UFOS: IT HAS BEGUN (1979)
Article 4555 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-6-2014
Directed by Ray Rivas
Featuring Jose Ferrer, Burgess Meredith, Rod Serling
Country: USA
What it is: UFO documentary

The existence and nature of UFOs are discussed, with particular emphasis on government research and cattle mutilations.

When I first started reviewing UFO documentaries for this series, I decided to keep my own skepticism in check and watch them in regard to their entertainment value, and some of them worked well enough on this level. I’ve seen enough of them by this time that any novelty value has worn off. This one has a fairly high rating on IMDB, which makes me suspect it’s one of the more highly regarded of these types of movies, and though I do find the proceedings less sensationalistic than usual, the movie amounts to mostly lots of people talking about UFO experiences combined with re-enactments involving actors, and overall, it’s a bit on the dull side and doesn’t really contain a lot that is new, though this is the first one I’ve seen that really delves into the cattle mutilations. Most of it is narrated by Serling (with aid during one sequence by Ferrer and Meredith) while the whole cattle mutilation sequence is narrated by someone else and feels somewhat tacked on to the movie. My guess is that the movie will be a lot more interesting for believers than skeptics, though I doubt it will change anyone’s mind on the subject.