The UFO Incident Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The UFO Incident Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 3, 2022

Richard A. Colla's "The UFO Incident" (1975) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include an exclusive new audio commentary by filmmaker and critic Gary Gerani as well as the documentary "Romantic Mysticism: The Music of Billy Goldenberg". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

I had planned to publish this review of Richard A. Colla’s The UFO Incident last month, but on the day after I viewed the film, I changed my mind. I purchased John G. Fullard’s novel “The Interrupted Journey”, which was the inspiration for the film, and shortly after I picked up Stanton T. Friedman and Kathleen Marden’s novel “Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience: The True Story of the World’s First Documented Alien Abduction”. I have now read both novels and encourage you to consider picking them as well if you enjoy the film and are intrigued by the story it tells. The film accurately reproduces the crucial material from Fullard’s novel, but the text descriptions are richer and make the story even more intriguing. Friedman and Marden’s novel fills some gaps and expands the scope of the story, so there is a lot to learn from it as well.

The story that is at the center of Colla’s film is not very long. In 1961, on a pleasant September night, while driving on Route 3 somewhere near Lincoln, NH, Betty and Barney Hill apparently had a close encounter with a flying object which they determined was a UFO. Their minds then discarded approximately two hours of events that occurred during their experience. Shortly after, to understand precisely what they had dealt with, Betty and Barney agreed to be hypnotized by Dr. Benjamin Simon (Barnard Hughes).

Colla’s film is fractured into multiple small sections in which Betty and Barney have their minds forced to release what they had registered during the missing two hours. Why forced? Because the only way in which the missing can be accessed is while the two are under hypnosis. Also, and this is a very, very important detail, Betty and Barney have multiple individual sessions with Dr. Simon so that they do not influence each other during the recovery process. After each session, Dr. Simon compares their statements, looks for discrepancies, and carefully reconstructs their experience. Dr. Simon’s most significant conclusion is that Betty and Barnie’s “lost” memories of their experience are identical. Why is this significant? Because cheaters cannot synchronize responses while they are hypnotized.

The simple format of the film is quite effective because it makes it very easy for the viewer to stay focused on Betty and Barney’s incoming statements. However, this does not mean that the film becomes one-dimensional and lacks a great ambience. On the contrary, the simple format instantly creates the impression that their experience ought to be taken extremely seriously, which is pretty spooky, and when short flashbacks begin visualizing bits of their recovered memories, the film develops quite the ambience. (Something similar occurs in Fire in the Sky, though the strange experience that is at the center of it is reconstructed with far more elaborate flashbacks).

At the end of the film, a narrator highlights a few astonishing facts from Betty and Barney’s story, which inspired me to purchase the novels that are referenced at the top of this article. I am quoting them:

“In 1963, under hypnotic suggestion, Betty Hill drew from memory the map shown to her aboard the spacecraft (where she was apparently taken during the UFO incident). Astronomers became fascinated, for what if the map corresponded to a pattern of real stars from an alien viewpoint? Astronomers reasoned that the majority of star systems likely to have life-supporting planets were located in the obscure southern constellation of Reticulum. Yet, three stars in the cluster were unknown until 1969. No astronomer on earth knew their position in 1963. But that same year, Betty Hill drew a map which contained these undiscovered stars. Astronomers at Ohio State University requested a computer to put them in their correct position out beyond the incredible double-star system of Zeta Reticuli I and Zeta Reticuli II, 220 trillion miles, 37 light years away from earth, looking toward our sun. And the computer duplicated, with virtually no variation, the now famous map of Betty Hill.”

***

Also included on this Blu-ray release is Gary Gerani's brand new documentary Romantic Mysticism: The Music of Billy Goldenberg, which offers a fascinating look at the life and illustrious career of film music composer Billy Goldenberg. Over the years, Mr. Goldenberg worked with some of Hollywood's most prominent directors and stars, and his scores helped define the personalities of such cult and classic films and TV shows as Duel, Play It Again, Sam, Reuben, Reuben, Fear No Evil, Kojak, and Columbo. Mr. Goldenberg also created a very dark and atmospheric score for The UFO Incident.

The UFO Incident Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The UFO Incident arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a very nice exclusive new 2K master. Generally speaking, delineation, clarity, and depth are either good or very good. Occasionally, in darker areas, some finer nuances are not as nicely exposed as they should be, but I think that the overall quality of the visuals remains very strong. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Ideally, grain exposure should be slightly better, but there is nothing to be concerned about. (Virtually the entire film has the type of look you would expect from a master that may have been struck from an interpositive). Color balance is convincing. There is one area where the blue nuances could have been handled better, but the rest looks very nice (you can see an example in screencapture #16). Image stability is very good. All in all, even though there is room for minor adjustments, the new master offers a very pleasing organic presentation of the film. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The UFO Incident Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The original soundtrack does not produce any memorable dynamic contrasts. However, Billy Goldenberg's score does plenty of interesting things to enhance the film's ambience, so there are some fine subtle nuances. The dialog is always clear, sharp, and easy to follow. I notice some very minor unevenness in the upper register, but there are no serious age-related imperfections.

The UFO Incident Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "Romantic Mysticism: The Music of Billy Goldenberg" (2022) - Gary Gerani's new documentary explores the life and illustrious career of film music composer Billy Goldenberg. Over the years, Mr. Goldenberg worked with some of Hollywood's most prominent directors and stars, and his scores helped define the personalities of such cult and classic films and TV shows as Duel, Play It Again, Sam, Reuben, Reuben, Fear No Evil, Kojak, and Columbo. The documentary features clips from exclusive new interviews with Goldenberg and Gerani, Robert Wagner, Norman Lloyd, Susan Clark, John Badham, Estelle Parsons, Thomas Schumacher, and Lalo Schifrin, amongst others. In English, not subtitled. DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. 1080p. (102 min).

• Commentary - in this exclusive new audio commentary, filmmaker and critic Gary Gerani discusses the original story that inspired The UFO Incident, the film's conception and visual style, the narrative construction and tone of the drama, James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons' chemistry before the camera, and Richard A. Colla's direction.

The UFO Incident Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Did Betty and Barney Hill have an encounter with alien visitors from another galaxy? After viewing Richard A. Colla's made-for-TV film The UFO Incident last month, I instantly purchased two very good novels to find out more about Betty and Barney's experience. The memory map that Betty drew after it was apparently shown to her by the visitors and then a computer reproduced it some years later is, to put it mildly, a pretty incredible development. There is a lot more in this story that sounds astonishing, too. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release of The UFO Incident is sourced from a very nice exclusive new 2K master. Also included on it as a bonus is Gary Gerani's wonderful new documentary Romantic Mysticism: The Music of Billy Goldenberg. If you decide to pick up The UFO Incident and reside outside of North America, please keep in mind that it is Region-A "locked". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.