Dark Skies Film Review

by The Wanderer

Director: Scott Stewart
Cast: Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kadan Rockett, J. K. Simmons

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Length: 97 minutes

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Combining elements of horror and science-fiction, Dark Skies chronicles an alien invasion of a single family’s home.  The film is stylized like a horror film with plenty of tense and jumpy episodes.  It provides thrills and chills, but like most horror films it also provides poor character development, subplots that go nowhere, and some laughable moments that people really weren’t supposed to laugh at.

Of course when most people go to see a horror film they aren’t going to see a film with great character development and movie plots that make sense, they are going to be entertained.  As far as Dark Skies being an entertaining film goes, it does an excellent job of maintaining its tension through to the end.  It’s just the elements of good filmmaking that suffer in between.

Watching a horror film usually drops the standards by which a film can be judged, and I definitely let my guard down watching this film.  There’s nothing new or original about Dark Skies, but it’s a movie with enough thrills if you are looking to entertain yourself at home with a movie night.

Dark Skies follows the Barrett’s, the picturesque U.S. suburban family.  There are the husband and wife, Daniel and Lacy, and their two sons Jesse and Sammy.  They are picturesque on the surface, which means they host barbeques with their neighbors/best friends, and their children hang out together.

Underneath the picturesque surface the film tries to ad a touch of the current economic crisis into the film, Daniel is a laid off worker looking for a new job, and Lacy is under a lot of pressure from her job to sell homes (she’s a realtor).  By the time the paranormal stuff begins to happen in the film everyone is under a lot of stress from the economic issues being faced by the family.

Sammy, the youngest son, begins to have disturbing nightmares while unusual occurrences begin to happen around the house.  Soon the rest of the family begins to experience disturbing paranormal abnormalities in their everyday lives.  As the occurrences begin intensify, the Barrett’s have to figure out a way to keep their family safe from what they presume are extra terrestrial invaders.

Dark Skies is a blending of many different horror and science fiction movies that came before it.  Nothing new or original to filmmaking is taking place here, it’s a boiling cauldron of many different great horror and science fiction films and television shows that came before it.

Elements of the psychological thriller influenced from the Twilight Zone dominate the film.  The supernatural phenomenon occurring in a home setting is reminiscent of Paranormal Activity.  The plot of Dark Skies, which is about a family defending itself against alien invaders, should sound familiar to anyone who saw the film Signs… it’s basically the same plot except this film doesn’t feature a mass alien invasion.   The threat of a conspiracy and alien abduction has the movie echoing the X-Files, and in many ways the film feels like an extended hour and a half episode of the TV show.

Despite its lack of originality the film does manage to keep the tension up throughout the duration of the film (the music and sound people really help in this department). There is a never a point in time where the film drops off dramatically in tension, which is a problem films in the horror genre tend to suffer from.  The movie also does a good job of letting your imagination scare you, nothing is more frightening than the unknown, and the movie capitalizes on this idea for most of the films duration.

Unfortunately the film also adds scenes that are unintentionally hilarious, like the scene where Lacy walks over to a glass window and starts to slam her head into it over and over again.

One of the more baffling parts of this film is its ending.  Was that supposed to be some sort of shocking twist, or was it something they forgot to explain earlier in the film, and they just decided to explain it at the very end.  Either way the film’s closing scene is ludicrous at best, and unfortunately opens the door to a sequel that I hope never gets made.

I have to commend the film for keeping me entertained, but Dark Skies is a film that is only fun if you don’t think about it.  If you do think about it, you’ll find yourself being very disappointed.

Score: 7.9