BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

andyetris I've got to give a kind of spoiler on the spoiler - I can't EXACTLY give the ending away, because the director/screenwriter doesn't completely give the ending away! Nevertheless, it is clear in the end what the general idea is. If you're a Peter Weir addict, you may like this film or at least cut it some slack. If not...As other reviewers have pointed out, the film presents us with a disparate group of people each isolated in their own way in a remote and challenging landscape. All have their own issues, and consequently aren't automatically brought together by the mysterious problems that slowly arise: instead they are confused and divided, unlike the outcome in some other films of this type. That, together with a lot of intentional vaguerie, gives the film dimensions that make it interesting and discussion-worthy to some. However I think most people, certainly those looking for a tight plot that comes together in a definite answer in the end, are going to be frustrated and irritated by the story and its "resolution." The acting is good, and though I wasn't particularly impressed by the heroic "ex-con judged by his reputation" stereotype, it was played perfectly competently by Steven Vidler, likewise the stressed-out obsessed cop well played by Vincent Gil; the nature of the plot is such that random and uncoordinated behaviour actually contributes to where the story is going - in the end a government conspiracy is vaguely alluded to, but its nature or intent is left deliberately vague (in the NetFlix version *I* saw anyway.) I wasn't particularly impressed by the "suspense," which is achieved by a lot of jump cuts of frenetic behaviour in dark rooms. Things happen, something else happens, the action shifts... The film eventually ends...I love the movies of Peter Weir, and Director Rolf de Heer is obviously heavily influenced by the opacity of his countryman's films. Weir, however, is alluding to semi-mystical powers of nature, which has nothing to do with whatever is being encountered at Raven's Gate.

lost-in-limbo Eddie Cleary an ex-con has just been released from prison and ends up working for his older brother on a farm in the outback. However some weird occurrences involving flashing lights, electrical cuts and evaporating water begins to put a strain on Eddie with his brother and wife.I can say it was unconventional, but I'm at a lost to what director Rolf de Heer (the man behind the 1993 cult 'Bad Boy Bubby') was trying to imply with this visually ambitious, but messily plotted head-trip. It's frustrating, because there was potential within its considerably off-kilter framework, but in the end the mysterious air that was established fades and the drama infectiously takes hold. The story throws around a lot of weird things (strange lights, possessions, power shorts), but nothing is truly expanded on that we're wondering if it's all hallucinations, supernatural or otherworldly interference. In the end it's kind of hinted, but not entirely fulfilling with the outcome making the eventual build-up feel pointless. There's even a sub-plot involving an opera loving police officer that goes onto to be redundant to the bigger picture and ends rather kooky. The material is uneven and a little heavy handed with the narrative moving back and forth from present time to the past (going back 5 days to eventually finish on the present day at hand). It looks like it tries for a psychological front and it doesn't always work, but it's intentions stay enthralling (with a glimpse into an unstable mind that's on the verge of insanity in an isolated backdrop, which can mess with your mind) and there's an amusing range of characters and scenarios.Atmosphere and imagery is impressive, and the boundless Australian outback landscape demonstrates a mystifyingly haunting and hypnotic strangle hold. Richard Michalak's free-flowing camera-work is filled with provocative angles and adds to the unusually trippy nature. So does Roman Kronen & Graham Tardif's spectrally bellowing music score. The performances fair-up well enough. Steven Vidler as Eddie is ably solid. Celine Griffin, Ritchie Singer, Vince Gil, Max Cullen, Terry Camilleri and Saturday Rosenberg were tailored to their parts.Chaotically drawn up, but remains interesting and well-made.

merklekranz "Encounter at Raven's Gate" had potential to be an intriguing Australian entry in the sci-fi genre, but there are problems. One of the best features could have been the Australian outback scenery. Unfortunately the video quality of the VHS tape is so inferior that you are just trying to figure out what is going on, instead of marvelling at the cinematography. More than half are night scenes and are so dark that the images are the worst transfer I have ever seen. The movie is something about water shortages, growing plants, demonic possession, strange electrical charges, the sky raining dead birds, unexplained animal attacks, and makes little sense. - MERK

charliecbc I'm not sure what to make of this film, or who to recommend it to. All I can say is I liked it, it was amazingly well made, and it definitely held my interest throughout the duration of its run time.Visually, film has amazing composition. The cinematography and directing is striking. The audio is quite striking as well, like during the dog attack the sound of digiridoos (spelling?) blends with the dog's growling. The film reminded me there are still many things in nature we do not completely understand yet. Some things seem to defy scientific explanation. Having just finished viewing this film for the first time, I could probably write a dozen pages about this film and how I interpret it. Someone else could do the same and our ideas might be quite different. For one, this film is about is how every once in a while, whether you live in the city or the country, sometimes everybody's biggest problems can come to the surface all at once. In this film, the s--- hits the fan for several different people in the same place, but in different ways. There are no flat, one-dimensional characters here.I don't want to muddle peoples' impressions of this film with comparisons to other movies. There is definitely some "X-Files" type stuff going on, and parts of it reminded me of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But in general this film is quite unique, and is virtually unknown in the United States. There is no DVD available in NTSC Region 1, and the copy I watched was a dusty old VHS tape issued by HBO, I recently found it in the Sci-Fi section of the old, cluttered video store I work at. The cover looked interesting. Usually when I find a film made in certain foreign countries, I assume a lot of people there must have liked it if it a US distributor picked it up. Of course that is not always true, and thousands of great foreign films never get released here, while plenty of crap finds its way here thanks to the money hungry corporations monopolizing the distribution networks. But I've always had good luck with films from Australia, such as Chopper, Razorback, and The Last Wave. I really hope this film gets a DVD release over here. I would love to view it with better picture quality. I am also curious to know if this film was big hit in Australia