By Geno McGahee
There is a lot of found footage lately and most of it is complete trash. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is a good example of what’s wrong with the sub-genre of the horror world, and ALIEN ABDUCTION shows how a found footage can be done correctly.
IFC Midnight presents ALIEN ABDUCTION, a film by Mike Fleiss (HOSTEL) and Lawrence Bender (INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS). We have a family going camping in North Carolina and witness a phenomena known as the Brown Mountain Lights. Some believe it to be swamp gas, but others know the truth. We are dealing with aliens here and it is a hot spot for abduction.
The Morris family has a good night of camping where they experience the lights, but think little of it. They hit the road for the next great camping locale and the GPS begins acting up, sending them in strange directions and leading them to a tunnel where there are numerous cars, all with their doors open and all empty. Peter (Peter Holden), his older son, Corey (Corey Eld) and his youngest son, who is autistic, Riley (Riley Polanski), go to investigate.
It is an awesome visual and it gets better. Peter comes face to face with an alien and his family makes a run for it. Corey, his young brother, his sister Jillian (Jillian Clare) and his mother, Katie (Katherine Sigismund) find a shack and Sean (Jeff Bowser). The aliens show up shortly after and it becomes a fight for survival, leading to some very shocking moments.
ALIEN ABDUCTION is an amazing film. The characters are very believable and the aliens are terrifying. A lot of these found footage films give you a lot of nothing for ninety minutes and then end with a shocking scene. This film hits you early and keeps it up to the very end. As much as you know that the family won’t make it out of this, you are rooting for them. This is very much like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT in its execution. It’s interesting from jump and stands out among a multitude of found footage horror.
I highly recommend ALIEN ABDUCTION. It’s found footage and alien horror done right.
Rating: 8/10
Information
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Director: Matty Beckerman
Writer: Robert Lewis
Producers: Cathy Beckerman, Matty Beckerman, Lawrence Bender, Mike Fleiss
Cast: Katherine Sigismund, Corey Eid, Jillian Clare, Peter Holden, Riley Polanski
Distributor: IFC Midnight
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