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''Phoenix Forgotten'' is a 2017 American found footage
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by Justin Barber in his directorial debut, and written by Barber and
T.S. Nowlin Thomas Scott Nowlin is an American screenwriter. He is known for writing the screenplays such as ''Maze Runner'' film series, '' Pacific Rim: Uprising'' and ''The Adam Project''. Early life and career Nowlin went to Florida State University. ...
. The film is also produced by Nowlin, alongside
Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
,
Wes Ball Wes Ball (born October 28, 1980) is an American film director, visual effects artist and graphic artist. He is best known for directing the ''Maze Runner'' film trilogy, based on James Dashner's series of novels of the same name. Ball's next fil ...
,
Courtney Solomon Courtney Solomon (born September 1,1970) is a writer, director, producer, and entrepreneur from Toronto, Ontario. He has been involved with production, marketing and distribution of over 80 movies. Life and career At 19, he formed Sweetpea Ente ...
and
Mark Canton Mark Canton (born June 19, 1949) is an American film producer and executive. Life and early career Canton was born to a Jewish family in Queens, New York, the son of Shirley and Arthur Canton, who worked in the film industry on marketing and pub ...
. Originally advertised as ''Phoenix'', the film tells the story of the disappearance of three teenagers who set out to find the source of the widely reported 1997
UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
phenomenon known as the "
Phoenix Lights The Phoenix Lights (sometimes called the "Lights Over Phoenix") were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over the southwestern states of Arizona and Nevada on March 13, 1997. Lights of varying descript ...
". It was released on April 21, 2017 to negative reviews, with many critics unfavorably comparing it to ''
The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (director), Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Mic ...
''.


