Dan Curtis, executive producer of the successful television production, 'Dark Shadows' directs this T.V. miniseries which is probably the best of the films that were made about the real-life testimonials dealing with the occurrences of alien abductions that have swept the nation's curiosities and astonishment.
Richard Crenna is a well-respected psychologist who encounters new patient, Daphne Ashbrook, who is concerned with incidents dealing with missing time, extreme anxiety, and terrible nightmares about sinister prowlers. When hypnotic sessions reveal visions of small beings with large black eyes and hideous experimental procedures, Crenna embarks on a journey of a collective phenomena and self-discovery that endangers his career as well as his professional relationships.
A multitude of research on the topic went into this excellent study of a well-documented peculiarity which has puzzled and contradicted our beliefs and customs for centuries. Curtis uses every thematic device to create tension and paranoia and a tremendously scary tone that is seldom found in television movies. The cast is excellent. Mare Winningham and Daphne Ashbrook are extremely convincing as the sympathetic abductees, and it's engrossing to see Crenna's transition from a hard-headed skeptic to the seeker of ultimate truth, regardless of his professional credulity, and Stephan Berkoff is shear perfection as an eccentric ufologist. Fans of this intriguing genre will consider this a prolific film, rising above the normal Hollywood depictions of extraterrestrial fantasy and lore into a world of frightening reality, spiritual enlightenment, and governmental suspicions. Skeptics and realists may not be convinced, but won't help but to analyze and interpret the cold facts whether or not these people are victims of schizophrenic delusion.
I was 16 years old when I saw this for the first time, and was scared out of my wits as a result. (especially the scenes of the hybrid human/aliens and the dream sequences) It's a prime example of how melancholic emotion and an ambient feel can make all the difference in a horror film. The effective Dan Curtis also directed the recommended thriller, 'Trilogy of Terror'. Watch with an open mind and the lights off, and you just might acquaint with the tag-line "You Will Believe".
Richard Crenna is a well-respected psychologist who encounters new patient, Daphne Ashbrook, who is concerned with incidents dealing with missing time, extreme anxiety, and terrible nightmares about sinister prowlers. When hypnotic sessions reveal visions of small beings with large black eyes and hideous experimental procedures, Crenna embarks on a journey of a collective phenomena and self-discovery that endangers his career as well as his professional relationships.
A multitude of research on the topic went into this excellent study of a well-documented peculiarity which has puzzled and contradicted our beliefs and customs for centuries. Curtis uses every thematic device to create tension and paranoia and a tremendously scary tone that is seldom found in television movies. The cast is excellent. Mare Winningham and Daphne Ashbrook are extremely convincing as the sympathetic abductees, and it's engrossing to see Crenna's transition from a hard-headed skeptic to the seeker of ultimate truth, regardless of his professional credulity, and Stephan Berkoff is shear perfection as an eccentric ufologist. Fans of this intriguing genre will consider this a prolific film, rising above the normal Hollywood depictions of extraterrestrial fantasy and lore into a world of frightening reality, spiritual enlightenment, and governmental suspicions. Skeptics and realists may not be convinced, but won't help but to analyze and interpret the cold facts whether or not these people are victims of schizophrenic delusion.
I was 16 years old when I saw this for the first time, and was scared out of my wits as a result. (especially the scenes of the hybrid human/aliens and the dream sequences) It's a prime example of how melancholic emotion and an ambient feel can make all the difference in a horror film. The effective Dan Curtis also directed the recommended thriller, 'Trilogy of Terror'. Watch with an open mind and the lights off, and you just might acquaint with the tag-line "You Will Believe".