Incident at Loch Ness

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Incident at Loch Ness
Directed by	Zak Penn
Written by	Werner Herzog Zak Penn
Starring	Werner Herzog
Music by	Henning Lohner Lorne Balfe
Cinematography	John Bailey
Release date(s)	2004
Running time	94 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Incident at Loch Ness is a mockumentary starring Werner Herzog and Zak Penn. The small cast film follows Herzog and his crew (Gabriel Beristain, Russel Williams) while working on the production of a movie on the Loch Ness Monster.

[edit] Plot summary

Incident at Loch Ness begins as a documentary. The movie (introduced as Herzog In Wonderland), begins with an interview of Herzog's work on a separate documentary Enigma of Loch Ness, in which he is trying to disprove the Loch Ness Monster myth. Throughout the film, Herzog asserts the Loch Ness Monster is merely a false creation of a collective psychological need in society.

As the film continues, Herzog hosts a dinner party to kick off film production. In attendance are his wife (Lena Herzog), several Hollywood celebrities (Jeff Goldblum, Crispin Glover), and the film's crew. Difficulties begin to arise as the new producer, Zak Penn, attempts to transform Herzog's film into a high-grossing blockbuster. In this attempt, Penn commits several hollywood clichés such as including a remote-controlled Loch Ness monster, hiring a Playboy model (Kitana Baker) for a phony role, and an un-educated cryptozoologist (Michael Karnow) for comic relief. These characters not only add to the conflict of the story line but provide opportunities for the documentary to become a mockumentary.

Several dramas unfold, but while they are occurring, things become more and more 'staged' in the film we are watching ("Herzog In Wonderland"). Situations for jokes are created a little too perfectly, the members of the crew become characterized into contrived roles; even Herzog's behaviour appears staged. In a twist of events, when Herzog and his crew are working on their film, the crew sees what they come to believe is truly the Loch Ness Monster. Herzog and crew are terrified, they were making their film about how the Loch Ness Monster is fiction; some crew members decide to leave. At this point, Herzog and Penn are half-believing in the Loch Ness Monster, and viewers of this film are half-believing the authenticity of the film they are watching. Eventually Nessie returns and capsizes the boat, there are mock-horror scenes, and noticeably poor special effects. At this point, it appears that both the documentary film we have been watching as well as the documentary film we were watching Herzog make are both fictional. However, this never becomes completely obvious, and the film ends without making it clear exactly who is duping who. In the credits, Herzog and Penn are listed as writer and director repectively, as well as actors. There are also credits for stunt coordination, as well as special effects and creature creation.

[edit] External links

• Incident at Loch Ness at the Internet Movie Database