The Fourth Kind (2009)

Alien-abduction thriller/faux documentary flick “The Fourth Kind” plays on conspiracy paranoia for horror scares and mocking hilarity, dishing out a triple-dog daring opener as actress Milla Jovovich – swirling camera and crazy lights galore -– looks dead at the camera and announces she is actress Milla Jovovich, and this is a movie. She plays “real-life” young widow and psychiatrist Abigail Tyler, who has a series of patients haunted by creepy owls. Except the owls –- “Twin Peaks” reference! –- are not what they seem. Director Olatunde Osunsanm -– who also plays himself –- rides his clever gimmick hard, showing the “real” Tyler as played by Charlotte Milchard and videotape footage “she” filmed during patient interviews, cutting it with the actors re-creating the events with Hollywood gusto. It’s all outlandish, but isn’t every UFO kidnap story? And Osansanm knows it. Alas, he derails the film with a blowhard sheriff (Will Patton spit-spewing) threatening arrest and charges against our heroine with no reason whatsoever, and even in a film built on illogic, it suffocates the “is this real?” joke pitch to death, so not even Alex Jones would buy in. Shame, too. What comes before is out of this world. B-