nice sound effects, flashing lights and those rare moments where you think you might have even seen an alien. Personally, I prefer it that way.
In conclusion, "Alien abduction incident in Lake County" offers good actors and some horrific moments - it uses simple, genuine moments to draw you into the scene. If you can sit down and give it an honest chance, this movie is for you. Also, don't forget to watch it at night with your lights turned off.
Have you seen this movie or can you suggest another good alien flick? Feel free to leave a comment on it.

7 comments:

  1. I like movies because there are a lot of things to learn for real life performance that's why i don't watch this type of films... i will never be abducted.

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  2. I remember being freaked out by this movie on tv, maybe even when it aired originally.

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  3. I love movies like this, so its a sorta aliean blairwitch?

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  4. I hate movies with aliens.

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  5. I haven't seen a good alien movie in a while, this might be it

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  6. The Blairwitch Project was creepy !

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  7. This movie looks pretty hoaxy in my opinion

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