What are we to believe?

saint_pat

Ever read 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe'?  Remember that scene where Peter and Susan talk to the professor because they're worried about Lucy? Lucy claims that she visited another world by stepping inside a wardrobe. The professor responds by stating quite logically, "either she is lying, she is mad, or she is telling the truth.  Lucy is quite a truthful person, and one only needs to look at her to see that she is not mad.  Therefore for now we must assume that she is telling the truth."

That statement perfectly describes Whitley Strieber's very strange case. If he is lying, then why has he passed numerous lie detector tests?  If he is crazy, then why have numerous doctors failed to diagnose him with schizophrenia, temporal lobe epilepsy, etc.  And why have numerous people had strange experiences at his cabin?  As Arthur Conan Doyle once said, "Once you rule out the impossible..."

I would highly recommend people watch this very scary film.  The scenes at Strieber's cabin and while he is hypnotized were really creepy.  They left a lasting impression on me.  Christopher Walken gives a compelling performance as Whitley Strieber (Strieber probably isn't this eccentric in real life).

I wish I could say this film was perfect but this was not so.  The scenes in between the 'abduction' sequences were less compelling, and the film drags on at least ten minutes past when it should have ended.  Still the film is a good introduction to the alien abduction phenomenon and to Strieber's book. It may make you leave the lights on at night.

score /10

saint_pat 16 March 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0268004/