The Phoenix Incident/Phoenix Tapes '97/Phoenix Forgotten

The Phoenix Incident (2016)

Runtime: 82 minutes

Directed by: Keith Arem

Starring: Yuri Lowenthal, Travis Willingham, Troy Baker, Liam O'Brien, Michael Adamthwaite

From: PCB Productions

The Phoenix Tapes '97

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Phoenix Forgotten (2017)

44% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 16 reviews)

Runtime: 87 minutes

Directed by: Justin Barber

Starring: Florence Hartigan, Luke Spencer Roberts, Chelsea Lopez, Justin Matthews, Clint Jordan

From: Ridley Scott, of all people

All three of these movies are related to one another only in terms of subject matter. First, Incident:

This was a horrifying fact I only discovered a few days ago: there were THREE faux documentary found footage movies made about the Phoenix Lights, the incident in 1997 where people (including Kurt Russell! He saw it while flying his small plane) spotted mysterious lights and naturally, “aliens in UFO's” is the popular rumor about their origin. The government says that it was illumination flares that were leftover from fighter jets (an Air Force base is nearby) and scientists explaining it do sound convincing... and they were not actually over Phoenix but rather nearby... yet of course people will be skeptical about what the government has to say about UFO's, so many will forever think it was alien aircraft. I thought it'd be a gag if yesterday I watched all 3 of those; after all, one is for free on Prime and this was only for 99 cents. I know, the joke's on me as I saw three found footage movies in the same day.

This covers 4 ATV riders who vanished. Thankfully this incident was only 73 minutes before slow ending credits begin. A big problem is that most of the '97 footage looks far too clear and modern, which destroys the illusion. So does this faux documentary somehow acquiring military footage, and I mean footage from fighter jets. Preposterous. As is, the story says that the United States military has had skirmishes with aliens before and this was the first big confrontation.

Another big problem is that the four young men are of course (and I don't know why this is a trend in found footage) real dickheads and totally unlikable. They were asstagonists I could not like at all with all their bro humor and arguing w/ each other. I suppose the special effects looked alright for the budget, but otherwise I can't give this too many compliments. A guy involved with videogames directed this so that is why one of the leads is Troy Baker, but even if you love his voice work in such things as The Last of Us, the Batman games or in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, you should stick with those instead of seeking out this dopey intelligence-insulting waste of time.

Now, '97:

This was the second of the movies I saw yesterday surrounding The Phoenix Lights of 1997. This one tried real hard to be authentic, down to there being no credits and it's not even on IMDb. Yes, some people still do that now. It is not a must-see and falls into the expected trope of the genre... yet I did not hate this so I'll call it average.

This has only a little of the faux documentary format; it sets up the footage we see, which is 4 young men (but thankfully not as annoying as the ones in The Phoenix Incident) out in the desert camping and fishing. Mysterious things happen and you can probably guess what happens next. The creature we see here is far different from the ones in The Phoenix Incident, although it's seen only sparingly. They have an RV so scary events happen while they are in there... like I said, predictable.

Whomever was involved with this, at least the movie wasn't bad, the acting was acceptable and the footage did look like it was from the late 90's. Even if you don't like this, it is over with after barely more than an hour.

Now, Forgotten:

Earlier in the day I posted reviews to The Phoenix Incident and The Phoenix Tapes '97, two faux documentary found footage movies based on the Phoenix Lights of 1997. Incident and Tapes were made before this, so they weren't trying to cashing in on this film, which somehow had Ridley Scott's involvement, as one of the many producers. This is about three teens that disappeared in '97. The sister of one is now an adult and decides to do a documentary about the disappearance; fitting, as her brother was in the midst of doing a documentary himself about the lights. In a tremendous comparison-even though it's not an exact fit-I heard the structure compared with Cannibal Holocaust. It was interesting how the entire second half of the movie is the '97 footage and you never see the sister or her story again.

Things are incredibly cliché and you won't see too many surprises. Actually, that is putting it mildly: even more of an inspiration than Cannibal Holocaust when it comes to storytelling was The Blair Witch Project. When the two teens are named Josh and Mark... c'mon now. This not having any jump scares is something that has to be noted in a wide release recent horror movie; then again there aren't too many scares at all.

Some aspects that have been attached to UFO is included here yet that and how the 3 teens aren't annoying A-holes is not enough to make me recommend this found footage movie, even if the structure is a little different and a famous director is attached.