User reviews

I really like this genre of film just as much as I enjoy found footage horrors and some as comedies. This was so believable I'm embarrassed to say I had to look it up to make sure if it was or not. Keep them coming!

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.

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.

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.

I give this a solid six for what it turned out to be. The story is pretty good, and I didn't know where it was going for a bit and it had some twists that link up well. It is let down by the acting pretty early on and that's unfortunate. Now, that being said I don't think any of the actors are what I'd say seasoned actors which some will have been on purpose, given the plot. However, people definitely behave in a certain way during certain situations and the lack of emotion portrayed by any of the actors does it a disservice. I kept watching to see if I could figure it out, which it wasn't what I expected so that was handled well. It was shot well, scenery realistic. Idea good.

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.

It's not a scary found footage but it was still amazing. They did such a good job.

If you want to want a fictitious supernatural movie, this might be for you. I really don't understand how this is listed as a documentary.

Imagine having a good idea for a mockumentary and then going nowhere with it. That is this movie: It's 30 minutes stretched and padded to three times the length it needed to be, ending at the point when, after a lot of buildup, something interesting should happen. At the end movie even brings up it's own inconsistencies, throws its hands up in the air and exlaims 'I don't know!'.

I found it very enjoyable. I thought some of the acting was a bit stilted, but much of it as fine and some downright entertaining. If you go in with the mindset that it is a real documentary you will soon realize that it is only written and filmed to capture that feeling. I may watch it again in a couple of weeks if I can find the time...

Billed as a documentary this is actually fiction.

The film makers went to great lengths to give this "authenticity" however a few of the characters and the acting give it away.

The storyline is good and in some parts believable as well as the "found footage"

It's about halfway through the acting gets a bit sloppy which is a shame as it loses its edge.

I'm not a fan of "found footage" genre in any case but went with it.

I'd recommend it over films like the Poughkeepsie Tapes where the acting is so bad (see review) and the script just not believable.

All in all it's a reasonable watch and a good effort.

It still didn't seem as authentic though as the real deal. Maybe it's just me but the actors seemed too perfect.

This feels very overproduced the entire way through. The acting is mediocre at best, especially from the main husband of the missing woman. It's a shame that this was allowed to be listed as a real doc.

Don't get me wrong, my expectations and standards when it comes to found footage movies are usually low but this movie failed to live up to that standard as well.

It follows a man whose wife disappeared mysteriously and he hires a documentary crew to help him make a documentary on that and as the movie goes they discover more disappearances that might be related to his wife's. While the premise is interesting enough, the plot and execution both were atrocious to say the least.

As the movie moves on, they pile up one question after another and resolve none of them. By the end the movie goes into a "What the f?" territory where nothing is resolved and ends in an incredibly anticlimactic way that just ends up leaving a bad taste in your mouth. The movie starts with 1 mystery, but ends with so many of them unresolved. It's a very frustrating watch. The acting itself was pretty mediocre as well, but that's normal when it comes to found footage.

Anyway, would NOT recommend. It's just a complete waste of time. 1/10.

If you can stomach the acting of any given LIFETIME movie, you can handle this movie.

It may not be what you were expecting based on the description, but if you stick with it, it gets better & better. If you go into this faux-documentary thinking "Missing 411", you're more equipt for the eventual storyline. And if you've never heard of the "Missing 411" stories, check them out. They're unsolved mysteries of people suddenly going missing, with clues of what happened to them that never seem to add up. Sometimes people are found alive weeks later with no memory of having been gone for vast amounts of time, some are found dead, and some are never found.

I think what turns viewers away from this movie is that it's bringing in the wrong crowd. Most start watching this for the documentary aspect of a crime/mystery/thriller and their expectations are poorly met. But if this was marketed towards supernatural, unexplained mysteries, "Missing 411" type of genre, it would fare far better with the viewing audience.

You wouldn't label a "Romantic" movie a "Thriller". Generally, women like romance and men like thrillers. What would you expect when you lure the wrong audience in for a thriller and they're stuck watching a romance? Very bad reviews and a low rating. Imo, that's what's happening with this movie, "Howard's Mill".

If you like the "Missing 411" series, supernatural phenomenon, and unsolved mysteries, then this movie is for you. And I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it too.

I hate television shows. Modern ones anyway. And that is what this was. An indie film trying to be a documentary style tv show. Why on earth would anyone try so hard, create all the fiction, bring in all the fake sidekicks, just to mimic something so lame and abhorent? And who would would be interested in watching it? It isn't real, so where is the fascination? This is "found footage" going in a brand new and detestable direction. I'm unsure how it got released and propagated to the degree in which it did. If this somehow becomes some new genre in movie-making - We're all screwed.

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.

HOWARD'S MILL is a "mockumentary" about the abandoned property of the title, and the mysterious disappearances of several people who lived nearby. As the tale unfolds, the documentarians soon realize that the single case they were following has led them into something much larger. Much darker.

The strength of this film lies in its realism, and its dedication to details while the investigation expands. It doesn't stray into self-parody territory, No matter how strange the story becomes, it doesn't insult our intelligence. The vast array of characters playing the film crew, cops, fire and rescue, townsfolk, etcetera, are all contributors to the genuine feel of the movie.

More mystery than horror, it still has its creepy moments.

A very convincing entry in its subgenre...

You give these kind of movies a really, really bad name (as if they didn't already have a bad reputation) but having the nerve to label them as real documentaries. Gross.