Dark Encounter (2019) User Reviews

Excellent until it fails at the 3/4 mark

[jmstettner-83145 · 4/10 · 23 October 2019]

This is what you get when the writer of the story is the editor of the story and the director and the producer. There's no one to tell him, "hey, this is not good. You need to fix that."

All around the movie is surprisingly good. The acting was believable, the characters and characterizations are good, the sets are good, the continuity was accurate, the music was extremely good, and the special effects were adequate to the job. Many bits and pieces are lifted from movies like Close Encounters and Signs, but that's ok too.

The first 3/4s of the movie are edge of the seat chills and thrills, but then the story shifts in a totally unexpected direction. This is considered "the unique twist." The 'twist' is something that modern scriptwriters seem desperate to pull off and almost none of them actually do it. The Sixth Sense may be the last movie where it really worked. In this particular movie, the writer/editor/director/producer throws in the monkey wrench without the slightest attempt to justify it except to offer a lame, "I don't know. We don't understand it. We may never understand it." It's Aliens, so sure, how could we understand it? But that's just not good enough. The motivation fails. Why the Aliens do what they do makes no sense unless you just accept "well, they are aliens, so their motivation is alien." That may be fine for people who shut off their brain to "enjoy the movie," but for people who enjoy the movie by thinking about it, it doesn't work.

The plot twist does not ruin the movie but it leaves an unsatisfied feeling that a good storyteller would not leave. If you don't mind being let down by the ending and being left scratching your head trying to make the nonsensical reasoning, it's worth a watch. There are a lot worse movies out there.

5 Stars For The Production...

[rosslittle-278-657280 · 5/10 · 21 March 2020]

The production values of this film are 10 stars. But the story is utterly horrific. Average? 5 stars. The cinematography is great, the staging is great, the costume and set design are great, the makeup is great, the music is great, the story....... SERIOUSLY AWFUL. I could point out holes in it all day. It really is such.a shame... it looks to me like a film that was funded well, had a great team who did their absolute best but were let down by the person who mattered most.... what a shame....

A complete waste after the half way point.

[solidsnake1983 · 5/10 · 19 March 2020]

Now I'm usually not too critical on films but this had so many good elements that in the end it felt like I just watched an episode of mind hunter. Aliens that help solve murders, wtf is this garbage. I'm sorry but I would of been much happier to see a movie about a whole family (not including the dog) get anal probed until they realize they have all been tripping on LSD. The visual effects are actually great but this story made no sense, no motive behind a relative wanting to kill another family member. He obviously was a pedophile but after he molested his niece he decided to strangle her !?"oh I made a huge mistake, this should cover it up, I'll just kill my neice"

Acting was 50/50 some people played their parts well, but some had over acted. Not to mention the whole score sounds like I'm about to head over to Sunday mass, like why? Jesus it doesn't all have to sound so dramatic.

I feel like this would of been a better film without having to involve a family finding out an uncle is a murdering piece of scum. Science fiction should stick to science fiction and not throw in all this non sense of dramatic realization. 5/10

Ignore the fake reviews

[pubquiz · 2/10 · 21 October 2019]

Why would a alien race become involved in a murder of an eight year old girl in a backwater town in the US is beyond belief, and never explained, imagine traveling 1000's of light years across the galaxy just to tell the townspeople who commited a small town murder

And none of the action carried out by the visitors before this is revealed makes no sense at all

Give this 'C' movie a miss!!!

Who are these plebs writing the reviews?

[namstonk · 7/10 · 22 October 2019]

This is a well acted, scripted and directed film. The SFX are good as is the cinematography. I cannot see where the criticism has come from, especially with the unique twist at the end. Yes it may seem a bit odd that all the cast are British and therefore why set in the US etc, but I cannot imagine people are that pedantic or petty. Agreed this isn't Alien, The Thing etc but it does not deserve the level of negativity.

How did this get made!?

[t-virus-96703 · 1/10 · 6 April 2020]

Possibly the worst film I have ever managed to sit through.

What a superb SF. Or isn't it a SF?

[peterp-450-298716 · 7/10 · 19 September 2020]

It's incredibly hard to imagine that four adults ... ... and a dog! ... four adults and a dog simply vanished in the course of an hour.

