Overview
Coming off the back of Portals to Hell and The Osbournes Want to Believe, Jack Osbourne steps into the unknown again in Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs. Though he doesn’t have his family with him this time, Jack is joined by actors Jason Mewes and Jamie Kennedy on a hunt for proof of extraterrestrial life.
Obsessed with the concept of aliens since childhood, Jack steps out of his more traditionally paranormal role of ghost hunter in the second installment of Night of Terror. The investigation takes him and his team to Skinwalker Ranch in Utah’s Uinta Basin, a hotbed of alien activity, where they hope to find evidence that humanity has friends, or enemies, among the stars.
Jack Osbourne has had a significant springboard to success. That said, his first foray into the supernatural with Portals to Hell received decent ratings from the paranormal community and afforded him paranormal investigator status. Can he keep it up with this two-hour special, or does Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs burn up on reentry? Let’s find out…
Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs Air Date
In August 2022, Discovery announced Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs would be a standalone two-hour special hosted on the Discovery+ streaming service. It was released on September 3rd, 2022, almost three months after the previous installment, Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: Bigfoot.
Despite being advertised as a two-hour special, the program had a runtime of just under one and a half hours. Initial buzz was mixed, expressing an interest in the unusual lineup but also skepticism about the originality of Jack’s potential findings, given that this is far from the first documentary about Skinwalker Ranch.
The Creation and Production
Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs was produced by Osbourne Media, a production company of which Jack is president. They claim to “make edgy, meme-worthy, kick-ass unscripted content,” which may or may not bode well for alien investigation. However, they did produce Portals to Hell, and that show was almost always serious, if not scientific, in its approach.
Unsurprisingly, Jack takes an executive producer credit, alongside Peter Glowski and Rob Saffi (The Holzer Files, Paranormal Lockdown, Fright Club). Other producers include:
- Stephen Lee Carr – Co-Executive Producer
- William De Bolt – Line Producer
- Hannah Brown – Supervising Producer
- Erik Pinkston – Senior Producer
- Ian Golding – Story Producer
- Chris Baugh – Story Producer
Production was managed by Chris Celentano and Tiffany Welch, and coordinated by Pete Hernandez. Addison Miller acted as director of photography, with a camera team consisting of Chris Stevens and Chris Olmedo as camera operators, and Kadi Lee as digital imaging technician.
Editing was completed by a team of four people led by Bogdan Bageag, and supervised by Andrew Raley at Revolution Post.
Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs Cast Members
The team of hosts for Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs consists of three individuals, only one of whom could be considered a paranormal investigator. The hosts are:
Jack Osbourne
The titular host, Jack, was fascinated with the paranormal from an early age, though he rarely had supernatural experiences as a child. Instead, he grew up watching paranormal shows when they boomed in the early 2000s and always wanted to do it himself. He starred as a host on Haunted Highways, before focusing on his job as a producer.
Eventually, Travel Channel reached out to ask whether he would be willing to host Portals to Hell, and they have had a working relationship since. Describing himself as an “enthusiast that’s lucky to be in this position,” he admits he doesn’t have the same expertise as others in the paranormal genre, but that that’s as much a strength as it is a weakness as he can relate to audiences. Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs is the second installment in the series after his investigation of Bigfoot.
Jason Mewes
Jason also goes by Jay, as in Jay and Silent Bob, and is about as far from a paranormal investigator as one can be. But, this certainly doesn’t dampen his sense of adventure and openness to supernatural experiences. He has been a horror movie fan from a very young age and has even starred in multiple horror movies such as Feast and The Watermen.
After he joins his friend Jack Osbourne on their hunt for Bigfoot, he returns to lend his lack of expertise in their investigation of the Uinta Basin. In the show’s opening, he admits that “for anything that’s not right up in my face truth it makes me a little skeptical,” but that “it would be an amazing triumph to get evidence of a UFO.”
Jamie Kennedy
On the other hand, Jamie Kennedy has a history with UFOs, having shared a fascination for them with his father since childhood. He starred in movies such as Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, Scream 2, and Son of the Mask and didn’t pursue contact with the paranormal.
However, he admitted he’s “always wanted to,” investigate the possibility of aliens but has “never actively pursued it.” After the first installment of Night of Terror, Jamie was invited to join Jack and Jason for this reason. He said he was excited to go on the trip with people he could trust and find things he couldn’t explain.
Primary Focus of the Show
Despite the title indicating that Jack and the boys will investigate UFOs, this Night of Terror installment is more of an investigation of Skinwalker Ranch and the wider Uinta Basin. There are accounts of UFOs and alien encounters in the area, but no one can be sure whether these beings are supernatural or from another planet.
The team spend some time interviewing experts in the area to provide some context and add credibility to their investigations. They also discover that the area is known as a ‘living laboratory’ where it’s said multiple government organizations are also studying the unexplained phenomena that Jack and the boys hope to encounter.
They head out on their first night to investigate with static cameras, torches, thermal cameras, parabolic reflectors, scopes, and night vision cameras made with white phosphor. They also try to use ghost-hunting techniques, such as calling out to anything not of this world to make contact, in an attempt to speak to the forces. This is all quite amusing, considering Warner Brothers promised that the boys would make use of “state-of-the-art technology and specialty equipment.”
After catching unusual flashes in the sky, the boys interview some eyewitnesses who discuss negative energy from Native American burial grounds nearby and the prevalence of skinwalkers in the area. The investigation pivots here and loses its focus on UFOs as the boys head out for their second night of investigations at Fantasy Canton.
