The Fourth Kind

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The Fourth Kind is a science fiction/thriller/horror movie starring Milla Jovovich.

The movie follows a psychiatrist, Dr. Abigail Tyler, as she investigates abnormal sleep patterns in the Alaskan town of Nome. Prior to the events of the movie her husband was killed by an intruder and her daughter went blind from the mental trauma. She continues her study in an attempt to keep a normal life and notices that a connection links certain people together; many people remember seeing a white owl outside their window looking at them. She puts one participant under hypnosis and finds that they don't remember an owl at all... no, they remember something much worse...

The movie was advertised, and is strictly enforced throughout the movie itself, to be based on real case studies and to use actual real-life footage. However the claims are at best questionable, any attempts to corroborate the events on the movie are met with dead ends or bogus websites.

Tropes used in The Fourth Kind include:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: Milla Jovovich is obviously more attractive than the "real" Dr. Tyler.
• Adult Fear: Having your child stolen from your home, and being absolutely powerless to stop it.
• A God Am I: The aliens, whether or not they are god is up for debate but it crosses over with God Is Evil.
• Alien Abduction
• Ancient Astronauts
• Based on a Great Big Lie
• Cosmic Horror Hinted at, anyway.
• Did Not Do the Research: This is the real Nome, Alaska.
  • The location of the film, on the other hand, is Bulgaria.
  • As a resident of the town in question, this troper really had to wonder where those trees, mountains, picket fences, and really nice houses came from.
    • As another resident of bush Alaska, I too am curious about why these people weren't more concerned about the fact that they're seeing an owl at all.
    • Possible Fridge Brilliance, since they state in the very beginning that it is a dramatization of "real" events, that in the same way the real people are referred to by aliases, so would the town itself.
  • Most of the disappearances the film mentioned are also a specific group: Native Villagers. How come all the people in the film in question were white?
• Dueling Movies: With Paranormal Activity.
• Jerkass: Sherrif August, even before multiple people have been hurt by the research he demands that the research be shut down. He has apparently confused his legal authority with that of Judge Dredd.
• Nightmare Face: The "owl".
• Nothing Is Scarier: The "documented" footage becomes scrambled whenever the aliens appear.
• Owl Be Damned
• Psychological Horror
• Shout-Out: The owls are not what they seem.
  • The title itself is a shout-out to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
• Sufficiently Advanced
• Trailers Always Spoil: The movie might have been a little more scary if the trailers hadn't spoiled all the scariest moments.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer: The psychologist treats hypnotism therapy as the default solution to every problem, ever.