Dark Skies (2013)

A typical middle-class suburban family suddenly have the strangest and eeriest of experiences happening right in their very home, to all the members of the family. These range from simple skin allergies to elaborate geometric skin markings, from photos disappearing from their frames to birds crashing into their windows. As their kids Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and Sam (Kadan Rockett) seem to be the targets of the unseen assailants, Lacy (Felicity Huffman) and Daniel (Josh Hamilton) have to race against time and the unknown to save their family. Can they?

"Dark Skies" straddles the genres of horror and science fiction. It is not bad at all. It is not overly ambitious. It achieves the goals it sets out to do effectively. Of course, there are typical horror clichés and convenient coincidences all around but the execution manages to make it work. The main actors have some preposterous things to do and say, yet they still manage to pull it off somehow and make us care about them. I am not going to reveal here what exactly was going on in this film, but I can say that this could be a very good episode of the X- Files if Mulder and Scully were there.

Fmovies: Not knowing exactly what we were in for, having seen only a trailer or two, we were very pleasantly surprised. The last "alien" movie we went to was "Signs", which really soured our opinion of these types of movies. We are interested in the phenomenon and this movie actually handled the subject quite well. For those of us with an interest in the field, it was very believable and it was written well. The pace of the movie made it seem over too quickly - I was ready for more! I left the theater feeling pretty stressed, partly because of the suspense and partly because the characters made their struggle so believable. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone with an open mind. My husband is a much better film critic than I, and he really liked it too, which is interesting because he is typically drawn to movies with a fantasy component or a lot of computer-generated scenes. Again, having an interest in the phenomenon ourselves, this movie made it very real for us.

I have to admit i'm very surprised with this movie, also i'm surprised that its getting low ratings, i guess crap like paranormal activity is whats popular around... Anyway, this is by far the most scary movie in the last 10 years, i could dare anyone to name another movie that can deliver the scare in a better way than this?... yes there are a LOT of clichés, but they are so well done, that it doesn't matter.. Also the acting is simply TOP-notch, which adds so much to the plot... Im a big fan of mashup genres, and this is a great mixture of sci-fi and horror, it takes elements from many other movies, which is not a bad thing at all... The ending leads (hopefully) to a sequel, i really think it deserves one...

Dark Skies fmovies. 'DARK SKIES': Three Stars (Out of Five)

A science fiction thriller about a family terrorized by an unknown force which may be extraterrestrial in origin. It was written and directed by Scott Stewart (who also helmed the sci-fi thrillers 'LEGION' and 'PRIEST'). It stars Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, J.K. Simmons, Dakota Goyo (of 'REAL STEEL' fame) and Kadan Rockett. The movie is a routine suspense thriller/horror film but it does have some good scares and creepy imagery.

The film revolves around the Barrett family, who live in the suburbs, struggling to get by while Mr. Barrett, Daniel (Hamilton), tries to find work. Lacy Barrett is a real-estate agent who's struggling to sell a house while her oldest son Jesse (Goyo) is discovering girls. Strange occurrences begin happening in the families' home, involving food in the kitchen, and what first looks like a possible intruder turns into Daniel and Lacy questioning their youngest son Sam's (Rockett) mental stability. Weirder things keep happening though and they soon begin involving the other family members as well.

The movie is kind of slow-paced at times but it has enough good scares throughout to keep it going. It's a little like a 'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY' film except better (in my opinion). It also seems influenced by two Spielberg flicks; 'CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND' and 'POLTERGEIST'. 'POLTERGEIST' is one of my all time favorite movies in this genre and to say a film resembles it at all is quite a compliment. This film isn't nearly as creative, fun or memorable but it does work as just a thriller. Not a great scary movie but a little better than average.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKhLjf_1MKw

An interesting ride would pretty much sum up my experience of this film.

The director did a smart job in the beginning by introducing the subject slowly and gradually in the sense that although we knew something was not quite right with this suburban house, he did not rush to bombard us with any massive amounts of visuals or gory scenes thus leaving us both intrigued and in anticipation mode. That is a technique not commonly used and achieving that takes skill.

Following that, the story runs smoothly as our characters go from surprise, to shock, then disbelief and acceptance. Good choice of adult and children actors, in combination to the gradual built up made this an stimulating watch.

It was the climax that I found to be rather anticlimactic. Nothing innovative, or even new. Whilst it never ceased to be thrilling, let's be clear about that, somehow the overdoing of visuals and certain ambiguities concerning the unfolding of the final moments left me somewhat colder.

Still, it is a highly effective and watchable thriller.

This is a fabulous movie with a lot of twists and turns. A great cast and a sensational and very freaky story. I am a connoisseur of alien movies and this is one of the best and deserves a sequel!