'The Fourth Kind' Alien Abduction Movie Trailer; 'Blair Witch' 2.0?

Last week, the creepy alien abduction teaser trailer for "The Fourth Kind," starring Milla Jovovich, debuted on the the movie's official website, among other websites.

The trailer sets up the film's premise in a voiceover by the lead actress: "My name is Milla Jovovich, and I will be portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler. This film is a dramatization of events that occurred October 2000. Everything in this movie is supported by archive footage. Some of what you are about to see is extremely disturbing."

However, these events never actually occurred. The "archival footage" of hypnotized alien abductees you see in the trailer is certainly creepy and jolting, but it is obviously staged for dramatic effect.

This certainly isn't the first time a movie has purported events to be based on a true story. The producers of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ran a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie that it was based on a true story; even though it was inspired by the Ed Gein case, it was a white lie for publicity's sake. The Coen Brothers also slapped a "based on a true story" stamp on their critically-acclaimed Fargo, and audiences did not mind.

The marketing technique of The Fourth Kind draws more comparisons to 1999's The Blair Witch Project, which maintained the claim that the footage seen in the low-budget faux documentary was found in the woods, and unedited. Sneak preview audiences who had no idea found the movie sufficiently scary, and the word of mouth traveled quickly over the course of the summer, netting the film over $240 million worldwide, even after the mainstream media blew the cover on the film's suspect realism.

The Fourth Kind, opening November 6, hopes to trick some folks into curiosity in the two months leading up to its release. On the official website, the links are to various UFO websites specializing in theories, abductions, and evidence, so as to make the film itself look like a clinical study instead of a blockbuster film.

You can't be irritated by the deliberate marketing ruse. Just as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based in part on Ed Gein and other serial killers, The Fourth Kind does derive some plotlines from real life sources. The movie's abduction victims all share a recollection of seeing a white owl during abduction, which was was Whitley Strieber's personal experience in Communion, the purported non-fiction story of the writer's multiple alien abductions.

The Fourth Kind is rated PG-13 and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi (WithIN, Etat). It also stars Will Patton (The Mothman Prophecies and The Postman) and Elias Koteas (Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

Curious folks can see the trailer at the official site, on Hulu, or Sci Fi Wire.