Candace Cameron

(In French, On Cable TV, July 2022) Many basic film viewers will often recoil at the thought of “an old movie, ugh!”, but for others, the age of a movie is its point—it may not be all that original or well made, but if it can exemplify the flavour of its time, a film can justify its existence as a capture of something very specific. There’s little doubt that Visitors of the Night (1995) is a terrible film: it plays X-Files era alien-abduction clichés as straight as possible, all the way to the Grey aliens of folklore. Much of the plot has to do with a mother (Markie Post) noticing an accumulation of eerie details about her small town, and suspecting that her daughter (Candace Cameron) may have been the product of an alien abduction. But hold on to your horses if you think this is going to be interesting, because the execution of this made-for-TV film is about as dull and generic as can be—even the two lead actresses seem to have been extruded from a 1990s central casting cloning agency. Elements of UFO lore are remixed without wit and executed with mediocre special effects. Much of the non-alien plot seems lifted from movies of the week about divorced moms thinking that their teenage kids are doing drugs. It’s really not that good, not interesting, not entertaining at all—but if you want an undiluted blend of 1990s parenting fears and alien hysteria, Visitors of the Night is where to go.