Phoenix Forgotten

Not a bad film, found it enjoyable, the story was well laid out, for a low budget film I would recommend checking this film out. A good interesting found footage story, worth checking out for sci fi horror fans.

Those words are what I was literally screaming in my head beginning about a half an hour into the film, as the first act of the movie went on and on with all these unnecessary and drawn-out interviews with the family members and friends of the three teenagers who went missing back in 97' after the Phoenix Lights incident in Phoenix, Arizona. I honestly felt like I was watching a faux documentary on the film, perhaps something to watch in the special features section of the DVD when it comes out, but it made up over half of the movie!

The sad thing, this film had a lot of promise and potential, and so much of it was squandered in the end. The Phoenix Lights, unlike The Blair Witch, which this film, quite rightfully, is constantly accused of being a ripoff of, was a real phenomenon which took place twenty years ago. To this day it was never really been explained, and while there are tons of individuals out there claiming to know what took place, it still remains a mystery to the general public. Also, some very interesting ideas regarding the Ancient Astronauts Mythos, with references to Merkabah or Ezekiel's wheel from the Old Testament actually providing some insight into the mystery later on in the "found footage" part of the movie when you find out what really happened to the three missing teenagers, Mark, Josh, and Ashley.

In addition to this, some potential for emotional depth and drama regarding the younger sister of Josh who went missing back in 97, regarding her current goal of attempting to find out what really happened to him by creating the "documentary" part of the film, also never amounts to very much. I understand this isn't some deep Hollywood drama about what the mental states of the friends and family of those unfortunate people who are never heard from again, but it could have been a lot more in-depth than it was without losing focus.

In the end however, it ultimately falls prey to far too many of the clichés and pitfalls which unfortunately plague almost every "found footage" horror movie these days, and yes, at times, it seems very reminiscent of an earlier film nowadays regarded as a classic, 1999's The Blair Witch Project. A real shame because for quite a while towards the end when it finally shows what happened to them, it was genuinely eerie and foreboding but then of course the ending itself manages to be one of the most anti-climactic I've ever seen. It was okay I guess, but falls far from greatness.

I thought I would hate this movie when I saw the trailer. I've been fooled before by found footage horror movies about people going to a secluded place in search of the supernatural, yadah yadah yadah. Usually they're terrible, but I saw this one and was pleasantly surprised. My biggest complaint is that the part of the movie focusing on the documentarian who has found this footage, the real meat of the movie, isn't very engaging at all. Half of the movie focuses on 3 kids trying to find proof of aliens, but we are gradually shown this story through the story of the main kid's sister uncovering the footage. Whenever it cut back to the sister, I just wanted to get back to the main plot. However, the long setup is very much worth the payoff at the very end. This is a slow burn film that takes a while for the important events to happen, but the final act of the film is well worth the wait. I don't often get scared by horror movies, but the ending of this films kind of terrified me. Paranoia slowly builds until we're treated to a very tense ending that gives enough closure to satisfy but also leaves a few things to the imagination. Phoenix forgotten isn't fantastic, but for what it's worth, it's much better than most of the other formulaic horror movies studios are currently cranking out. It's well acted and produced, and I liked it. Don't be expecting to much, but if you're in the mood for a good UFO movie, I'd recommend it.

'PHOENIX FORGOTTEN': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A low-budget horror flick about three missing teenagers, that were trying to find the source of a 1997 UFO phenomenon called 'Phoenix Lights' (when they disappeared 20-years earlier). Newly discovered found footage shows the teens' final hours (before they vanished). The film was directed by debut feature filmmaker Justin Barber, and it was written by Barber and T.S. Nowlin. Nowlin also served as a co- producer on the movie, alongside the great Ridley Scott. The cast features Chelsea Lopez, Florence Hartigan, Justin Matthews and Luke Spencer Roberts. The film is your pretty standard 'found footage' low-budget thriller, nothing memorable but nothing too laughably bad either.

On March 13th, of 1997, multiple strange lights appeared in Phoenix, Arizona. They were witnessed by several shocked locals, and believed to be a UFO sighting by many. Three teens (Lopez, Matthews and Roberts) went investigating the phenomenon, and went missing. This film picks up 20-years later, on the anniversary of their disappearance, when one of the missing teenager's sister (Hartigan) decides to investigate her brother's disappearance.

The movie is definitely nothing original, or scary (in my opinion). It is decently acted and directed though, for the genre. It's based on a real event too, so at the very least the film is somewhat educational. I didn't find it boring, or overly cheesy either. I'd say it's worth at least one viewing, if you're a fan of this type of movie.

Watch an episode of our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/KR0HDeT91m0

I'm not sure if Phoenix Forgotten marks, much more than even last year's "soft reboot/sequel" of Blair Witch, the "found footage" sub-type or genre of horror, the full circle of what it's been all about. The funny thing is that this is not entirely even found footage; it is actually, to go back further, indebted too to what Blair Witch was itself doing an homage to, Cannibal Holocaust, though that didn't pretend to be the documentary that this does. While we do get to see some of the footage shot in 1997 by the main woman's older brother sporadically in the first two thirds, we don't get the full, unfiltered "found" part of it until the last twenty minutes. And, whether it's because a lot has been built up beforehand with the characters, it's the best part of the movie.

I should note that this first two-thirds feels longer because some of the character build up is of the stock kind; the acting isn't that bad, certainly considering the low budget, but this all seems to go on for a long while. It almost puts the director Justin Barber into an uncomfortable position: he has to really have something that pays off for our patience, or else we're going to be quite mad (there was a large family sitting near me which had such an inclination at the end of the film, with one exclaiming, and I quote, "That s*** was ass!") Thankfully, it pays off just enough to be passable. Could it have been more, or a little less predictable? Of course, it almost always can be.

I do have to stress that this is probably a better movie than you're expecting while, simultaneously, being reasonable enough for a rental or even a Netflix viewing - not so much for a movie theater screen where, indeed, much of what we see isn't so cinematic as to warrant a giant screen experience. What stands out is that the performances are by people who are trying (and the writing is trying for them too, at least up to a point, the actress, Chelsea Lopez I think, on the poster is the example of that), and the director and his team make some clever motions to bringing alien invasion into the found-footage horror style.

So the special effects are all seamlessly done in the frame of what *is* a shot-on-90's-consumer-grade camcorder. There isn't anything in the present day, so everything in the past has to work. As far as capturing that rough-edged 90's approach technically speaking, and getting us to believe it, they do a competent job. If anything if the whole movie had been *more* in the 90's style - say, if they found rolls and rolls of tapes and that's all they had to go on, no present-day interviews with boiler-plate answers from the parents and experts and journalists - it'd be even more appealing.