Incident at Loch Ness (2004)

Director:

Zak Penn

Writers:

Werner Herzog (writer) and
Zak Penn (writer)

Release Date:

17 September 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

This fall... There's something in the water

Plot:

A documentary exploring the myth of the Loch Ness monster.

Plot Keywords:

Loch Ness | Loch Ness Monster | Director | Monster | Boat

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Werner Herzog	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV)
Kitana Baker	...	Herself
Gabriel Beristain	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV)
Russell Williams II	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV) (as Russell Williams)
David A. Davidson	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV)
Michael Karnow	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV)
Robert O'Meara	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV)
Zak Penn	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV)
Steven Gardner	...	Himself (Crew of Discovery IV)
John Bailey	...	Crew of Herzog in Wonderland
Matthew Nicolay	...	Crew of Herzog in Wonderland
Tanja Koop	...	Crew of Herzog in Wonderland
Marty Signore	...	Crew of Herzog in Wonderland
Elisabeth Beristain	...	Party Guest
Katherine Ferwerda	...	Party Guest

Also Known As:

The Enigma of Loch Ness (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Loch Ness, Highland, Scotland, UK

Company:

Eden Rock Media

Trivia:

Zak Penn and Werner Herzog perform the DVD commentary while still in character, trading insults frequently, scolding each other and referring to a fake legal agreement that presumably would have been reached after the events take of the film take place. Their argument gets so heated that Herzog 'leaves' and the commentary stops and then restarts, this time hosted by Penn and producer Jana Augsberger.

Quotes:

Werner Herzog: A lot of strange things happened the first day on the boat. And it looked like a confusing puzzle to me while I was working there. But at the end of the day, somehow everything fell into place, and I knew, I just knew that there was something seriously wrong.

Movie Connections:

Features La Soufrière - Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe (1977)

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

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.