FrightFest 2019: DARK ENCOUNTER Review – An Alien Home Invasion Thriller With A Very Human Element
David Gelmini
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Starring Laura Fraser, Sid Phoenix, Spike White, Mel Raido, Grant Masters, Alice Lowe
Written by Carl Strathie
Directed by Carl Strathie
Playing at FrightFest before arriving on home video in October, Dark Encounter is an Amblin-esque sci-fi thriller which was a little slow to get going, although the human element of the story will still keep most viewers engaged.
The film opens with the disappearance of a young girl named Maisie. Fast forward a year later, and there’s been no sign of her. Because this story takes place in a small rural town where everyone knows everyone, her disappearance naturally generates a great deal of attention, while also tearing apart her family.
Anyway, the horror elements of the story begin to kick in around the halfway point, with the family being trapped in their home at night while otherworldly beings roam outside. At times this even feels more like a home invasion thriller than a sci-fi horror film, with the tension being palpable.
Had director Carl Strathie not said in his talk before the screening that Dark Encounter was filmed in Yorkshire, I would honestly have thought it was filmed in the US. So kudos to the prop department for convincingly turning the UK into a rural US town, with the largely British cast also doing decent enough jobs of pulling off American accents. In particular, special praise goes to Spike White as Noah (the geek of the family) who delivers some humorous and memorable dialogue.
Having said that, Dark Encounter was still clearly produced on a limited budget, and while the effects were mostly passable, the aliens themselves were only shown very briefly. Strathie clearly wanted to leave the otherworldly aspects of the story to the viewer’s imagination, an approach which was largely successful due to the fact that most viewers will already be invested enough in the story. Because one of the strongest factors of Dark Encounter is that it works primarily as a story about a dysfunctional family struggling to find normality after one of their number goes missing. The sci-fi elements clearly serve as a catalyst for either bringing this family closer together or pushing them further away from each other.
We can’t say much without going into spoilers, but Dark Encounter was clearly supposed to illustrate how although we may not be alone in the universe, the real monsters will always be closer to home. If you can handle a sci-fi story which also explores the uglier side of humanity, look for Dark Encounter when it lands in our galaxy.
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Dark Encounter
Summary
Taking it for what it is, this is a sci-fi thriller which will make you re-evaluate everything you thought you knew about whether or not we are alone in the universe. It may be about visitors from across the stars, but Dark Encounter is still very much a story about the darker side of human nature.
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