I saw "G-Loc" a while ago. And my first thought now was: "Why not try another SF?". Not only because it's one of my favorite genres. But because "G-Loc" was horrible and a disappointment in every way. And I wanted to forget this ordeal as soon as possible by watching an SF of better quality. And luckily "Dark Encounter" was of a completely different quality than the latter. Even though that wasn't really difficult to achieve. But in retrospect, I did wonder whether it was indeed an SF in the strict sense of the word.

The opening scene shows mother and father Anderson coming home from a night out after which they discover that their daughter Maisie has mysteriously disappeared. However, there's no trace or indication of a violent kidnapping. She simply vanished into thin air. In the next scene, we witness a family gathering. A family dinner where it's abundantly clear that the pain of losing their child is still there, resulting in snappy conversations in a tense atmosphere. Until suddenly strange light phenomena are seen by Ray (Mel Raido) and he and the other present men suggest investigating the seeings. When they arrive in the forest and witness more spheres flying around and one of them disappears without a trace, they realize there's more to it than some inexplicable weather phenomenon or local rascals playing with fireworks.

I have to admit that Carl Strathie knows how to mix different genres in an ingenious way. In general, you think that for the umpteenth time, alien green creatures are randomly abducting people to use them as guinea pigs for their experiments. Or maybe Martians who just dropped by to get acquainted. However, don't expect impressive images of colossal intergalactic spacecraft. It's limited to bright shining lights during a foggy night. Even though there are similarities with for example "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", you won't be awed by an immense spaceship with lighting like the dance floor in "Saturday Night Fever". Next, you get the feeling that you are watching a scary horror where household objects defy the laws of gravity and where lights start to flicker. And as a basis, you have a family drama about missing a loved one and the accompanying grieving process.

And if these aren't enough film genres, there's the very surprising denouement, after which the whole is suddenly approached from a completely different perspective. The sci-fi aspect fades into the background and a crime mystery demands attention. The denouement is overwhelming and most will react in a similar way as I did. "Ah, that's what's going on" as I thought at that moment. All I wondered is the origin of the entities that provide the clarification. Aliens? Or spiritual manifestations? Not that this matters. The end result is what counts. And thanks to this highly original twist, this film effortlessly rises above average.

"Dark Encounter" is a low-budget film with an original approach. Despite the fact they diligently borrowed from other well-known films, "Dark Encounter" pleasantly surprised me. And not just because of the originality of the story. But also because of the acting by the almost unknown cast (especially Laura Fraser). Plus the excellent soundtrack and sound effects. And the nostalgic feeling it gave me. It reminded me several times of similar films from the 80s. And the overall mood they managed to create. There's something else that surprised me after reading about it. It seems as if it all takes place in the U.S. during that period. And yet this movie was entirely filmed in the UK with English actors. Amazing. In short, this SF is highly recommended.

More reviews here: movie-freak.be

Abysmal

[hawkca · 1/10 · 21 February 2020]

I like other reviewers kept watching in hopes it would get better. Why would an intelligent life form from across the Universe travel here to waste time on Hill-Billies. Not much to learn. People giving this 9's and 10's need to have their heads examined.

Slow paced doesn't mean bad movie. Entertaining with an unexpected outcome.

[deloudelouvain · 7/10 · 24 March 2020]

The ratings for Dark Encounter are a bit harsh in my opinion. This movie deserves a higher rating than it actually got. It was entertaining, maybe not with the outcome anybody had expected but is that a bad thing? When I watch a movie in the mystery genre I like to be surprised and that was totally the case with Dark Encounter. The sci-fi in the movie builds a tension, a slow paced suspense building, but suspense nonetheless. Just don't expect high budget CGI's because you'll be disappointed, just enjoy the story, the directing and the acting because those were all good. Good job from writer/director Carl Strathie. For the people that reviewed this with the lowest score possible I suggest you watch more movies so you could recognize the difference between a stinker (there are thousands of those) and a movie with a refreshing and entertaining story.

Don't Waste Your Time!

[klrowe87 · 1/10 · 7 April 2020]

It's like two totally unrelated films happening at once. The story that is initially set up (the disappearance of Maisie) was a ten minute story dragged out with uncomfortably long slow mo and an hour and half interval to watch some lights flickering. I had worked out whodunnit in the first five mins and can't believe I wasted my time thinking perhaps something interesting might happen, especially when the aliens rocked up. There's lots of influence from other films (Space Odyssey / Signs / War of the Worlds / Close Encounters) but as there's no story here, I wished I'd have just rewatched one of them instead. The acting was OK but it's not like there was much going on, just standing and staring mainly.

