* AdaptationDisplacement: ''Incident in Lake County'' is a remake of ''The [=McPherson=] Tape'', an indie horror film by the same director which saw a limited release in 1989. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhfZnIKvnQs 1989 original]] is actually far more chilling, and frankly starkly realistic, than the remake, even excluding the bad TV Cut. The crudity of the camcorder footage is only too believable for going on 25 years ago.
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** Do the aliens mess with the appliances, electricity etc to troll the family? Or are they keeping their distance because they don't know how well they can fight back? Kurt for example was able to subdue one with a shotgun - so maybe the aliens are testing the water. Or perhaps they're trying to flush them out of the house, like they did to Kurt, Brian and Matthew?
** Similarly, are the aliens scoping out the house before attacking, or were they investigating with no intention of harming anyone until Kurt shot one of them?
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The makeout between Matthew and Linda - where it's implied that the aliens influenced them to do so. The two don't really reference it afterwards, and the aliens don't seem to have any reason to do it other than to mess with them. The scene was stated by WordOfGod to be one of several written as {{Padding}} so they could bump the movie up to ninety minutes. Of those sequences, it's definitely the one that stands out the worst.
* BrokenBase: The performances. One half finds them unrealistic, another finds them believable.
* {{Fanon}}: A common fan theory is that Rosie is part alien, hence why she helps them. One of the talking heads thinks she's possessed.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: During the chase, Tommy realises he's peed his pants over the whole thing.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Strange beings that distort the camera? Why does that [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets sound familiar?]]
** Brian scoffs at Tommy for buying the video camera, and his directing aspirations. Michael Buie (Brian) became a director, while Kristian Ayre (Tommy) didn't.
** Mel's actress would later star on ''Stargate'', getting a more direct connection to space.
* IAmNotShazam: The original version is frequently released under the title of "''The [=McPherson=] Tape''", but the family in that film is actually named Van Heese; they were only renamed [=McPherson=] for the remake.
* MemeticMutation: It's something of a game for fans to mock that the mother is never seen without a glass of wine. She only puts it down once in the movie to sweep up some glass.
* {{Narm}}: Kurt's rather on-the-nose reaction to Mel bringing a black man to dinner is a bit too theatrical to be realistic compared to the rest of the otherwise very down-to-earth movie. It's also completely unnecessary, as the next scene would have Kurt complaining about it to his brothers.
* NarmCharm: The mother thinking that the aliens messing with the house is her late husband's ghost. It should be ridiculous, but mostly just ends up being incredibly sad.
* OlderThanTheyThink: This film pre-dates both ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' and M. Night Shyamalan's ''Film/{{Signs}}''. It isn't the originator of the 'found footage' genre though - that belongs to ''Cannibal Holocaust''. The 1989 original was in fact inspired by ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds1938''.
* OnceOriginalNowCommon: Much like ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'', this early found footage film took its concept very seriously, and went to great lengths to try and look realistic. Many now grown up fans admitted to be terrified of how realistic it looked at the time. After a wave of more polished found footage films in the 2000s and 2010s, newer fans might not find anything too radical or special about this.
* ParanoiaFuel:
** The aliens making the appliances go haywire is understandable, if quite freaky. But the fact that Matthew and Linda start kissing, thinking they're kissing their spouses... especially if it means the aliens can MindRape from far away.
** [[spoiler:Its heavily hinted that the [=McPhersons=] have been abducted before and never knew it. Imagine going through your life never knowing you were taken and experimented on like that until you find out in the worst way imaginable.]]
* RetroactiveRecognition: Viewers may be taken out of the film now that they can recognise Renee from ''{{Series/Entourage}}'', Mel from ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' and Brian from ''Series/GreysAnatomy''.
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** The "static" effect in the TV Cut, which, at one point, [[EpicFail doesn't even cover up the timer]]. The original cut does the static much better.
** The original has the scene where Kurt shoots the alien with his shotgun. The gun clearly has a cap in it, as the sound isn't as loud.
* TearJerker: Tommy's confessional to the camera, where he wishes his dad was still around. He's essentially realised that [[spoiler:both his brothers and Matthew]] are gone, and [[spoiler:Renee]] is definitely dead. And he has no idea if the rest of his family will survive the night. [[spoiler: They don't]].
* UnbuiltTrope: As the first true found footage film (as ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' deals with the search for the footage as well), this also has talking heads debating whether or not the footage is real.
* TheWoobie: Tommy even before the aliens attack. His dad is dead, his mother is a raging alcoholic, and he has to take care of her since his brothers and sister live far away.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The special effects for the aliens are ''incredibly'' impressive for such a low-budget production, aided by the good direction that plays NothingIsScarier for all its worth.
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