Howard's Mill

Seems like a lot of reviewers got angry because somebody tricked them this is a real documentary, when in reality, it isn't. I don't know the context and who is to blame, a network or the creators of this movie, but i watched it knowing this is a mockumentary and i enjoyed it.

This is a good (not very good) mystery movie. It's not scary, so if you're looking for a pure horror movie, that's not it. This movie wanted to be mind-bending, something like a puzzle, in order for the viewer to got lost in its labyrinths. I think it succeeded. It made me think, it was enigmatic enough to excite me and not too vague so it would make me lose my interest.

Slow to start and not that interesting, but as i was progressing, it got better. Last 30 minutes were much better than the previous part. Not everything was answered but it was not annoyingly ambiguous.

Creepy, intense in the second part and not that unrealistic for a mystery movie. If you're looking for something like this, you will like it. Remember though, it's almost a no budget production.

HOWARD'S MILL is a mockumentary (fake documentary) which starts off as being about the mysterious disappearance of a woman whose husband police initially suspect of having murdered, and then goes down the rabbit's hole of a series of disappearances spanning decades but all associated with the eponymous property.

Plotwise, this film treads similar ground as the mockumentaries LAKE MUNGO (2008) and SAVAGELAND (2015), where every so often a new twist throws the entire story line into a new direction. However, what the film ends up suggesting is the ultimate explanation for these disappearances can be inferred fairly early on. Also, HOWARD'S MILL is unfortunately not as entertaining as its spiritual predecessors.

The production values for this kind of film were okay, there were some nice drone shots and a fairly large cast, but the proceedings just humdrum. Because we can guess early on where the story is going, and the characters are never in any kind of real danger, there is practically no tension.

The convoluted plot ends up being complicated by some extra dead-end plot lines which seem fairly obviously just devices to confuse the audience further, and comparatively little is definitely resolved by the end of the movie.

I think fans of mystery mockumentaries will still like this, but the movie is probably too unexciting and anticlimactic for a wider mass appeal.

Great story the acting by the ancillary characters was strong but the leads were not believable, which helps to blow the illusion. The lead male did not act like a man under very real and ongoing suspicion of his wife's disappearance which took place less than a month earlier. It was creepy and if the story was adapted to a full on horror movie it could be entertaining.

A found footage mockumentary that's so well done it appears to be a documentary. Also the disappearance stories are interesting. They're like Absentia the movie meets Skinwalker Ranch the movie. A nice tension is built up that's engrossing. A couple just bought a house and the wife goes missing. The husband is befuddled because she appeared to vanish in the blink of an eye. Turns out she's not the only one.

Reasonably entertaining pseudo documentary. It tries hard to hide the fact that it's all fictitious but its clear that these are actors playing roles. The 2nd half is a bit better than the first but be prepared to suspend disbelief for some supernatural shenanigans.