Quite a trip

[redsabin · 8/10 · 22 October 2019]

While the movie starts off as would any other tale of abduction, with the same old tropes, the build up to what can only be described as a rollercoaster of emotions in the third act makes it all worthwhile. If you're reading this, give this movie a chance.

Really surprised.

[noawareness · 7/10 · 22 August 2021]

7/10 might not sound incredible but my expectations were very low. This film was much much more than I first thought it would be. Not your typical abduction tale. Very well made without feeling too obnoxious.

I can steal ideas from other award winning movies too.

[dug-21036 · 1/10 · 18 May 2020]

Stopped watching after I saw the stolen scenes from **Fire in the Sky: Lights in trees from space craft and an abduction (that everyone runs away and leaves behind); **Close Encounters from 3rd Kind: Truck engine shuts off/ flickering headlights-flashlights- house lights-toys turning on-music from record player turning on, things flying around as if magnetic; **Signs: lady uses knife blade for reflection to look up chimney to look at alien, sounds of figures on roof. Pathetic, nothing original to watch here.

Beyond boring and a waste of time

[zildjian_x · 1/10 · 12 November 2019]

This movie is a slow burner for sure. That's not the reason why I didn't like it though. It's one of the most boring and dumb sci fi movies I've ever seen. I could barely stand to even watch the whole movie. I paused it several times to go do other things around the house because I couldn't stand to watch it all at once. I kept hoping it would get better because of the good reviews I've read about it on here. Many of the characters were annoying, and that made it impossible for me to feel any kind of connection or empathy for them. The father was an especially annoying ahole and throughout the whole movie I was hoping someone would kick the out of him. As others have pointed out, why would some alien race come down to Earth just to harass some random family all night long before showing them what happened to their daughter? What kind of parents leave their 8 year home alone anyway?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind meets the Polly Klaas Murder

[S_Soma · 7/10 · 23 October 2019]

This review is marked as containing spoilers and I'd like to underscore that here. DO NOT READ this review if you want to avoid spoilers. You have been warned.

DARK ENCOUNTER is probably the strangest movie I've ever seen.

In 1980s Pennsylvania an 8-year-old girl, named Maisie, disappears from her family home while her parents are out. She isn't found.

On the first year anniversary of her disappearance, the remaining members of her family consisting of her father, mother and brother together with several aunts and uncles, return to the family home after a small anniversary ceremony. That evening, Maisie's father Ray sees some lights a little ways away and assumes its troublesome neighbor boys playing with flares again and begins to set out to have a "pleasant talk" with them. Since Ray has a reputation of interacting with people in unproductive ways and therefore needs constant chaperoning, every single male family member/relation pile into Ray's truck to make sure things proceed "pleasantly".

As soon the country truck full of guys arrives in the area where the supposed flares were observed, weird, alien-related things start to happen and people begin disappearing in the de rigueur, alien-abduction sort of way.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, literally, the stuck-at-home women begin having peculiar experiences of their own, frightening though less dramatic.

The remaining male members soon return home and a regulation alien siege sets in.

When the alien festivities begin to wind down, there's only 3 family members left un-abducted and they're picked up by the local police whilst trotting down a local road. Just tryin' to get away.

The police return the 3 remainders back home and get a description of the night's events from them. The police then leave making a promise to return within an hour more prepared to deal with the situation. Not long after they leave, during broad daylight, the alien-driven party activities recommence, only this time the alien's motivation is revealed.

Super spoiler alert: the aliens have come to bear witness and give testimony against the perpetrator of the disappearance and murder of little Maisie. As it turns out, it's one of the uncles. Ah, well. There's an uncle like that in every family.

On the positive side, DARK ENCOUNTER is a spectacularly well-executed movie. Production values are top-flight, the cinematography simply could not be better, the ambience of alien-ness, the spooky music and so on are all excellent.

What REALLY didn't work for me is the bizarre story. We're supposed to buy into the notion that an ultimately-advanced alien race apparently makes an epic larger-than-the-scale-of-the-universe journey (depicted in the movie as a 1977 POWERS OF TEN--esque sequence) to drop dime on a human child killer.

