Alien Abduction (2014) (USA)

aka The Morris Family Abduction/Brown Mountain - Alien Abduction 

⭐️⭐️1/2

A family camping trip in North Carolina’s Brown Mountain is captured on camera by autistic 11-year-old Riley. The usual hijinks and boredom of a family outing are replaced by a harrowing experience when something not of this earth takes notice of the Morris clan. Opening text tells us this is actual footage from the U.S. Airforce, immediately after we get a quick glimpse of an otherworldly ship and a camera falling to earth. The actual phenomenon of the Brown Mountain Lights is then discussed by random folks. The set up is there and the Morris family is obviously fucking doomed. UFOs are caught on the first night but it’s dismissed quickly by the parents so onward they go, deeper into the North Carolina wilds. Soon, a mixture of bad driving conditions, bad directions, the general desolation of the area, a collision with a crow and dad’s short fuse ends with the family stranded in the middle of nowhere. After apologies and a break in the weather, the family comes across a procession of abandoned cars. The complete failure of tech also doesn’t bode well. The boys go to investigate the impromptu car graveyard that’s standing in the way of their progression and the family has their first encounter with the unfriendly visitors. Down one flawed father, the family flees but after stopping the car as it rains dead birds on them, they have to continue on foot when the car dies for good. An ornery local saves their life from a pursuing grey but is also a complete asshole, at least until they show him the footage of what they’ve been through. They hold up in his shack waiting on the authorities and his brother to show up. He also fills the family in on the local folklore involving the mountain, the visitors and the concerning amount of missing people. The rest carries on as you’d expect until it comes to the inevitable ending. It’s expertly presented but still feels like it runs too long. It’s fine, I just feel like there’s only so much you can do with the story and it works better within a shorter runtime, just look to the V/H/S flicks for proof.