“Listen you well to my word.

One by land, two by sky….look to the heptagon for it is there, seven times around go the three of you, and may your reward by just and true.”

These are the words that made such a mark with someone who saw Encounter with the Unknown that they were still attempting to track it down over 20 years later, long after they had forgotten the title. And thankfully so, because these are also the words that I read, via their description, which captivated me enough to take on the task of trying to identify what this film was for myself, since I was now convinced that I had to see it (in case you missed it, read the blog entry about how I found out about this movie).

I just remember thinking, “Wow, that sounds so creepy and awesome! I’ve got to find it.” (Interestingly enough, this film seems to entrance anyone who crosses it’s path. On the films IMDB page, one user even left a comment detailing how he remembered seeing the film on television on a specific day in 1980 so he went to the library and searched the microfilm for records of the TV listings on that date to find the title! Now that’s die hard!)

Well, I did find it, but only after a good deal of searching. By that point I had begun to think that the title must actually be referring more to the process of locating the film than to any of the actual events portrayed in it.

Encounter with the Unknown is an anthology film that is meant to explore the supernatural (it actually plays out a lot like one of those 70’s documentaries on mysterious phenomenon, but with re-enactments of supposedly true stories rather than supposedly real footage), featuring three tales loosely based around the ideas put forward by a man named Dr. Jonathan Rankin, who the introduction informs us has evidence to support his theory that the majority of psychic activity in the U.S. is all directly link to 23 specific cemeteries around the country (being the total nerd that I am and finding this concept infinitely interesting, I did some extensive research into this “Rankin cluster” (and by “extensive research” I mean that I Googled it) as it’s known, but I wasn’t able to find any information on it or Dr. Jonathan Rankin anywhere, leading me to believe that he was never actually a real person, and more than likely created by the films producers. However, someone please correct me if I’m wrong).

The first deals with a mother seeking revenge through occult means on the three boys who caused the accidental death of her son when a seemingly harmless prank went horribly wrong (in case you haven’t guessed, this is where that eerie warning from the beginning of the review comes in). In the next, a young boy finds a mysterious, fog-spewing hole in the earth which emits ghastly sounds while searching in the woods for his lost dog. Finally, in the third, we see the classic tale of the “white lady”, a ghostly hitchhiker often seen by late night travelers who continues to search for a ride even after her death, doomed to haunt the highways for eternity.

Okay, let’s put it this way, if an action packed horror thrill ride is what you’re looking for, then this is definitely not the film for you. This sucker is slow. REALLY slow. In fact, nothing much ever really happens in Encounter with the Unknown (it wasn’t difficult to leave the crucial plot-spoiling details our of my synopsis because there really aren’t any, except maybe in the first segment). All three stories are incredibly drawn out and overly padded despite clocking in under 30 minutes a piece (with the third story seeming particularly slow if you’re already familiar with the white lady legend) and each features a completely unnecessary recap at the end of composed of clips from the very same footage you just watched (in case you weren’t really paying attention for the 25 minutes prior). On top of all that, there is yet another recap at the end of the film which essentially replays the entire movie (with those same clips again), but this time with added voice-over which attempts to tie together and explain several of the “unknowns” presented in the various stories with some complete ridiculous (and therefore totally awesome) metaphysical nonsense that tries way too hard to be thought provoking. But hey, you have to reach that 90 minute running time somehow, right?

Yet all slow pacing and actionless plot aside, the film still somehow manages to be surprisingly entertaining, if you can get past the boring moments (which I guarantee some of you just won’t be able to do). The poetic narration, done by none other than Rod Serling, lends some air of credibility to the whole thing, even if it was originally done as nothing more than an attempt to cash in on his connection to the “bizarre” subject matter (although this is hardly The Twilight Zone, or even Night Gallery for that matter). But Encounter with the Unknown’s real strengths don’t lie so much with its content, but more so with the execution. This is one of those rare cases where the incredibly low budget nature of the film actually enhances it, with the hazy, washed out look of the film stock creating a sort of disconnected, hallucinatory feel (witnessed in other films like Carnival of Souls or Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural). Other factors, like the grainy audio recording or awkwardly rigid performances, only add to the phantasmal, dreamlike quality, giving Encounter with the Unknown a sense of the very same mystery that is set out to investigate. This strange aura, coupled with the obscurity of the film itself, almost makes you question whether or not it actually exists (I could easily see how someone might catch part of this on TV at 4 AM while half asleep and then wonder if they didn’t imagine the whole thing later).

These surreal and elusive characteristics are what make Encounter with the Unknown exactly the kind of film that I’m looking for here at Radiation Sickness - a film so under the radar that it has seemingly managed to exist in a realm outside of reality, more in the minds of the few who remember it than in any actual physical form. It’s a classic example of a forgotten film, in the truest sense of the word. Some of those who have seen it will undoubtedly say that it was forgotten with good reason, and maybe that is true, but to those of you who are more than a little cinematically adventurous (which I hope is a good portion of the people reading this), I say you’ll never know that for sure unless you see for yourself.