Semiquincentennial Movie Project #42: Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

Week #42: Montana -

 

 

The state of Montana was established on November 8, 1889 

Details about Montana:

State bird: western meadowlark

State flower: bitterroot

State tree: Ponderosa pine

Additional historical trivia:

You probably already know, but the famous Battle of Little Big Horn was fought in Montana. 

The first Gideon bibles, once a standard "amenity" in hotel rooms, were first placed in hotels in Montana.

A 1999 record setting hamburger was made in Saco. 17 cows gave their lives to help set the record.

Montana has a 95% high school graduation rate, the highest rate of any state.

The first woman to be elected to US Congress, Jeanette Rankin, came from Montana. Interesting side note: She won her first election before women even had the right to vote!

Famous people born in Montana: Jeanette Rankin,  Gary Cooper, Dana Carvey, Evel Knievel, Phil Jackson, Harvey Logan (Remember the knife fight scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? The other guy was Logan.) and Chet Huntley.

 

Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (1998): 

Just keep telling yourself: "It's only a movie. It's only a movie!" 

Actually, if you were paying attention to the movie poster, you don't need me to tell you that....

Note: Once again, images from the film are minimal, so I was unable to find anything I deemed usable to augment my post, but if you watch it you will realize that was probably not something anyone watching it bothered to attempt at any rate...

Before The Blair Witch Project, which most people would probably consider the first "found footage" movie, there was Alien Abduction. This was a made for TV film (or more realistically, a TV show) that ostensibly was supposed to be an edited version of some real film footage found at the house of what was supposedly a missing family that had "mysteriously" disappeared. The footage was of a family that had an encounter with some aliens who had landed their spacecraft nearby.

You don't really know for absolutely certain that this was a movie, however, until the end, when the credits reveal that all of the characters were credited as being played by actors whose names are unashamedly credited, such as "Benz Antoine as Matthew". For the most part the film plays out as what it supposedly is; a film of a Thanksgiving get together by the MacPherson family that is interrupted by some very strange events.

At this point I will point out that I am not sure if I even saw this when it first aired, although I am almost certain I probably did. It aired on TV in January of 1998, and in those days I didn't have much money to do anything, so I was probably watching it. Especially since the previous hour's time slot on the channel had been a documentary titled Real Vampires... Exposed! (That was not a dramatic show; that was a news program which had interviews with real people who claimed they were actually "vampires", and I vaguely remember watching that...) 

I looked up the schedule for that night on the TV Tango website. I certainly didn't watch Dawson's Creek, and likely didn't watch Home Improvement or Frasier, a couple of the other shows that aired in the same time slot. It certainly was the kind of show I would have opted for, given my predilection for alien tropes. Perhaps I did and just blotted out of my memory.

The whole thing has some of the hallmarks that would have thrown up a red flag for me that this was basically just fiction. The most laughable parts, however, are not a part of the "footage". Some of the supposed "talking heads" that are interspersed amid the broadcast are the ones that come off the most unbelievable.   

The talking heads are merely there to give this film an air of authenticity, however. The main focus is the panic that the family has as some seriously bizarre occurrences happen over the course of the film. The aliens seem to be able to do pretty much anything they want to, at will. Including making the power go off (and on), dismantling the power to any available vehicles, cause nosebleeds and burning sensations to the family, and even, apparently some mind control.

The little girl, Rosie (Katlyn Ducharme), may remind you somewhat of Carol Anne from Poltergeist. She seems to have some kind of connection with the aliens (which might be attributed to that "mind control" aspect). She definitely seems to be the most grounded of the bunch. The mother (Gillian Barber) comes off the most annoying. Her obsession with ignoring the frantic reactions of her children and their significant others, trying to get them all to just act normal, comes off as a bit grating.

I don't particularly see the point in trying to make out there is some kind of racial matter when one of the daughters finally shows up with her boyfriend, Matthew (Benz Antoine), and it turns out (horrors!) he's BLACK!!! Surely it isn't that big a deal by this point in their lives that the young girl has a predilection for the darker skinned men. But, this being 1998 (and I think it was supposed to be based on events from a much earlier time period), maybe it was a deal breaker... I can't say.  

The biggest giveaway that this is not a real film is that, before they run the credits, an addendum runs that says:

"If you have any information

regarding the whereabouts

of these people, please

contact the producers at

 

1-800-555-0022" 

 

(I probably don't need to point out to you that a "555" number is only used for movies, and there is never a "555" prefix in any real phone numbers in the US...)

 

By the way, the version I watched for this review just might not have been the original broadcast. Apparently there was some debate at the time when it was first broadcast on whether or not it was actually real, with forums cropping up on the internet (still in it's infancy where discussions were done via bulletin board chat rooms). It was only later, it seems, that the film was exposed as a hoax when people realized that Tommy was actually an actor named Kristian Ayre. It also came about during investigation by these amateur investigators that there was no one named MacPherson living in Lake County at the time the events supposedly took place. I am pretty certain, however, that the above addendum would have been included, so even THAT should have sent some more knowledgeable people into doubting mode.

 

The credits that ran after the internet broadcast reveal the hoax now, however. (Although, as I intimated above, I think those credits are a later addition. I think the original broadcast ended just after the fake phone number...)

 

Starring

 

Benz Antoine

as

Matthew

 

Kristian Ayre

as 

Tommy

 

Gillian Barber

as

Mom

 

Michael Buie

as

Brian

 

Emmanuelle Chriqui

as

Renee

 

Marya Delver

as

Melanie

 

Katlyn Ducharme

as

Rosie

 

Ingrid Kavelaars

as

Linda

 

   

Some of the actors in the film might just actually trigger a "Hey! I know that guy! (or girl...)" Pretty much everybody in it went on to have a fairly extensive resume, both before and after this film. In particular, I remember Emmanuelle Chriqui who played Lana Lang on Superman & Lois. The rest have appeared in minor (and sometimes major) roles over the years. It's not like they are entirely unknown.

Additionally, one of the executive producers was... Dick Clark! (Yes, THAT Dick Clark...) 

If you happen to take a deep dive, and watch this (it's available on YouTube), don't expect too much. The quality of the film, as would be necessary to pull off the fiction that it is a real "amateur film", is sometimes hard to deal with. Additionally, the aliens themselves don't actually appear on screen until the final minute of the film. The rest involves the sometimes over the top reactions of the characters dealing with the invasion, and their often unrealistic interactions with each other.

Still, it can be entertaining in it's own right. There is nothing here that puts this in the realm of unwatchable. But it has moments which may make you say"Really??? That's what you're going to do now???"

Until next time folks, drive safely. I would say be sure to lock your doors when you get home, but given what the aliens are able to manage to accomplish in this film, that may not be much help.

Quiggy