UFO: IT IS HERE is a German indie science fiction flick with a predictable premise. A bunch of students witness a UFO landing in the nearby woods so they decide to head off and investigate. Yes, it's another BLAIR WITCH clone, believe it or not, this time with a sci-fi twist whose low-fi nature becomes apparent as the running time progresses. There's a lot of camera shaking designed to induce headaches in prone viewers and a low key approach with just a few creepy horror scenes. Saying that, it's far from the worst indie film I've watched, and the found footage approach adds natural realism to the proceedings.
7 Reviews
Just Checking the Boxes
tmccull5224 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Let's see. What do we have here? Found footage horror film? Check.
Group of friends who can barely stand one another, who play stupid, mean-spirited pranks on one another and bicker incessantly? Check.
Said group heads off into unfamiliar territory to investigate mysterious events, bringing virtually nothing that they would actually need on the journey, except for a camera and a laptop computer? Check.
On the way to investigate, said group happens upon an ominous portent in the form of a crashed and damaged vehicle along the way? Check.
Said group finds evidence of an event that that are in no way equipped to deal with? Check.
Said group agrees that they aren't equipped to handle the situation, but argues whether they should stay or go? Check.
Going completely against common sense and all rationality, the group decides to stay? Check.
During the night, member of said group wanders off in the dark alone, without alerting any of the others, to investigate strange noises? Check.
Aforementioned idiot is killed for his troubles? Check.
Group becomes irritated because idiot wandered off alone, and aren't especially worried about it? Check.
Group finally decides to go and look for missing idiot? Check.
Group finds missing idiot, dead, mangled by mysterious creature? Check.
Compass and cell phones suddenly become inoperative and useless? Check.
One by one, said group of friends are picked off by mysterious alien creature? Check.
Other than different actors in a different location, there is virtually nothing in this movie that hasn't been done a thousand times before. This is essentially "The Gracefield Incident" set in Germany.
Group of friends who can barely stand one another, who play stupid, mean-spirited pranks on one another and bicker incessantly? Check.
Said group heads off into unfamiliar territory to investigate mysterious events, bringing virtually nothing that they would actually need on the journey, except for a camera and a laptop computer? Check.
On the way to investigate, said group happens upon an ominous portent in the form of a crashed and damaged vehicle along the way? Check.
Said group finds evidence of an event that that are in no way equipped to deal with? Check.
Said group agrees that they aren't equipped to handle the situation, but argues whether they should stay or go? Check.
Going completely against common sense and all rationality, the group decides to stay? Check.
During the night, member of said group wanders off in the dark alone, without alerting any of the others, to investigate strange noises? Check.
Aforementioned idiot is killed for his troubles? Check.
Group becomes irritated because idiot wandered off alone, and aren't especially worried about it? Check.
Group finally decides to go and look for missing idiot? Check.
Group finds missing idiot, dead, mangled by mysterious creature? Check.
Compass and cell phones suddenly become inoperative and useless? Check.
One by one, said group of friends are picked off by mysterious alien creature? Check.
Other than different actors in a different location, there is virtually nothing in this movie that hasn't been done a thousand times before. This is essentially "The Gracefield Incident" set in Germany.
I like the genre and not even I liked the movie
Horst_In_Translation4 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"UFO: It Is Here" or "UFO - Es ist hier" is a German 80-minute movie that premiered in October 2016, so this one is still really new and fresh. It was written and directed by German filmmaker Daniele Grieco and it is not the first film I have seen from him. The good news is that it's better than the last work I have seen from him, but the bad news is that this is only because that one was really bad and not because this one here is any good. For another work, Grieco got Liv Lisa Fries, a relatively successful young German actress and for this one here he got Laura Berlin, also known to German film buffs perhaps. The title is already a giveaway what the movie is about. It is about a supernatural threat. A group of 20somethings is at a zoo making a documentary and they witness something that seems like a meteor, so they go to find out what it was exactly and what they find is certainly not what they hoped for.
