This is a scary movie in the standard-issue found-footage genre, based on a real-life 1980 incident when a military airbase near Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk was the site of UFO sightings and rumours. A trio of people, toting digital videocameras, return to this creepy woodland, ostensibly metal-detecting for Saxon gold. But of course they are fascinated by the UFO legend, which turns out to be far from untrue.
This is a movie that has clearly been made with meticulous care, and there is all the traditional deadpan docu-realist set up – fussing about, loading up the car, squabbling etc – to make the eventual CGI horrors look even more sensational. But what is frustrating about the film is that despite the real talent involved, it does nothing to develop the genre, and relies on familiar cliches and stock ideas. This movie will do fine on DVD and download, but I look forward to its director Daniel Simpson moving on to something more unexpected.