Acting on the advice of local Native American elders, they leave an offering to the skinwalkers of Marlboro Reds and a can of Costco brand corn to appease them, which Jason then chops in half with a machete, citing that mythical medicine men may not have the technology to open a can. After this interlude, they do happen to catch some interesting phenomena and attempt to investigate the occurrences further, but more so to prove their legitimacy rather than debunk them.
The Show’s Impact on the Paranormal Community
Thanks to the marketing efforts of Discovery+, the show does seem to have drummed up some buzz for its release among paranormal fans. Many individuals expected that the show wouldn’t be as serious as others in the genre, and those who went in with few expectations for scientific investigation seem to have enjoyed the final product the most.
Most of the praise for Night of Terror: UFOs is directed at the “interesting lineup,” with fans stating, “Jack Osbourne, Jason Mewes, and Jamie Kennedy walk into a bar…and I’d watch 4 seasons of that.” Others concurred, “That is one motley crew of individuals… might be worth a watch just for the comedic value,” and that they “watched the whole show and it was really fun!”
Favorable audiences were eager to chime in and give their opinion on what the boys captured. However, critics certainly haven’t been as kind to the show as those who were previously familiar with the hosts’ projects, but we’ll dive into that later.
The Show’s Season and Episodes
Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror is an ongoing production, with two specials released in 2022: Bigfoot and UFOs. There is also an earlier iteration of the show titled The Osbournes: Night of Terror, which sees the famous family taking on a more traditional ghost hunt.
Famous Guest Appearances
The boys talk to several related parties to give context to their investigation, but only a few of these are known by fans of the paranormal genre. These include:
Ben Hansen
Like Jack, Ben first became fascinated by extraterrestrials after watching The X-Files. He completed a Master’s Degree in disaster management by examining what psychological effects contact with extraterrestrials might produce. He created the show Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files alongside SyFy and has since starred in Paranormal Lockdown, Ghosts of Morgan City, and Shock Docs. In Night of Terror, he assists the boys with their initial investigation of the skies over Uinta Basin.
James Keenan
After graduating from the University of California with a degree in anthropology and archeology, James has authored several books on “locations of high strangeness.” He is most interested in the supernatural aspects of civilizations beyond our own and shares some of his knowledge on this topic with Jamie Kennedy in Night of Terror. He has also lent his expertise to Curse of Skinwalker Ranch and Mysteries Decoded.
Controversies and Criticisms
Many viewers were apprehensive about Night of Terror, given that entire documentaries have been made about Skinwalker Ranch and provide a more in-depth look at the phenomena that occur there.
“They already did a documentary on Skinwalker Ranch. Still didn’t find any UFOs. How is Jack gonna find one….” one viewer commented, while others agreed, “The fact that the Ranch is off limits to actual researchers, but open to film crews should be all you need to know.”
Voicesfromthebalcony.com criticized the casting, stating, “By bringing along Kennedy and Mewes instead of trained investigators Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs kills the possibility of informed discussion within the group about what they’re seeing.”
Some viewers agreed, with one stating “I wish they would take it a bit more seriously. Jack is very serious about it but the the other guys act like it’s all a joke. Glad Jack brought in Ben Hansen. He’s a very good UFO investigator. The other two guys just makes me turn it off.”
Otakunoculture summed up their criticism: “All this piece of weird online streaming programming offers is to show three boys chasing a dream, and camping out in hopes something happens,” ultimately rating it 2.5 stars out of 5. The show maintains a 4.5 star out of 10 rating on IMDb, with the sole user review titled “Oh Dear…” lamenting that “It is like all the worst bits from programs that fail to show anything and then made into a concentrated fluid and spurted out all over my senses.”
Future Outlook
Though Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs is a standalone special, more two-hour-long installments in the series are reportedly on their way for the 2023 spooky season. The newest episode is premiering Sunday, October 1st, this time on TV hosted by Travel Channel. Jack will be joined not only by Jason and Jamie, but his entire family.
As for Night of Terror: UFOs, the show is a unique offering in the genre in the sense that it doesn’t seem to take itself or its subject matter all that seriously, while simultaneously including quite a lot of information on the topic at hand. Though the cast are not paranormal investigators, bar Jack, they seem happy to be there, and their enthusiasm for alien life is infectious.
The music and sound effects are the same generic, ‘spooky’ embellishments intended to heighten the lack of terrifying phenomena found on screen, but it appears most paranormal fans have by now learned to tune them out. It’s a shame more paranormal experts don’t have the framework or name recognition to make shows of this nature because, though they are not scientific or scary in the slightest, they are highly enjoyable for those looking for laughs.
Conclusion
Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs possesses an irreverence that renders the show surprisingly endearing. Despite what some critics have mentioned, the hosts are fun and do their best even if they don’t know how to apply scientific analysis to what they’re witnessing.
Usually, when I write these overviews, I skim a few episodes of every season of a paranormal TV show to get a feel for it and how it’s changed over the years. When I went into this show, I expected to skip a few minutes here and there to get through the lengthy runtime. In actuality, I didn’t skip a second, finding it quite engaging even when nothing much was happening.
Night of Terror: UFOs is not scary, and if you’re looking for genuine paranormal investigation, you probably won’t be a fan of this one. But, if you’re familiar with the cast members and don’t have high expectations for the content, there’s a good chance you’ll find a lot to love here. Give it the benefit of the doubt and see what you think.