Monday, August 17, 2009

From the Fifth Element to the Fourth Kind


In a year jam-packed with alien-themed movies, this trailer seems to have hit a certain chord. The Fourth Kind certainly gives off a strong X-Files vibe, similar to The Mothman Prophecies and The Forgotten, so you know I'm there.

 
But I'm not exactly sure why it seems to be so resonant- it's not like abduction phenomena has been circulating in the culture lately.

It could just be that The Fourth Kind looks like a solid scarefest, Close Encounters meets The Exorcist. But it could also be that added AAT dimension (or the suggestion of it, with the cuneiform) is beginning to seep into the collective consciousness, no matter how desperately some still try to laugh it all away (the Brookings Report seems more and more prescient every day).

I was fascinated in the whole owl motif, seeing how we just discussed that here on the Sun. And I'm impressed with the leads, semiotically speaking: Milla Jovovich (certainly for her role in The Fifth Element), Will Patton (from Mothman) and Eleas Koteas (from The Prophecy, Crash and Exotica). This looks to be a solid genre outing, not a cheeseball horror cash-in. It will be interesting to see how it resonates after its release.


UPDATE: Liza turned us on to this ad campaign, which I noticed today as well.