Aliens, the grey ones
Monday, 9 October 2023 22:02![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
comet_scoutSo, I've been playing Voices of the Void a lot, and that alone was placing me in an Aliens mood, as well as some DriveThruRPG finds, And then I stumbled by Spacemachiato's TW thread about wanting abductions movies of certain vibes and the comment section had a few recommendations that I decided to check out. Here is something akin to mini-reviews, noting that I'm not a great critic and it's largely personal criteria.
First on the list was No One Will Save You. The one I liked the most. The greys are scary and feel unique, her encounters with the slim more humanoid ones are my favorite parts. (I'm personally mixed on the globien one). I am not sure the conclusion to take from the in-universe story, I think at some point I thought that they were using humans for their feelings, but I don't think that makes total sense. I've seen theories of it being about them saving humanity from themselves from their perspective, and that isn't a bad take. I mostly think the movie is a Babadook type of deal, you can even pull parallels between the main character killing the first alien when she accidentally killed her friend as a kid, and the post-invasion city with her toy city at home.
Second was The Fourth Kind. Everywhere I read people really liked this movie, which makes me feel weird for not enjoying it myself. idk, I like the idea, and the comparison scenes of the "real" footage and the dramatic ones were neat. But the story felt... meh. To something trying to emulate a documentary much of it felt fake, and I mean, it is! but... more so? Liked the idea, meh about the execution of it.
Next was The Communion. I'm going through them mostly blind and was not expecting the direction the movie went. I liked it, the big-blue-headed aliens are way too goofy, but I like the more stereotypical aliens being masks. The mental decline of the main character and the chaotic nature of everything had a more dream-like quality to it all. So, interesting, not my main interest when it comes to this, but different.
Next Next was Area 51, didn't expect to like this one as much as I did, I don't know, and I was not that into it in the beginning. But I did enjoy the rest of it especially when they got into Area 51. Won't call it groundbreaking on anything, but it was a fun watch. I like the spaceship inside! This immense white void. Remember at some point on the internet a link for a video of an alien inside 51 was making its rounds, and when you watched it would stop as if it wasn't loading anymore then the link wouldn't work for you again? Was that a promotional stunt for the movie? It was a popular thing in 2014-16. (I don't know, all I can find about it are documentaries so.... maybe I should reconsider.)
The McPherson Tapes, are also another I really liked! I like found footage, and even if the effects and alien looks are... of its time, I think they nailed the narrow perspective of the camera, the characters felt organic and natural. I liked how it didn't feel like the camera just happened to be in the right place at the right time like so many found footage feels like. Could have used more spooky scenes, but maybe the subtleness was the key to it.
It's remake, Incident in Lake County... didn't like it as much. The thing is I'm pretty sure it's 85% because I can't not compare it to the original. They tried to take the story and make it "bigger" and made everything feel more plastic. A character in the movie even goes "This is real, there is no way they are actors!" but the thing is... they still felt like fictional characters and lines like they were prewritten. Kurt was totally "the main character" trope. The only scene I really liked was when the Teen was changing pants, and when he picked up the camera his light turns off and there is an alien slowly closing the door. It didn't lead to anything, but creepy. Disappointed.
That was pretty much the end of the list I had made, but decided to keep going to some others, and even checked the thread again.
So, Alien Abduction (2014), Felt generally indifferent about this one, but in an ok way. I like the start of it with the alien throwing the camera away from the spaceship, but maybe that gave too much away too early. The aliens felt a lot more like monsters than aliens, I think NOWSY pulled off a monster-like thing from the Greys much better, especially without taking away from the main grey aesthetic of higher alien beings. The scene where they bean the mom and you see her bones breaking... ouch. But it was neat all the same...
While blindly clicking I found a documentary called Alien Abduction: Answers. Didn't watch much of it since it's not what I'm looking for. But it did make me think of some things my stepdad sometimes talks (He is a conspiracy theory type... not in a fun way)
Phoenix Forgotten, another found footage, not complaining, especially because I think it felt very fresh on this movie. It starts pretty slow, they really stick to something more subtle, but in a way that makes you feel invested in the characters, it's very very worth it. Awesome and scary UFO design, even if that doesn't get to you, it is still something that is very obviously scary. Beams of lights are very scary actually.
