Area 51 (2015)

(In French, On Cable TV, April 2020) Five years later, the only thing anyone remembers about Area 51 is that it was writer-director Oren Peli’s underwhelming follow-up to the Paranormal Activity series. After four years on the shelves (as per the final credit card clearly stating that the film has a 2011 copyright notice), Area 51 got scathing notices, dismal box-office results and no cultural impact whatsoever, landing Peli in the so-called director’s jail from which he hasn’t emerged. (Don’t cry for him—he’s making bank out of producing endless Paranormal Activity and Insidious sequels.) It has a promise that could have been interesting, as it follows a few young conspiracy theorists as they infiltrate… you’ll never guess it… Area 51. Alas, it’s all executed found-footage-style, which sounds even worse now than in 2015. The best kinds of found-footage horror movies use the form to heighten the realism of a story, but in this case, it only serves in making it seem much smaller and contrived. It doesn’t help that Area 51 merely riffs off the usual clichés of found footage and alien abductions all the way to a trite ending, not making much out of its science-fictional setting. The characters are annoying and the sets are so dark that you wonder how it’s supposed to be real. Accordingly, it’s hard to care even in what the film intends to showcase as its big moments. Some of Area 51’s concepts are good, but the execution simply irritates more than it succeeds. No wonder everyone forgot about it.