But first, rooroo. The aliens only reveal their altruistic motives AFTER hot rodding around in their space hot rods and torturing the dumb-animal humans for a night and a day in their inimitable, straight-out-of-CLOSE-ENCOUNTERS-OF-THE-THIRD-KIND space-alien custom. Appliances freaking out, toys going on walk about, all sorts of blinding, purty lights blazing in through windows, kidnappings and so on. Why, the space aliens are so clever and advanced that in one scene a woodblock-full of knives, pointy end first, go streaking across the kitchen to embed themselves half-way to haft into a wall. The only reason they didn't bury themselves to the hilt in the youngest family member is somebody else pushed the kid out of the way just in time. THWACK ning-ning-ning-ning-ning-ning!

All this bizarre stuff with good music and stunning cinematography makes pretty entertaining viewing but as a story it makes no sense at all. It's very similar to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND in this respect. In fact, the only salient difference between CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and DARK ENCOUNTER (yes, even their names overlap) is that in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, the space aliens went on a human-hazing spree as a lead up to puttin' on a formal meet-and-greet, while in DARK ENCOUNTER the aliens went on a human-hazing spree as a lead up to ratting out a child killer. Space-alien shenanigans are very entertaining and I enjoyed them for their own sake because they're scary and creepy. From a story perspective, it makes no sense at all unless you're down with viewing super-advanced space aliens as nothing more than highly evolved and technically proficient juvenile delinquents. Maybe with tentacles. If human beings engaged in the same kind of behavior as the space aliens they'd end up doing some sincere jail time.

It is however such a well-made movie that, while it can be a little slow at times, I still recommend it.

Hallmark Sci-fi

[dstewart-76047 · 2/10 · 28 May 2020]

I guess the Hallmark channel are making sci-fi movies. I half expected a religious sermon at the end.

Much better than Rating Suggests. Think Signs meets Fire In Sky

[flyroundee · 7/10 · 3 November 2019]

For a film with a modest budget, it doesn't look it. The production value is excellent all around and nails the early 80's aesthetic without trying to be trendy. It has the look of Close Encounters but with more of a Fire In The Sky feel crossed with Shyamalan's Signs considering it's twisty and character driven plot that comes forth as the events move along. Highly recommend for fans of the films I mentioned above, or of The X-Files, though this film does bring something slightly new and different as a whole when it reaches its third act. Don't go in expecting a blockbuster, but an intimate, at times creepy, wholly entertaining film about a family and a dark encounter that almost tears them all apart. Worth your time in my books.

So overrated

[angoltanci · 1/10 · 22 March 2020]

While I seldom rate down any movie, this horridly pretentious stab at the genre absolutely deserves it. No fault of the cast, their work is quite nice, but the story, the myriad "but why" unanswered plotlines, the snail paced ending after the "twist" is revealed, all leave a very stale impression in one's mouth. Sorry.

Strange Abductions

[Pairic · 7/10 · 22 February 2021]

Dark Encounter Alien abduction film with a twist. Eight year old Maisie disappears from her home without trace,.A year later, a memorial meeting is held at her school. Afterwards an acrimonious extended family gathering takes place. Strange lights appear in the sky and some of the family go to investigate. In the woods other lights appear and have strange effects on people and birds, their truck loses power. Another member of the family vanishes.They return to the house where electric toys start working , ights, radio go on and off, lights shine through windows. The house is literally under siege, Tension and paranoia build as the narrative unfolds in this dark Close Encounter Of The Third Kind. The different shades and intensities of light are used to good effect, some just illuminating/dazzling,others imposing mind control on people as a mysterious mist also enters the house. There are time slips of the mental variety which allow secrets to be uncovered. An interesting plot twist sends one aspect of the plot off in an unexpected direction. An important lesson is imparted though: if you flee a house to get away from ETs then remember to drop your axe if you want passing cars to stop and help you. Written and directed by Carl Straithie. On All 4. 7/10.

I wish I hadn't watched it.

[pipilottadelicatessa · 3/10 · 24 July 2020]

I watched 'Dark Encounter' on a whim, knowing little about it. I love low-budget sci-fi with ambitious themes - Coherence, Cosmos, The Vast of Night, Primer. So I was prepared to love this. I didn't.

Firstly, and most importantly, a warning: I assumed this was a movie about alien encounters. It's not. It has aliens in it, but it's a movie about the disappearance of an 8-year-old girl, and it's a dark, disturbing story with no happy ending. I was shocked by the turn the story took, and I actually wouldn't have watched it had I known.

