Dark Encounter
by Carl Strathie

A year after a young girl’s disappearance, a family gathers at their home after her memorial service and discovers they’re not alone as the night brings something sinister and otherworldly with it.

If you watched the trailer for Dark Encounter or seen the poster art and you’re not a complete airhead, then you know this movie has aliens in it. That’s what drew me to it in the first place as I love a good flick with some extraterrestrial beings shaking things up. Unfortunately, the best way I can describe this movie is to compare it to disappointing sex. At more than one point in the film the excitement and tension build to what you think is the boiling point — your craving for satisfying action to be satiated at any second — only for absolutely nothing to happen. It shouldn’t take an hour and a half for a movie to get to the point, and even when it does, was it even worth the time you spent getting there? Sadly, in this movie, I can’t say that it was.

While it’s a beautifully shot film with a sad story and enjoyable enough conclusion, it would have done better as a short film in my opinion. The beginning and end were great, but far too often the plot gets repetitive and I don’t think anything in between was ever really fleshed out. With no real action or horror to keep things interesting, I found myself bored and itching to press fast forward more than once. Sure, I get wanting to keep things mysterious, but it shouldn’t ever get to the point that I want to skip to the end just so I can go do something else. I give kudos to the actors, though, who really brought it home, especially with the delicate subject matter toward the end.

It’s safe to say that if you’re looking for a fun or scary alien flick this is not the film for you; I’d recommend Fire in The Sky, Extraterrestrial, or even The Fourth Kind. If slow paced and monotonous mystery is more your style, then check out Dark Encounter on Amazon Prime.