The recordings do not lie.

Guaranteed to absolutely kick your ass from the opening scene. I think this has both one of the coolest formats for a "found footage" film I have ever seen, and I also totally get why it has never been replicated again. Beyond understanding if people find it to be in "poor taste," as is what seemingly affected its reception during its initial release, just taking it as an aesthetic exercise, I think this thing's pretty damn special. I was reminded of both Communion and The Mothman Prophecies quite a bit, where all three use the paranormal as a means to explore trauma and mental illness, equally dipping its toes into psychology while embracing the possibility that something supernatural is as much behind the woes of its main characters. Yes, horror sure does love "It's about trauma." movies, especially in recent times, yet rarely will you find one that is this bold in its theatricality, and both garish yet rather beautiful in its filmmaking. The "real" footage for the first third or so I did honestly find so convincing that I thought it was just, well, real. In that way too, I'm not sure I've seen anything beyond The Blair Witch Project or Lake Mungo that in this subgenre so convincingly blurs the line between traditional filmmaking and achieving something that does indeed feel "real." Milla Jovovich gives a strong lead performance (I was, of course, partial to her character being a psychologist, and therapy being a concrete part of this film's world.) and it's a damn shame that this film's director seems to have not done very much following this. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I want more alien films out there, especially when they can be this creative and skin-crawling. Adored the shots of the owl, the found footage parts once again were truly excellent in their presentation, and then when shit really gets going with distortion and alien language, this gets good. Cryptids and aliens continue to be a notable point of interest for myself. If I don't believe in most of the creatures I love to read and watch things about, extraterrestrials are at least one of those phenomena that I always believed in, and likely always will. Are they little grey guys who abduct people and probe them? Eh, probably not. Is that my favorite type of alien in art? You betcha. Strongly recommended if you haven't checked it out. I want to believe.

8/10