There is a touch of Blair Witch Project here as the danger is relatively unseen, but always present apparently. Well.. it is also heard though, kinda sounds like the creatures from "District 9". Anyway, BWP is one of my all-time favorites and this film here is about everything that can go wrong while making such a movie that cost it its quality so much. In these films, it always matters much how they explain the unrealistic moments. Why there is no police? Why the characters do not return to civilization as quickly as they can, but decide to sleep in the woods. Even after one of them disappears / gets killed. Why their mobile phones aren't working? Et cetera. So even if these films are supernatural horror movies with creatures that have nothing to do with realism, realism is still an important subject in this movie. But of course, other components matter as well, like the overall writing and the performances. And one very important aspect is the presentation of characters. Especially if there are more than just two or three, it is crucial that you find out defining characteristics of them not just in order to feel and care for the characters, but also in order to understand and memorize as quickly as possible who is who because that's a vital aspect if they keep disappearing one by one as the film goes one the way they usually do, also in this one here of course.
Overall, these particular areas have not really been elaborated on convincingly in here. I would not really blame any of the actors as they can only do as much as the script lets them, but admittedly they also do not really elevate the mediocre material. In terms of the camera work, there are okay moments like the scene at the very end with the camera under the bed, but it's also one of very few memorable moments. As a whole, I guess you really need to love this genre a lot in order to appreciate this film and you still shouldn't be fed up with everything that has a similar plot and story development and even then you may end up being disappointed with the overall quality as I myself do not really see a single great aspect from these slightly over 80 minutes. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
There is a touch of Blair Witch Project here as the danger is relatively unseen, but always present apparently. Well.. it is also heard though, kinda sounds like the creatures from "District 9". Anyway, BWP is one of my all-time favorites and this film here is about everything that can go wrong while making such a movie that cost it its quality so much. In these films, it always matters much how they explain the unrealistic moments. Why there is no police? Why the characters do not return to civilization as quickly as they can, but decide to sleep in the woods. Even after one of them disappears / gets killed. Why their mobile phones aren't working? Et cetera. So even if these films are supernatural horror movies with creatures that have nothing to do with realism, realism is still an important subject in this movie. But of course, other components matter as well, like the overall writing and the performances. And one very important aspect is the presentation of characters. Especially if there are more than just two or three, it is crucial that you find out defining characteristics of them not just in order to feel and care for the characters, but also in order to understand and memorize as quickly as possible who is who because that's a vital aspect if they keep disappearing one by one as the film goes one the way they usually do, also in this one here of course.
Overall, these particular areas have not really been elaborated on convincingly in here. I would not really blame any of the actors as they can only do as much as the script lets them, but admittedly they also do not really elevate the mediocre material. In terms of the camera work, there are okay moments like the scene at the very end with the camera under the bed, but it's also one of very few memorable moments. As a whole, I guess you really need to love this genre a lot in order to appreciate this film and you still shouldn't be fed up with everything that has a similar plot and story development and even then you may end up being disappointed with the overall quality as I myself do not really see a single great aspect from these slightly over 80 minutes. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
Absolutely TERRIBLE.
tamalero7 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Movie is so full of clichés its not even funny/scary. Most of the time I wanted to shot the character Melissa myself. Obnoxious, loud and over exaggerated "acting". This piece in general was definitively forgettable.
To resume this movie in a few lines..
1) It follows the formula of the Blair Witch project, and failing miserably. (found footage style, relies on noise and acting, in this case.. horrible acting)
2) You never get to see the monster correctly. The bits they show you seems to be a mixture of ALIEN from the Aliens franchise (acid, eggs, super strength, tail). just repainted.
3) All the characters are forgettable. The only character that has any kind of spirit is killed pretty early on.
4) Like any terror Cliché movie, it depends a lot on character stupidity to advance the plot while killing characters.
5) The female characters are so freaking annoying its enraging. If you have to write a character that you want to punch and yell to SHUT UP FOR GODS SAKE!.. then they did an awesome job. A dying cow would make less noise than these characters. Pretty annoying considering there is a monster in the middle of the forest hunting YOU.