While fact-checking myself on the Area 51 promotional stunt I stopped to watch the mini doc on an alien autopsie footage. It's not the one I was thinking about thought. I wonder if I can find it, maybe it wasn't an autopsy. It's from the one that already proved fake anyway. And I mean, most boring alien design ever, 5/10 for effort.
Looking for more I stumbled upon Aliens: Zone of Silence. Also found footage lol. I liked this one, it's more simple but interesting. A bit confusing at times, and the character would start sniffing when anything related to her brother popped up, which was annoying. But cool, really.
Dark Skies, ok, honestly. I felt they leaning into something that felt more like supernatural hauting than alien abduction. idk, maybe it was intentional. Jumpscares with loud sounds! The aliens design was meh, their arms are so skinny it was just goofy, and if you're going to place them on the same scene at least make them less visible or not the same standard pose. There is the scene of the mom being lured by the TV, and the alien following behind her that was pretty cool, reaching to brush her hair slight.
The Phoenix Incident, Turned out to be more of a monster movie than alien greys. It's... alright, honestly. The documentary side and the found footage side almost feel like two movies tbh. It was almost silly. But yeah, alright I guess.
Extraterrestrial (2014) //lots of alien in 2014//. I'm not sure how to feel about this one, I guess it was more of a horror comedy than full horror, but also wanting to be full horror. I'm meh at monster-like greys, until now I only liked it in NOWSY, I think I already said that. I wished it had ended on the aliens home-place, instead of the main characters finding each other and being sent to earth, I thought it would have been awesome to see the final girl exploring it.
U.F.O (2012)/Alien Uprising (2013), in Portuguese it's Assassinos do Espaço at PlutoTV, so it got me confused for a bit. I'll be honest, less than 50 min in and I already didn't feel it. Annoying main character, immediately disliked Michael, Gary sue as hell and not in a fun way. I'm a bit worried I was biased, tbh. From around less than 50 min I skiped to the end, laughed at the guy exploding, then turned it off.
UFO (2018), Really liked it! It was a fun exploration on the Math being the universal language, cool to play with aliens just being very beyond our understanding but still attempting to communicate with us. what I thought would be points that would annoy me on the story end up not really happening, it was fun and interesting and even as someone who sucks at math and technical language it was still engaging. pretty cool.
Alien Surveillance (2018), (VERY)low-budget indie found footage, so obviously not expecting anything huge, but it's fun lol. The idea is fun, tbh. It's funny the aliens just being... people, no big heads either, always walking in slow motion. Even at low budget there was probably a way for them to have pulled it off though. Maybe more camera cuts between the cams to keep interest and make it easier to follow. (I swear I'm not scraping the bottom of the barrel/lie)
Alien Implant (2017), Indie, maybe low budget, but not low effort. Actually really cool! Very nice shots and an interesting premise. I liked the set-up of where the main character lives. That's the cool part of going in blind tbh, cool find. The first alien costume is goofy, but the one by the window and the one dressed as a human are neat. The window scene was creepy.
Alien Whispers (2021) is another indie, fun finding these. Didn't feel this one as much, but it's ok, funny masks. More of a monster movie than ufo-grey alien which is what I'm looking for. Nice shots.
The Arrival (1996) Not an indie, I like indies but y'know. It's ok, very 90's which can be fun. Cringed a bit with US movie talking about 3rd world countries bit. But alright.
I'm losing steam a bit. There are others, but I think I'll just update all of this later, or add on comments. I don't know why, but aliens as a theme just gripped me all of a sudden.
I'm surprised how many movies got wrong what makes Grey aliens scary. I get the temptation of making them just monsters, but there IS something really scary about beings that are so much smarter and advanced that in comparison you're equivalent to a lab rat, and they treat you as such. Again, I do feel like NOWSY was the only one to get making them slightly monstrous right, but as I said, it's because the intelligence is still there.
I think it was on a video about NOWSY, where someone described this perspective by making us imagine how other animals feel about us, especially when we're taking wild animals to study/preserve. Regardless of intentions, from their perspective, they are interacting with animals with extremely weird behaviors and tools.
