As mentioned before, I can take or leave found footage movies. Some of them work, but more often than not they don’t, letting viewers down without showing them what is really going on because of all the shaky cam.

Phoenix Forgotten has a couple of things that made it an exception for me. I was produced by Ridley Scott! And the initial sighting, which launches the narrative of the film, is based on an actual, and incredibly well-documented incident.

I quite like the fact that the film takes its time, which is something odd to say about a film that is barely an hour and a half. That being said, I have a couple of big nitpicks that didn’t destroy my enjoyment of the movie, but left me going huh.

Sophie (Florence Hartigan) is investigating her brother, Josh’s (Luke Spencer Roberts) disappearance. Something which occurred after they witnessed the mass UFO sighting in Phoenix on 13 March of 1997.

Josh becomes a little obsessed and begins to research everything he can find on UFOs, even going back to the Bible and the infamous ‘wheels within wheels’ described by Ezekiel. He pairs up with Ashley (Chelsea Lopez) and begins interviews and checking out local air bases. It also includes some actual historical broadcasts.

When they learn of more sightings, they are joined by Mark (Justin Matthews), who has a vehicle, and they head out into the desert. And are never seen again.

Sophie works to recover her brother’s tapes, and believes they had a second camera, which, when recovered, reveals what happened out there.

I found it to be enjoyable; I like the fact that there’s a love triangle hinted at, and I like the fact that the story takes its time building the scenario and the characters. I found the visual effects solid and really liked how they shot on HD and then converted everything to videotape. There’s a lot of creativity behind the scenes here, and I love that kind of thing.

And despite all the shaky cam, it’s fairly well shot and has some fun ideas working through it. I’m not saying it was executed perfectly; the film definitely has its flaws, but as far as found footage films go, this is one I enjoyed.

There are some spoilers below for my nitpicks, but I had to put them out there because the more I think about them, the more they bother me.

Nitpicks – why take the second camera and not use both (this just felt contrived)? Who sent the second camera back to the school, and why didn’t they watch the tape? The government simply warned Sophie from sharing the tape; they didn’t forcibly take it? And why the Ophanim version of a UFO at the climax, which seems to be something completely different from what the Phoenix Lights were?