6) Ironically.. the "male lead" is the absurd opposite. Who is more stoic than a statue.
To resume this movie in a few lines..
1) It follows the formula of the Blair Witch project, and failing miserably. (found footage style, relies on noise and acting, in this case.. horrible acting)
2) You never get to see the monster correctly. The bits they show you seems to be a mixture of ALIEN from the Aliens franchise (acid, eggs, super strength, tail). just repainted.
3) All the characters are forgettable. The only character that has any kind of spirit is killed pretty early on.
4) Like any terror Cliché movie, it depends a lot on character stupidity to advance the plot while killing characters.
5) The female characters are so freaking annoying its enraging. If you have to write a character that you want to punch and yell to SHUT UP FOR GODS SAKE!.. then they did an awesome job. A dying cow would make less noise than these characters. Pretty annoying considering there is a monster in the middle of the forest hunting YOU.
6) Ironically.. the "male lead" is the absurd opposite. Who is more stoic than a statue.
We are Students. We are Supposed to Take a Risk.
nogodnomasters3 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Teens from a film school see a UFO and decide to go after it with deadly results.
The quality of shooting was far worse than what students at a film school would do. We have all the things we hate about found footage films: night cam, jerk cam, ground cam, run cam, sniveling cam, and the what is it cam. When something is hunting you and is nearby, turn the camera off...just saying especially when it is dark and the camera has a light. If people screaming and shaking a camera has become your idea of entertainment, go for it. BTW don't expect to see the creature even in the last frame.
It starts out with some decent dialogue, but falls off a cliff once they get to the forest.
I watched it in German with English subtitles.
Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.
The quality of shooting was far worse than what students at a film school would do. We have all the things we hate about found footage films: night cam, jerk cam, ground cam, run cam, sniveling cam, and the what is it cam. When something is hunting you and is nearby, turn the camera off...just saying especially when it is dark and the camera has a light. If people screaming and shaking a camera has become your idea of entertainment, go for it. BTW don't expect to see the creature even in the last frame.
It starts out with some decent dialogue, but falls off a cliff once they get to the forest.
I watched it in German with English subtitles.
Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.
much better than expected!
Shelley55612 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I read a lot of reviews about UFO - It is here and had mixed feelings about watching it. But now that I have seen it, I'm pretty glad I did. Okay, the movie has it's flaws: Yes, you can see that The Blair Witch Project was a huge influence. Yes, there is a some shaky cam stuff going on. And yes, you're probably not going to like all the characters all the time. But I also think there were some pretty cool things going on. For example: 1. The title sequence was very nice, and reminded me of ALIEN 2. The actors did a good job! 3. The special effects were nicely made and pretty gory, but there also weren't too much of them 4. It was a relief that they never showed the whole alien - too many movies have been ruined for me because the "monster" looked shitty. It gets one extra point, because this was one of the few German films I wanted to keep watching.
Fun alien movie
AlexandraG1620 December 2016
When you go to see a German horror flic, your expectations are pretty low. It seems that movies coming out of Germany are for the most part comedies (that don't necessarily translate too well) or drama with a deeper message.
UFO certainly doesn't reinvent anything, it leans rather heavily on the classics of the genre such as The Blair Witch Project or Alien - nonetheless I was positively surprised.
The actors did a good job making their panicked reactions believable and there's quite a few things to panic about in the course of events: This is not a found footage film that leaves everything to the viewers imagination - instead, there's a good amount of gore here and the creature effects are rather convincing.
Cheaply produced, no doubt - but there's some fun to be had especially for fans of found footage movies.
UFO certainly doesn't reinvent anything, it leans rather heavily on the classics of the genre such as The Blair Witch Project or Alien - nonetheless I was positively surprised.
The actors did a good job making their panicked reactions believable and there's quite a few things to panic about in the course of events: This is not a found footage film that leaves everything to the viewers imagination - instead, there's a good amount of gore here and the creature effects are rather convincing.
Cheaply produced, no doubt - but there's some fun to be had especially for fans of found footage movies.
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