Plot

Sophie Bishop and her boyfriend Dan visit Sophie's parents in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
on the 20th anniversary of her older brother Josh's disappearance. On March 13, 1997, the family witnesses the
Phoenix Lights The Phoenix Lights (sometimes called the "Lights Over Phoenix") were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over the southwestern states of Arizona and Nevada on March 13, 1997. Lights of varying descript ...
during Sophie's 6th birthday party, with Josh recording the incident. Several strange lights appear in a "V" formation over the city before disappearing, followed closely by fighter jets. Josh becomes convinced they have witnessed UFOs, though others remain skeptical. Hoping to find answers to her brother's fate, Sophie begins reviewing all of Josh's saved videotapes. In the tapes, Josh begins investigating the Phoenix Lights with the help of his friends Ashley and Mark. Ashley and Josh interview two astronomers, who theorize that the lights were
flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...
s dropped by jets from the nearby
Luke Air Force Base Luke Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States., effective 20 December 2007 It is located west of the central business district of Glendale, and west of Phoenix. Luke AFB is a major training ...
. However, Ashley and Josh remain unconvinced. Several days later, more mysterious lights appear over
Mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...
. Hoping to capture the lights on film and in better quality, Josh, Ashley, and Mark drive to Mesa. Upon arrival, the trio climb a hill on the outskirts of the town before noticing a spotlight in the distance facing sky-ward. Curious, the trio hike toward the spotlight where they find a gathering of Sheriff's Deputies and mysterious men. Josh notices the cars belonging to the men have no license plates. The group is then spotted by the men, forcing them to flee. The next day, Josh plots the apparent course of the lights, determining they will soon appear over an isolated area of the desert. In the present day, Sophie continues to interview multiple parties regarding the trio's disappearance. Only the group's abandoned car and a camera with single tape was discovered. Sophie views the recovered tape, showing the beginning of the group's journey to find the lights and discovering a charred animal corpse. As the tape ends, Sophie refuses to believe Josh did not record the remainder of the trip. She concludes that Josh must have had a second camera. Sophie and Dan visit the local high school, where Ashley was a film editor and would have had access to such equipment. However the film teacher does not have any logs that may have been filled out, leaving Sophie at a dead end. Before departing Phoenix, she interviews her parents who reveal that the strain of Josh's disappearance caused them to divorce. The next night, Sophie receives a call from the teacher, who claims to have found something. She returns to Phoenix and receives a box that had been mailed to the school several years prior before being placed in storage. Sophie and Dan open the box and discover a heavily damaged camera. Dan manages to retrieve the tape from within the camera before watching it with Sophie. The film then cuts to Sophie after having watched the tape, clearly distraught by its contents. She then contacts a Captain at Luke Air Force Base for an interview. Upon arrival however, the Captain appears confrontational with Sophie while Dan waits with the camera in the car. Sophie then returns and claims the Captain ordered her to "not let the footage get out". Dan asks Sophie what to do next, with Sophie giving him a look of determination. The film then cuts to the contents of the recovered tape, comprising the remainder of the film. The last film begins moments after Josh, Ashley, and Mark find the charred corpse. The trio continues to hike through the desert and up a hill. Meanwhile, Ashley and Mark appear to grow closer, much to the disdain of Josh. After waiting at the top of a hill for several hours, the trio witness a single light in the distance. The light hovers for several minutes before accelerating along the horizon. The light grows progressively brighter and faster before discharging several, smaller lights. All the lights subsequently vanish. The trio celebrate their recording before hiking back to the vehicle. As night falls, the teens become lost and disoriented. Mark ventures up a hill alone to try and spot the car. After he leaves, Ashley and Josh hear a loud sound in the distance that appears to be getting closer. A bright light then appears behind the hill before passing over them. Mark returns, visibly distressed but apparently unharmed, claiming to have found the car. As they walk back, Mark refuses to disclose what he saw at the top of the hill. The trio then find the car and attempt to return home. As they drive, the light appears behind the car and pursues them. They attempt to flee before the light disables the car and vanishes. Unable to fix the vehicle, the trio hike along the road attempting to get back to town. As they walk, Mark begins showing severe symptoms of an unknown illness, including a nosebleed, fever, and disorientation. Mark then claims to hear voices, before running out into the desert while claiming to see his brother. As Ashley and Josh run after him, the light returns and Mark vanishes without a trace. Ashley begins to panic, while Josh comforts her. The two then notice a house light in the distance and resolve to follow it. Along the way, the two discover more charred animal corpses. In addition, Ashley also begins to show similar symptoms as Mark, including her hair falling out. Continuing on, Ashley begins to hear an unknown sound. She then claims to see her father in the distance before running off with Josh following her. As they run, the light returns, causing lightning and high winds around them. Josh then captures the source of the light, revealed to be an alien craft appearing as several concentric, rotating rings. Josh then witnesses Ashley being lifted off the ground before being abducted in a flash of light. The tape then cuts to Josh arriving at the deserted home, still pursued by the alien craft. He attempts to hide inside the house. Meanwhile, the craft causes various appliances to explode and gravitational distortion. Josh begins to scream as the craft removes the roof of the house, then also quickly lifts him off the ground in a flash before the camera cuts out. The tape resumes as the camera catches a brief glimpse of space, before falling back down to Earth. The camera lands, recording the sunset for several minutes before dying as the credits roll. The closing captions indicate that the government denies any connections between the Phoenix Lights and the trio's disappearance.


Cast

*Chelsea Lopez as Ashley *Florence Hartigan as Sophie *Justin Matthews as Mark *Luke Spencer Roberts as Josh


Release

In the United States and Canada, ''Phoenix Forgotten'' opened on April 21, 2017 alongside '' The Promise'', ''
Born in China ''Born in China'' (''我们诞生在中国'') is a 2016 nature documentary film directed by Lu Chuan. A co-production between Disneynature and Shanghai Media Group, the film was released in China on August 12, 2016, in the United States on April 2 ...
'', ''
Free Fire ''Free Fire'' is a 2016 British black comedy- action film directed by Ben Wheatley, from a screenplay by Wheatley and Amy Jump. It stars Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Jack Reynor, Babou Ceesay, Enzo Cilenti, Sam Ri ...
'' and ''
Unforgettable Unforgettable may refer to: Film * ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta * ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film * ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film * ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...
'', and it was projected to gross around $2 million from 1,588 theaters in its opening weekend. It grossed $1.8 million in its opening weekend, finishing 11th at the box office.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 44% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a score of 33 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.


References


External links


Official website
* *{{rotten-tomatoes, phoenix_forgotten 2017 films 2017 horror films American science fiction horror films Found footage films 2010s science fiction horror films Films set in Phoenix, Arizona Films set in Maricopa County, Arizona Scott Free Productions films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films