Anyway, I also started watching x-files because of all this. I want to check out other media too, like games and books, I already playing Voices of the Void, but also got Aliens&Abductions to play solo.
First on the list was No One Will Save You. The one I liked the most. The greys are scary and feel unique, her encounters with the slim more humanoid ones are my favorite parts. (I'm personally mixed on the globien one). I am not sure the conclusion to take from the in-universe story, I think at some point I thought that they were using humans for their feelings, but I don't think that makes total sense. I've seen theories of it being about them saving humanity from themselves from their perspective, and that isn't a bad take. I mostly think the movie is a Babadook type of deal, you can even pull parallels between the main character killing the first alien when she accidentally killed her friend as a kid, and the post-invasion city with her toy city at home.
Second was The Fourth Kind. Everywhere I read people really liked this movie, which makes me feel weird for not enjoying it myself. idk, I like the idea, and the comparison scenes of the "real" footage and the dramatic ones were neat. But the story felt... meh. To something trying to emulate a documentary much of it felt fake, and I mean, it is! but... more so? Liked the idea, meh about the execution of it.
Next was The Communion. I'm going through them mostly blind and was not expecting the direction the movie went. I liked it, the big-blue-headed aliens are way too goofy, but I like the more stereotypical aliens being masks. The mental decline of the main character and the chaotic nature of everything had a more dream-like quality to it all. So, interesting, not my main interest when it comes to this, but different.
Next Next was Area 51, didn't expect to like this one as much as I did, I don't know, and I was not that into it in the beginning. But I did enjoy the rest of it especially when they got into Area 51. Won't call it groundbreaking on anything, but it was a fun watch. I like the spaceship inside! This immense white void. Remember at some point on the internet a link for a video of an alien inside 51 was making its rounds, and when you watched it would stop as if it wasn't loading anymore then the link wouldn't work for you again? Was that a promotional stunt for the movie? It was a popular thing in 2014-16. (I don't know, all I can find about it are documentaries so.... maybe I should reconsider.)
The McPherson Tapes, are also another I really liked! I like found footage, and even if the effects and alien looks are... of its time, I think they nailed the narrow perspective of the camera, the characters felt organic and natural. I liked how it didn't feel like the camera just happened to be in the right place at the right time like so many found footage feels like. Could have used more spooky scenes, but maybe the subtleness was the key to it.
It's remake, Incident in Lake County... didn't like it as much. The thing is I'm pretty sure it's 85% because I can't not compare it to the original. They tried to take the story and make it "bigger" and made everything feel more plastic. A character in the movie even goes "This is real, there is no way they are actors!" but the thing is... they still felt like fictional characters and lines like they were prewritten. Kurt was totally "the main character" trope. The only scene I really liked was when the Teen was changing pants, and when he picked up the camera his light turns off and there is an alien slowly closing the door. It didn't lead to anything, but creepy. Disappointed.
That was pretty much the end of the list I had made, but decided to keep going to some others, and even checked the thread again.
So, Alien Abduction (2014), Felt generally indifferent about this one, but in an ok way. I like the start of it with the alien throwing the camera away from the spaceship, but maybe that gave too much away too early. The aliens felt a lot more like monsters than aliens, I think NOWSY pulled off a monster-like thing from the Greys much better, especially without taking away from the main grey aesthetic of higher alien beings. The scene where they bean the mom and you see her bones breaking... ouch. But it was neat all the same...
While blindly clicking I found a documentary called Alien Abduction: Answers. Didn't watch much of it since it's not what I'm looking for. But it did make me think of some things my stepdad sometimes talks (He is a conspiracy theory type... not in a fun way)
Phoenix Forgotten, another found footage, not complaining, especially because I think it felt very fresh on this movie. It starts pretty slow, they really stick to something more subtle, but in a way that makes you feel invested in the characters, it's very very worth it. Awesome and scary UFO design, even if that doesn't get to you, it is still something that is very obviously scary. Beams of lights are very scary actually.
While fact-checking myself on the Area 51 promotional stunt I stopped to watch the mini doc on an alien autopsie footage. It's not the one I was thinking about thought. I wonder if I can find it, maybe it wasn't an autopsy. It's from the one that already proved fake anyway. And I mean, most boring alien design ever, 5/10 for effort.
