Area 51 (2015)

First, I must say that most of the low ratings for this movie say "not scary!" The movie may have been sold to audiences as a pure horror movie, but false advertising shouldn't take away from the movie for what it is: A found-footage movie about a group of friends (one way more than the others) who go to great lengths to break into Area 51 that should be classified as a suspense sci-fi movie; definitely not horror.

A great portion of this movie is about the set-up of these guys (and a girl) getting ready to sneak into the lower levels of the base, which I can see how the average movie-goer could scoff at. If you go into this movie hoping for action, I'm sorry. Though it isn't what many were expecting, it is still very interesting to see their plans unfold.

The third act is where it really surprised me. Oren keeps with the golden rule of good horror: waiting for the unknown is a lot scarier than finding the unknown. You see very little of the aliens, which could be a let down to those looking for a monster movie. But watching the shadow of the aliens walking down the hall, or seeing an alien slowly slide from the darkness is truly creepy. There were many times I was very tense and on the edge of my seat.

The ending isn't as bad as many people are saying, for I kind of liked it. With some slightly better writing/imagination towards the ending, it could've made this movie a true diamond-in-the-rough. The acting, despite what many say, is tolerable and, for the most part, believable. The main character does have these moments of awful, goosebumps- inducing acting, but the other elements of the movie made me forget about it.

All in all, give it a shot. Its streaming on Netflix, and I'd say its well worth a shot. Worst scenario, you lose an hour and thirty minutes of your day. Or you could walk away with a pleasant experience. Just remember to keep your mind open to what the movie wants to be, not what you want it to be. Have fun!

Fmovies: I did not expect much going into this movie. I was hoping for a little better than Alien Abduction. That being the case, I ended up pleasantly surprised! The first 70% of the movie could have been condensed into about 10 minutes of plot actually necessary to understand and enjoy the movie. However, it was worth sitting through to get to the last 30%. The suspense was surprisingly effective. I even found myself tensed up and gritting my teeth a few times. Special effects, although not plentiful, we effective as well. I agree with a previous reviewer that I felt dissatisfied with the end of the movie. I think that, maybe with a bigger budget and a well thought out ending, it could have been much better. A pure horror fan will likely not appreciate it. On the other hand, if you enjoy SciFi/horror/suspense combo flicks, then it's definitely worth a watch.

Director Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) demonstrates that low key acting and high-tension situations combined with the right amount of digital effects can rock "found footage" horror films. Writer Christopher Denham fleshes out the mysteries of Area 51 with a disturbingly realistic tone.

All three mains Jelena Nik, Reid Warner and Darrin Bragg commit fully to their roles as unlikely explorers thrown into a maze of military secrets, alien artifacts and very real, very ticked-off extraterrestrials.

The third act was so good and so hard hitting that I had to remind myself it was "only a movie" several times.

Area 51 fmovies. I love scary movies, and I really love "scary" movies-- from Blair Witch to Paranormal Activity, I've always been a huge fan of shaky cameras and found footage. Ghosts and aliens scare me, and classic terror tropes work wonders on me! Things jumping out from behind other things and unexpected screams are my idea of a fun movie night.

If you are looking for a scary movie with aliens as the focus, I would recommend picking up Dark Skies, or John Carpenter's The Thing... but not Area 51, because this is a terrible film. I put it on expecting to be shock-scared, or at least creeped out... but all I got was progressively more and more annoyed.

The first half of the film does absolutely nothing but establish that the viewer should lack empathy for the main characters-- they are vapid young men who enjoy drinking, planning ineffectively, and disrespecting professional entertainers.

The second half of the film is meant to heighten the viewer's anxiety and presumably scare us, but it falls disappointingly short in that respect. Instead it devolves into lots of running and flailing, lots of awful camera work, and terrible physical acting. When the end finally comes, it's more a relief than anything else.

The only positive thing I have to say about this movie is that the main characters' treatment of their female colleague was basically respectful, which is more than what I can say for most movies that are structured in the "x number of guys + 1 girl" model. Nobody grabs her breasts or calls her disgusting names or belittles her intelligence based on her gender. That's awesome.

The rest of the film? Really not so much.

Not sure why this movie has such a bad rating, it's not bad at all. There are moments when things become legitimately terrifying and it just keeps escalating! Maybe people have something against found footage but this was done very well. As fan of the horror genre, I can't recommend this enough, especially if aliens creep you out! All in all its a very well-done movie that deserves a way better rating. Definitely give it a watch if you're looking for a scary movie!

Bought this film from Sky. What a load of crap. Only watched it because I'd paid money for it and thought it might get better. Unfortunately, it only got worse. If this had been free, I would have deleted it within 30 mins. Please, please, please, do not waste any of your life watching this utter crap. This Film Is Complete And Utter Rubbish. Quite honestly I think it was written and acted as if this was your first drama project in secondary school. You're given an idea and had to develop it. If I had been their teacher, I would have gave them an F, in fact it would have been ungraded. It was like they'd ran out of ideas at the end, or the school bell had rung and they had to make an ending. It was that bad, that there isn't even a soundtrack when the titles rolled at the end.