Incident at Loch Ness (2004) Reviews

• Everything The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast wanted to be!

  BrandtSponseller2005-03-05

  The film appears to be a documentary about John Bailey making a documentary, "Herzog in Wonderland", about director Werner Herzog, who is himself undertaking a documentary seeking the truth behind the Loch Ness Monster and the cultural facts that lead to such beliefs. We witness Herzog and his crew from the earliest stages of their supposed documentary. Problems begin creeping up almost immediately, growing in severity until everyone's documentaries are abandoned in a climactic horrific incident--the Incident at Loch Ness. This is really a brilliant film. The appearance is just a conceit. What's really going on is a very clever nested mockumentary that is basically This is Spinal Tap (1984) meets The Blair Witch Project (1999) in attitude and tone, with the twist that our protagonists are not fictional characters, but real people playing spoofed version of themselves. Similar to some other recent faux documentaries, Incident at Loch Ness plays with the difference between truth and falsehood, fact and fiction, cinematic illusions and reality, while explicitly claiming to explore the same, occasionally untruthfully, in a cinematic equivalent to Epimenides' famous paradox, where a Cretan is claiming that "All Cretans are liars". It's sly enough to even make a committed postmodernist's head spin, and unlike other attempts at similar material from other filmmakers, Incident at Loch Ness has insightful things to say on many different levels--the postmodern playfulness isn't just pretentious here. In fact, this is the film, minus the humor perhaps, that The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast (1988) wanted to be. Unlike those films, here documentary really seems like documentary. First-time director Zak Penn (who is an experienced screenwriter) is smart and knowledgeable enough to know that documentaries (and even home movies) do not tend to look like they were filmed by someone having a seizure (both BWP and TLB), and they do not tend to feature monotone, extremely amateur comments from the faux interviewees which are then arbitrarily edited into frequently repeating snippets (TLB). Penn's intelligent approach results in Incident at Loch Ness feeling "real", which is exactly what it needs to do. The verisimilitude is only belied by the very funny, increasingly absurdest plot, when we're firmly in This is Spinal Tap territory. Like This is Spinal Tap, Incident at Loch Ness is as funny as it is because it is so close to the truth. It only slightly exaggerates what really happens in the world of film and television--the ridiculous moves by producers in the hope of creating a more profitable product, the personality clashes and often "political" and subversive machinations in behind-the-scenes relationships, the toying with "the real" in reality shows and documentaries--giving the satire a lot more weight. For Herzog fans, there is a hilarious spoof overview of his past work near the beginning of the film, and fans will also simply delight in Herzog being able to poke fun at himself so easily and naturalistically. But in trumping BWP and TLB, Incident at Loch Ness is a very realistic horror film as well, with horror coming not only in the climax when some characters end up dead, but all throughout the film with various minor disasters/problems, all threatening to send the feigned Herzog documentary to hell in a hand basket. Incident at Loch Ness wouldn't have worked without excellent performances, making it even more notable in that the majority of the cast are not most well known, or even very experienced in some cases, as actors. The DVD is worth checking out, as Penn and Herzog do the main commentary in character. There are ample deleted scenes and lots of Easter eggs, as well, including hidden "serious" commentary.

• Clever, Amusing, Con Job That Leaves You Wondering

  Cheetah-62004-12-25

  Like a big budget Blair Witch Project this is a clever and amusing con job that shows the manipulative power of the documentary but as the film becomes more and more preposterous and the con becomes more obvious the joke goes a bit flat. Lately the documentary genre has been messed with royally with blending opinion and personal agenda with fact mainly for entertainment value ala Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, but this one side steps in yet another direction and seems to me to be satirizing the whole mocumentary process which would make it a joke within a joke and a true original. It's not entirely clear if this is the intent of the film, which only adds to the enigma. I like to think it is. It is refreshing to see a legend like Herzog willing to poke fun at his own obsessive reputation and it's his charismatic presence that carries the film. I don't know when the mocumentary first showed up in film but one of the first I recall that's well worth checking out if you like this sort of thing is Woody Allen's great from 1983: Zelig.

• Loopy Fun

  snake772004-12-16

  One long put-on. Anybody seeing this film thinking they are in for some kind of consciousness raising is in trouble. But if you want to see some Hollywood vets hamming it up and making fun of themselves (and the all too often self-serious documentary genre) you are in for a treat. The iconic Herzog is fabulously game, playing himself as the embattled "director" of a documentary about the legend of Loch Ness. Zak Penn plays the "producer" with devilish glee, sending up many of the arrogant sycophants he's no doubt worked with. As Herzog tries to make a serious film examining myth and reality, Penn hilariously decides that the "dramatic tension" would be enhanced by, among other things, making the sonar operator a bikini-clad sex bomb and filming a delightfully bad remote controlled fake "Nessie". Herzog discovers he's been tricked and threatens to quit, but ultimately decides to continue out of a misplaced sense of professional duty (or is it that he's starting to believe in the monster?). Then things get really weird, until the whole film happily disintegrates into a Blair Witch-style horror spoof. Everybody else in the "crew" gets in on the fun, and the laughs abound. It's great to see films folks satirize themselves (nobody does it better) and you'll have an enjoyable time going along with them.

• Werner Herzog Does Comedy

  pdx35252005-01-09

  Who knew that Werner Herzog – the director of "Aguirre: the Wrath of God", "Fitzcarraldo", and other weighty dramas -- could do comedy? Herzog proves it here in Zak Penn's terrific send-up of "the making of the movie" documentary. "Incident at Loch" purports to document a film Herzog sets out to make in Scotland about the Loch Ness monster. Overseeing the production is Penn, a successful screenwriter. Along for the ride are a famous cinematographer, an Academy award winning sound man, a Playboy model, and a radio controlled six-foot "Nessie." Penn puts it all together in a clever, inventive way. The result is one of the most original – and funniest – movies of the year.

• Lightly funny and very entertaining.

  stormruston2005-10-16

  My wife watched this for 45 min before asking me if this was a fake documentary as I did not let on when I put it on for us. I really enjoyed this movie.Herzog is both a huge ham and absolutely sincere at the same time, what a joy to listen to him talk.Penn as the "producer" is great as he trys to improve the movie with a bit of sex and silly props,he manages slim quite nicely and it is obvious he enjoyed playing the roll. This show is basically a movie within a movie, a Documentary about Herzogs making his latest documentary on the Loc Ness monster(and the fact that it is a myth). It is cleverly done and even manages to make one jump a couple of times. Tongue in cheek and gently amusing, certainly worth watching.