On the evening of October 8, 1983, a family gathers for a birthday celebration at a house in the mountains where Michael (Dean Alioto) videotapes the events which soon documents an extraterrestrial encounter.
UFO Abduction (also more commonly known as The McPherson Tape) is a 1989 found footage film written, directed, and starring Dean Alioto made for a relatively modest $6,500. While the film didn't make much of an impact initially, it did eventually find a small cult audience due in no small part to bootlegs of the film with the credits chopped off presented as if it were a real home video recording. While the film certainly has its issues, it's also a passionately made no budget exercise that works given the resources it had on hand.
The chemistry among the cast is very impressive as they have solid timing with each other and do feel like a multigenerational family with distinct roles and personalities such as cameraman Michael played by Dean Alioto whose positioned as something of a screw-up in the family in comparison to his more mature (relatively) brothers Jason and Eric. The film features a similar formula that audiences would come to know better from the much more publicized and culturally defining Blair Witch Project, but in many ways this film feels more fleshed out and substantial with characterizations and scenes even if there is that lingering question of why some things are being recorded at certain times. The effects used for the extraterrestrials aren't great and really work better obscured or from a distance and the film maybe gets a bit too bold by showing them prominently in the final shot, but there's a decent attempt at conveying them on a shoestring budget so you have to admire that.
If you're a fan of found footage films or alien abduction stories this is definitely well worth a look. It has issues inherent to any film like this but it is passionately made with the amateurish quality helping to sell its home movie aesthetic in an effective fashion.
UFO Abduction (also more commonly known as The McPherson Tape) is a 1989 found footage film written, directed, and starring Dean Alioto made for a relatively modest $6,500. While the film didn't make much of an impact initially, it did eventually find a small cult audience due in no small part to bootlegs of the film with the credits chopped off presented as if it were a real home video recording. While the film certainly has its issues, it's also a passionately made no budget exercise that works given the resources it had on hand.
The chemistry among the cast is very impressive as they have solid timing with each other and do feel like a multigenerational family with distinct roles and personalities such as cameraman Michael played by Dean Alioto whose positioned as something of a screw-up in the family in comparison to his more mature (relatively) brothers Jason and Eric. The film features a similar formula that audiences would come to know better from the much more publicized and culturally defining Blair Witch Project, but in many ways this film feels more fleshed out and substantial with characterizations and scenes even if there is that lingering question of why some things are being recorded at certain times. The effects used for the extraterrestrials aren't great and really work better obscured or from a distance and the film maybe gets a bit too bold by showing them prominently in the final shot, but there's a decent attempt at conveying them on a shoestring budget so you have to admire that.
If you're a fan of found footage films or alien abduction stories this is definitely well worth a look. It has issues inherent to any film like this but it is passionately made with the amateurish quality helping to sell its home movie aesthetic in an effective fashion.