Dark Skies: Review

Dark Skies was advertised as the new movie "from the producers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious", both of which were scary movies the first time you viewed them. I had reasonably high hopes for the film, until hearing a few negative early  reviews from critics who witnessed exclusive screenings. Regardless of this, I still went to see the movie around a week after it came out, and I can't say that I was hugely impressed. 

I should start by stating the few of the things I enjoyed from Dark Skies. Firstly, there were several scenes which had me hiding behind my hands, as the music and lack of lighting built the tension quite well. There were about three times I jumped considerably hard, but this was almost always due to the fact any on-screen scare was accompanied by a deafening sound effect. Secondly, I thought that  at times the story was fairly interesting, especially when the 'alien specialist' Edwin Pollard (J.K Simmons) explains to the main characters what was happening, and all about the aliens found out to be called "The Greys", a rather unimaginative name if you ask me.

But this is where the movie ceased to be anything but bland and unoriginal. The scares became incredibly predictable, with the music going silent when somebody was about to appear from nowhere, and there were three distinct scenes which myself and the two people who I was with laughed as if we were watching a successful comedy movie. These could be considered spoilers, so read on at your own risk: 

The first of these is shown in one of the many trailers. It's revealed that three separate flocks of birds flew into the house the family the movie revolves around were staying in, which is meant to be one of the countless "spooky" occurrences which builds up to the climax. This scene was frankly awkward to watch however, as the number of dead birds remaining after it all happened was ridiculously unbelievable. The second scene was also shown in a trailer (a common mistake for most horror films now), in which the main female character of the Mother bangs her head repeatedly against a glass window, which is meant to show how the aliens can control whomever they choose. Again though, this small segment of the film was hilarious in it's stupidity, making me question why I even paid full price to get into the cinema. The last of these scenes I will leave for you to discover if you choose to see Dark Skies, but again, it was shown in the trailer. 

Scary movies should not make you laugh more than you're scared, unless their name
is actually "Scary Movie."  

If you haven't noticed by my lack of naming, the characters in the film are incredibly forgettable, with their names completely evading my memory. It's your stereotypical collection for a Spring horror movie, with a family consisting of a Mother who will believe anything she finds on Google, her husband not believing her until an hour into the movie, and their two children being the most susceptible to whatever is plaguing them. Also, without spoiling anything, the ending is atrociously clichéd, leaving you as the viewer annoyed at the thought that there may be a sequel for you to spend more money on. 

Verdict

Dark Skies is definitely not worth paying full cinema price for. It has a few scares that may unsettle those unfamiliar with Horror movies or those under the age of 10, but nothing that will cause you to lose sleep over. Even after saying all this however, there is a time that this movie could create a fun time. If you gathered a collection of friends one night and chilled wanting to watch an entertaining movie, I don't think Dark Skies would be the worst choice, just make sure to rent it for an incredibly reduced price.   5/10

There's no memorable quote for this movie, so instead I'll just leave you with a trailer which was scarier and looked far more enjoyable than the whole of Dark Skies, maybe being one of the few reasons to go and see it. It's titled "The Conjuring", and should be out around July.