Looking for more I stumbled upon Aliens: Zone of Silence. Also found footage lol. I liked this one, it's more simple but interesting. A bit confusing at times, and the character would start sniffing when anything related to her brother popped up, which was annoying. But cool, really.
Dark Skies, ok, honestly. I felt they leaning into something that felt more like supernatural hauting than alien abduction. idk, maybe it was intentional. Jumpscares with loud sounds! The aliens design was meh, their arms are so skinny it was just goofy, and if you're going to place them on the same scene at least make them less visible or not the same standard pose. There is the scene of the mom being lured by the TV, and the alien following behind her that was pretty cool, reaching to brush her hair slight.
The Phoenix Incident, Turned out to be more of a monster movie than alien greys. It's... alright, honestly. The documentary side and the found footage side almost feel like two movies tbh. It was almost silly. But yeah, alright I guess.
Extraterrestrial (2014) //lots of alien in 2014//. I'm not sure how to feel about this one, I guess it was more of a horror comedy than full horror, but also wanting to be full horror. I'm meh at monster-like greys, until now I only liked it in NOWSY, I think I already said that. I wished it had ended on the aliens home-place, instead of the main characters finding each other and being sent to earth, I thought it would have been awesome to see the final girl exploring it.
U.F.O (2012)/Alien Uprising (2013), in Portuguese it's Assassinos do Espaço at PlutoTV, so it got me confused for a bit. I'll be honest, less than 50 min in and I already didn't feel it. Annoying main character, immediately disliked Michael, Gary sue as hell and not in a fun way. I'm a bit worried I was biased, tbh. From around less than 50 min I skiped to the end, laughed at the guy exploding, then turned it off.
UFO (2018), Really liked it! It was a fun exploration on the Math being the universal language, cool to play with aliens just being very beyond our understanding but still attempting to communicate with us. what I thought would be points that would annoy me on the story end up not really happening, it was fun and interesting and even as someone who sucks at math and technical language it was still engaging. pretty cool.
Alien Surveillance (2018), (VERY)low-budget indie found footage, so obviously not expecting anything huge, but it's fun lol. The idea is fun, tbh. It's funny the aliens just being... people, no big heads either, always walking in slow motion. Even at low budget there was probably a way for them to have pulled it off though. Maybe more camera cuts between the cams to keep interest and make it easier to follow. (I swear I'm not scraping the bottom of the barrel/lie)
Alien Implant (2017), Indie, maybe low budget, but not low effort. Actually really cool! Very nice shots and an interesting premise. I liked the set-up of where the main character lives. That's the cool part of going in blind tbh, cool find. The first alien costume is goofy, but the one by the window and the one dressed as a human are neat. The window scene was creepy.
Alien Whispers (2021) is another indie, fun finding these. Didn't feel this one as much, but it's ok, funny masks. More of a monster movie than ufo-grey alien which is what I'm looking for. Nice shots.
The Arrival (1996) Not an indie, I like indies but y'know. It's ok, very 90's which can be fun. Cringed a bit with US movie talking about 3rd world countries bit. But alright.
I'm losing steam a bit. There are others, but I think I'll just update all of this later, or add on comments. I don't know why, but aliens as a theme just gripped me all of a sudden.
I'm surprised how many movies got wrong what makes Grey aliens scary. I get the temptation of making them just monsters, but there IS something really scary about beings that are so much smarter and advanced that in comparison you're equivalent to a lab rat, and they treat you as such. Again, I do feel like NOWSY was the only one to get making them slightly monstrous right, but as I said, it's because the intelligence is still there.
I think it was on a video about NOWSY, where someone described this perspective by making us imagine how other animals feel about us, especially when we're taking wild animals to study/preserve. Regardless of intentions, from their perspective, they are interacting with animals with extremely weird behaviors and tools.
Anyway, I also started watching x-files because of all this. I want to check out other media too, like games and books, I already playing Voices of the Void, but also got Aliens&Abductions to play solo.
no subject
Date: Tuesday, 10 October 2023 19:44 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 10 October 2023 22:53 (UTC)Edit: Apparently it was given a spin-off named Kids vs Aliens, I wonder if it as good.