Checked out the new movie called Phoenix Forgotten, a flick I’d only seen a poster for so I was kind of upbeat about going in cold. And it’s yet another found footage horror movie.
The story is based around the famous UFO story The Phoenix Lights – this was a video taped collection of mysterious lights hovering over Phoenix, Arizona back in 1998 (the military says they were flares along a ridgeline). This movie takes that idea and sends a trio of ninnies into the desert to get lost and then wander around aimlessly in the dark until something mysterious happens. The end. Same end as all found footage movies (spoiler alert?).
To the movie’s credit, it doesn’t have any jump scares. To its detriment, it really doesn’t have any scares… though there’s some suspense and mystery (which is squandered).
The structure of the flick is that three teens went missing investigating the lights and, many years later, one of the boy’s sisters returns to the area to film a documentary. The movie then shows us the late 90s era footage the teens made… so not just a found-footage movie, a found-footage movie that’s 75% low-quality video and 25% modern video.
Basically the movie has an interesting setup but its too long even at 80 minutes and has no payoff. The intrigue it develops is squandered and the movie just becomes a boring trudge through the desert at night.
Score: 71