The Reel Review
Following the suspicious September 2012 death of his mother, Teddy Kyle Smith, a once admired Iñupiaq actor, shoots a couple of hunters while fleeing on foot through northern Alaska. His claim? That Iñukens, mythical “little people” who have existed for centuries in Iñupiaq culture, were stalking and possessing him. This Hulu crime documentary is based on the 2020 audiobook “Midnight Son” from writer James Dommek Jr.
The film describes Iñukens as sometimes menacing figures lurking in the darkness who possess those who break the taboo of speaking about them as well as those who wander too far from home. Great, but isn’t it also just as likely that Smith, then a known alcoholic with several run-ins with authorities, could have been hallucinating after a bender or perhaps just suffered from a psychotic break? The film only touches briefly on that.
The sluggish and very flimsy story finally gets to its most fascinating revelation in the third act, when Alaska native Mary Black shares her experiences (and video!) of her incredible discovery of a village of little rock homes on a mountain ledge in the very remote area where Smith was captured. THAT should have been the focus of this mildly interesting but otherwise mediocre crime documentary.
REEL FACTS
• The Bureau of Land Management has since cordoned off the area containing the little rock houses, placing a five-to-ten-mile buffer zone around the site to protect it.
• Teddy Kyle Smith is serving a maximum 99-year prison sentence for attempted murder for shooting the two brothers. His mother’s death was ruled as inconclusive.
• Teddy Kyle Smith co-starred in the 2011 film On the Ice, about two cousins tested when disaster strikes during a seal hunting trip.
Video & Photo
