By Geno McGahee
In 1999, horror would see the rebirth of a forgotten sub-genre. The “found footage” style of filmmaking was fascinating and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT became a huge success. These sorts of films, more than any other, brings the viewer into the story and forces them to ask themselves what they would do if they encountered the same situation. As with anything popular, the found footage became common place and lost some of its luster along the way, but there were filmmakers that understood the power of it and how it could be used to bring the viewer in. Director Richard Lowry and writer, Tor Reyel Lowry, understood how to approach a story in the found footage sort of fashion with their 2003 alien horror movie “THE WICKSBORO INCIDENT.”
Lloyd (Bobby Harwell) is the subject of an interview by filmmakers, Mike (Dan Brinkle) and Gary (Kyle Nudo). Llody is an older guy with amazing claims that involve a secret alien race living among and controlling humanity. During his time with the government, he created a device that was intended to detect those with psychic ability but it found something else. It exposed aliens that masqueraded as humans and an alien conspiracy. From that point on, Lloyd lost his job and he ran for his life. The government killed his sister and he was left in fear for his well-being. Years passed by and he created a new device to detect the aliens and appealed to two young filmmakers after all networks refused to cover the story.
The trio hits the street and start documenting the alien to human ratio. To the shock of the filmmakers, it’s about fifty-fifty. At this point, Mike and Gary don’t believe Lloyd. Despite the lack of faith, they agree to take Lloyd to Wicksboro, where he had an underground lab. On top of that, the older people in the town would be able to verify some of his stories. When they arrive in town, it’s gone. Nobody is there. It’s like the town just disappeared.
An all-night search leads to the discovery of the underground lab and the prototype for the alien identifier. Unfortunately, helicopters circle and the trio are now being hunted by the government and those damn aliens. They go on the run but Lloyd knows that they are in big trouble. They can’t go to the police and none of their families are answering their phones. They have gotten into a heap of trouble and scramble to figure out a way out of it.
(Spoilers) In a shocking moment, Lloyd gets his head blown off by a sniper and the two take off in hopes of salvation. Gary makes it to a dumpster with the camera and makes a final statement. He is waiting for somebody to pick him up. It’s somebody that he doesn’t know and somebody that he doesn’t know if he can trust. The final moments of reflection followed by some news articles about the deaths of the filmmakers and their families wrap up this movie quite well.
This film reminds me a great deal of the more recent CONSPIRACY movie. Two filmmakers select a conspiracy theorist as their subject only to be drawn into their world and realizing that they were right all along. THE WICKSBORO INCIDENT does a lot of things right. Bobby Harwell is such a great actor and comes off as very genuine. It’s easy to buy into this production from the start. The pace starts off slow and then picks up gradually, eventually bringing the viewer to the edge of their seat. This is a film that shows that you can do a lot with a little. We never see the aliens’ true form, but they are no less terrifying. There are moments in this that are very intense.
THE WICKSBORO INCIDENT is a great movie and it’s even better if you have any belief or interest in conspiracy theories, aliens and UFOs. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 9/10