Secondly, the film itself is not well made. I realised almost immediately that I was watching a movie featuring British actors in a British landscape. Why on earth did they set it in Pennsylvania? The accents ranged from "Foghorn Leghorn" to "Woody from Toy Story" ("THERE'S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT!") and the costumes were clichéd (plaid shirts and cowboy boots). Most of the performances would have been much more convincing if they'd been permitted to speak with British accents, and the same story transported to North Yorkshire would have needed few changes.

The plot, which moves at a glacial pace, is pretty sparse. It's 15 minutes before anything even happens, and when it does, it's 50 minutes of jump scares, coloured lights, smoke machines, and people standing around gawping. There's little dialogue, except of the "they're in the basement!" variety, and the actors have clearly been directed to simply stand there with their mouths open as wide as possible most of the time. Mel Raido is particularly guilty of this, and in fact he hams it up in most of his scenes, sobbing hysterically and sinking to the floor while everyone else is standing around waiting for something to happen.

The film makes very heavy use of slow motion and an overbearing, melodramatic score, to the extent that the final third of the move is almost exclusively music and slow-mo. And though the CGI when it comes to actual extra-terrestrial stuff is better than expected for such a small budget, the story doesn't support it. It makes no sense whatsoever that aliens from several galaxies away would intervene to solve this one case of a missing American child and not the 800,000 similar cases in the US alone each year.

Nor does it make sense that they went about it in the terrifying, cataclysmic way they did. Why come all this way and freak out the inhabitants of a small town when they could have just sent the sheriff and email explaining what happened to the missing kid and pointing him in the direction of the necessary evidence? Were they just on an intergalactic grocery run? How did they know what happened anyway? Are they omniscient? Can they help us with stuff like global warming and COVID-19, or do they only investigate unsolved crimes?

The writers make no attempt to explain any of this, and you really have to be satisfied with bright lights and spooky noises in the attic to enjoy the movie. If that's enough for you, then you're probably one of the handful of people who have given 'Dark Encounters' 10 stars.

Original, Different and not at all what I expected! Good Job

[info-33728-30040 · 8/10 · 22 October 2019]

There was a brief mention in the beginning to explain the connection to the other worldly being; however, it was never really pulled together enough to give me any satisfaction - and perhaps, that is a well played approach considering the end. Being that they were Orbs of lights would suggest not so much Aliens, but more like angels is my hunch.

Also all the china on the open shelves were in impeccable order, but knives fly across the kitchen and other rattlings, but not one dish falls off the shelf?

The shot gun at the basement door. In the shooting scene it looked as though she had plenty of distance to the door, but when the cop comes and a) bad - picks up a bullet with his bare hands, you see the distance from wall to door, so wouldn't the holes in the door be significantly different, like bigger maybe. b) the Sheriff picks up the knife, also with bare hands.

The Sheriff scene when they locate the missing girl and his dramatic performance makes no sense - as there was not significant emotional connection made any time throughout the film. If there was, it must have been pretty darn fast. It can be assumed in so many ways, but I felt that was really lacking in connection, which made it an annoying scene, especially when the forensic team makes way for his approach.

There were a few weak moments for sure, but it really didn't upset the flow. I did have a problem with the mother in the later reveal sequence of looking through the sheers instead of frantically trying to open them to get a better look at her daughter, which would have been much more convincing, a missed opportunity for sure. That took away from the integrity of the mother character, and could have been fully played up in the last part of the viewing sequence, keeping the sheers closed to minimize the truth when that part happened.

A good one time viewing and although a suprisingly unique twist at the end, it was heavy, deep and well done. Leaving me at the end with WTH? I so didn't expect that at all, but in a good way.

Unusual sci-fi

[ks-60500 · 7/10 · 26 November 2019]

I was firstly feel it's a ufo documentary kinda story, probably based on a true story or encounter in 1980s somewhere in a town. It's kinda boring for all the ufo appearance as it's what we knew about ufo. But things turn around and reveal the fact of missing girl cuz of ..... not the way you think suppose to be. Unusual theme.

Terrible

[jalonian · 1/10 · 4 May 2020]

Don't waste your time, just awful, terrible acting, repetitive repetitive repetitive shots, faces totally devoid of any emotion, terrible direction, just bad

Why

[eddy-59618 · 1/10 · 23 October 2019]

This possibly one of the most pointless Films I have ever seen, A 5 minute story dragged out for over an hour, time I will never get back.

Suspense and moving...

[RuggyRat · 7/10 · 25 October 2019]

I enjoyed it as it was suspense and moving. Mainly because we need to see visitor at another angle. I recommend it.