Encounter

Encounter (2021) is a tense psychological road thriller you can watch online on iFILM. Riz Ahmed plays a former Marine who pulls his two young sons out of bed at night and hits the road, swearing he's saving them from an alien infection. Michael Pearce directs.

Malik adores his boys and talks to them like soldiers in on a mission. Otherworldly parasites, he tells them, are crawling into people, and the only safe move is to reach a secure zone he's mapped out. Older brother Jay mostly believes him; little Bobby is scared but follows. The further their battered SUV runs, the more the invasion story frays — a pursuit closes in, phones keep ringing, and a parole officer played by Octavia Spencer hints the real danger isn't what their father describes. When you stand by each other, the tagline says, you can get through anything.

The film quietly trades sci-fi for a grounded drama about trust, illness and what it means to protect a child. It's for viewers who prize intimate, performance-driven road movies over big effects. Stream Encounter (2021) online on iFILM.