Encounter is a low budget found footage horror film from 2015. When newlywed couple Teddy and Lauren move into a farm house in the middle of no where they think, at first, that this is their life together finally starting but when strange things start happening to and around the grounds keeper Jim Lauren begins to suspect that there is more to this house and the land around it than they thought.
High Fliers Films have been a company I have followed for many years, mainly due to their releases of many under ground, under the radar indie films, Some have even starring some of Hollywoods biggest stars such as Ryan Gossling and Kirsten Dunst in “All Good Things” or Jennifer Lawrence in “The Burning Plane”. They have also released many classic films such as “Halloween II” and “Halloween III Season of the Witch” (both on DVD).
So going into this film my first thoughts were “Oh great another found footage horror film” and “High Fliers wouldn’t release a film they didn’t have faith in” And I was not wrong there. Although man might say that Encounter is just another ow budget Found Footage horror film that Holly Wood is trying to once again cash in on, but I am here to tell you that this was actually a very good and well done film. I think the main reason for that is the whole film wasn’t in found footage there were many time sthe film was filmed normally without the found footage affect, basically we see the Characters in “Real Life”, This helped, I think, make the film seem more realistic than others of the genre in recent years.
As for the acting. I felt that all three main characters doen a pretty decent job with what they wre given and for the most part the film was pretty solidly acting, a few slight times of cheese, but who doesn’t love a bit of cheesiness in a horror film eh? Other than the odd time the acting overall I was actually really surprised at how good it was considering the low budget and lower quality of the film. It really does go to show that a good film doesn’t need to be the greatest, most well made film ever, all you need is a decent story, good acting and a tone of creepiness!
Speaking of creepiness Encounter had a lot of tension throughout the film. Subtle hints of scares and thrills were dotted all over the film even before the main action began. There are many films that have had slow build ups but are very boring and or drawn out in the process, but with Encounter it was not the case. Maybe it had something to do with how short in length the film was or maybe it was just good film making but I found the film just overall had a creepy vibe from the get go. This in turn made me more invested in the film and the story.
Overall I really enjoyed the film, although there are many like it I think this si one of the rare times that an indie film has taken a generic, over done genre and actually made a decent attempt at bringing the film back to the higher levels that the genre once was at.
If you like the sound of the film and would like to check it out (which I highly recommend) then you are in luck as the film gets its UK DVD release on Monday May 30th 2016 from High Fliers Films.
★★★ 1/2 | Ross Wilcock
Horror | USA, 2015 | 15 | High Flier Films | 30th May 2016 (UK) | Dir. Susannah O’Brien | Justin Arnold, Andrea Nelson, Don Scribner |Buy:Encounter [DVD]
Watch Ross Youtube Review of the film here.
