Review of Alien Abduction (2014) by Ned B — 08 Apr 2015

This is another one of those hidden gems that surprise me with low ratings. Starting with two factors, this film is remarkably good. First, it's based on a long-term set of claims of sightings that go back to when the mountain area of Western North Carolina was inhabited by Cherokee - and still, today, there are sightings. The movie begins and ends with interviews with people who've sighted whatever it is that's going on there. The other remarkable factor in this film is the premise that the entire film is of the "found video" genre, with the film being taken by an 11-year-old autistic boy who can only relate to the world through the lens of his video camera. This really humanizes the film - it stands out in ways that any other format could not achieve.

A dozen or so years ago, I co-wrote a novelization of a fact-based alien encounter which was investigated by the Army (which confiscated everything that counted as evidence). More to the point, one of my late wife's relatives was involved in the sighting (the Kelly Incident). In addition, in the 90s I wrote for several UFO magazines and I also wrote two alien-encounter screenplays. So I'm fairly well-versed in the Alien Abduction genre, and find this one of the better examples of creative filming within this combined Alien/SF and Abduction/Horror films. It really deserves better ratings than it's gotten here - and I strongly recommend this film to any fan of the dual genres.

Ned in Vegas.