Prime Time: Dark Encounter (2019)

The second feature film from writer-director Carl Strathie, with both Alice Lowe and Sid Phoenix returning to work with him, Dark Encounter has good intentions. It's just a shame that it is horribly dull, and leads to a third act that Strathie clearly thinks rewards viewers for their patience. It's not half as good as he thinks it is, and many may end up as disappointed as I was.

It is 1982 in America, and a young girl (Maisie) goes missing. Her family are understandably distraught. When people gather together one year later for a memorial, strange phenomena are witnessed in the local area. Are alien abductors returning to look for more potential abductees, or is there another reason for things?

Technically competent, and there are some nice shots here and there that give off a nice vibe evoking both The X-Files and a number of '80s sci-fi movies, the biggest problem with Dark Encounter comes from the unnecessary choices made that don't seem to help the film in any way. Why is it set in 1982, for example, when it doesn't seem to affect the plot? Maybe I missed, or have already forgotten, something that wouldn't work if the film was set in the present, but it seems that the only reason for the time setting is a vein of nostalgia it doesn't even mine. And as for setting it in America, with the largely (fully?) British cast all adopting decent accents for their roles, I am also at a loss as to what that adds to anything onscreen. I understand it may have helped to sell the movie in other territories, maybe, but it just seems to be too obvious throughout in the way it refuses to show any more exterior views than a few establishing shots, or anonymous wooded areas.

None of the cast do a bad job, they're just left to suffer at the hands of a weak script unworthy of their talents. Laura Fraser is the central figure, Olivia, the mother in mourning who wants to know what happened to her daughter, but Mel Raido, Sid Phoenix, and Grant Masters all do just fine. Alice Lowe and Vincent Regan aren't onscreen for long enough, especially the former (someone I always enjoy seeing in any role she takes on), and nobody else is given the chance to make a strong impression.

Now let me just get back to that third act. This is a drama marketed as a sci-fi horror movie, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just worth bearing that in mind if you're after something more at ease with the standard genre tropes and thrills. What stops this from working is how badly executed the material is. Strathie doesn't set things up well at all, taking viewers in one direction and then hastily pulling them another way when he deems it the right time for a rug pull. It also doesn't help that it's a very interesting plot development that feels completely mishandled.

Not recommended, although I would still be interested in seeing what Strathie might do next, especially if he ever decides to just base things in the UK, in the present, without seeming slightly embarrassed about working with certain genre standards.

3/10

You can buy a disc here.
Americans can buy a disc here.

Netflix And Chill: Await Further Instructions (2018)

Family gatherings are always a trying time, and many movies have been based around them. Await Further Instructions starts off with the usual stress and strain, everything heightened by the fact that it's Christmas, and then dives into the realm of the dark and mysterious, with the family suddenly trapped in their home and being given instructions through the TV set. Not knowing exactly what has gone on outside (some kind of viral epidemic, terrorist attack, or whatever else it could be), the family seem to have no choice but to trust the messages being relayed to them, and to act upon them. Some start to think differently, however, and the cracks that were already there under normal circumstances start to widen, potentially leading to more extreme arguments and reactions that could endanger their lives.

Sam Gittins is Nick, the young man visiting home with his girlfriend, Annji (Neerja Naik). He hasn't been home in a while, which is surprising when you see how lovely his mother, Beth (Abigail Cruttenden), is. It becomes less surprising when you meet his father, Tony (Grant Masters). And then you have the racist grandfather (David Bradley) to put up with, as well as a pregnant sister (Kate, played by Holly Weston) and her partner (Scott, played by Kris Saddler), who both seem intent on banding against Nick when he tries to ensure everyone acts like civil adults. Everyone survives the first night, barely, and the next day is when they find themselves shut inside their home, having messages delivered to them via their TV.

A lot of this movie works REALLY well, because you have a cast doing solid work with a decent script from Gavin Williams (who has one TV movie and a number of shorts to his credit before this). Williams ignores the usual pitfall of this kind of thing (how many times have we watched a slim premise like this padded out by repeated scenes and circular dialogue?) because he's developing things further in between each main set-piece, and there are some enjoyably tense ones here. Sadly, it slips up in the third act, where ambiguity is replaced by a bit too much explanation, although Williams still deserves kudos for firming up a wild idea that he manages to play out in a fairly plausible and intriguing way.

Director Johnny Kevorkian does a good job too, especially considering this is only his second feature.  This could have easily been a number of annoying scenes strung together, all full of characters arguing against one another, and it obviously cannot avoid those moments here and there, but people are allowed to move away from one another, they're allowed to keep trying to think of all the possibilities available to them, and the simple deviousness of the instructions given effectively reveal a hell of a lot about those having to respond.

The women fare better than the men, in the acting stakes, with Naik and Cruttenden the most likeable of the main cast members. Gittins is fine, if a bit bland, and Saddler is given a surprisingly enjoyable character arc, but both Weston and Masters are a little bit too cartoonish with their bad attitudes, and Bradley is sadly underused in his role.

A lot of Await Further Instructions makes you think about what you would do if stuck in a similar situation. That's the beauty of it. It's simple and highly effective. When it starts to become more complex, and ambitious, is when it may lose some viewers. But there are worse cinematic sins than trying to become more complex and ambitious than you need to be, and this still deserves to find an audience.

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.