Sadly Over-hyped

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

RELEASED IN 2013 and directed/written by Scott Stewart, "Dark Skies" chronicles increasingly strange events at the Barrett residence in Suburbia, USA. The parents (Josh Hamilton & Keri Russell) slowly come to believe that the cause of the havoc might be extraterrestrial. J.K. Simmons plays a solemn expert on the subject with whom the couple seek advice.This is an amalgam of "Poltergeist" (1982), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), "Signs" (2002), "The Forgotten" (2004) and "Night Skies" (2007). It's as good or better than the best of 'em and is significantly more compelling than "Signs," which is a decent movie but "Signs" is actually about something other than alien visitation (see my review for evidence).Critics say the movie's "too slow," but I never got this impression. I found the steady build-up engaging with several effectively creepy or scary moments. This is the opposite of lame horror flicks like "The Hollow" (2015) where the filmmakers overdo it with amped-up horror clichés every three minutes to hold the attention of viewers with ADHD. Russell is competent and attractive, but looks like she needs to gain about 20-25 lbs.THE MOVIE RUNS 97 minutes and was shot in Santa Clarita, California, with additional work done in NYC.GRADE: B+/A-

How can anyone like a movie that ENDS with a boy kidnapped (and apparently tortured) in front of his loving parents?? Just before that, we get to watch mom in a pool of blood and dad blowing his own brains out. And the other boy is evidently headed for the same fate. There is nothing more to discuss. I'm disgusted that anyone gave this a positive review.

I'm not a regular partaker of horror/thriller movies but picked this one up because it had some good actors who's works I've enjoyed in the past. The actors don't disappoint, nor does the storyline or directing. I see many throwing down on it because it apparently doesn't match or out-do expectations built from past movies. But un-encumbered by this I found it quite an engaging ride. Keri Russell is excellent as normal. And young Dakota Goyo continues to show an acting talent beyond his years. The one look he throws the camera near the end is haunting.And I would differ with those who say it's not a true horror flick. They must not have noticed the various 60's wall coverings in the Barret home. The scariest thing I've seen in nigh 40 years!

(Minor spoilers ahead) I'm giving this movie a 7 because I am keen on any half-decent movie about aliens and UFOs. (I will watch any horror movie with an overall IMDb rating of over 5.)This movie was certainly watchable and a few of the elements of the plot were actually quite well thought-out. This movie wasn't completely stupid, and with the state of most scary movies that come out, well, that's as much as anyone can hope for, really. Now let's talk about the actors: Keri Russell isn't my favourite gal of all time but I don't mind her, and she worked well here as the intelligent, concerned and caring mom and wife. She got a bit of good and bad dialogue - I loved the bits where she was piecing together what on earth was really going on and trying to explain it all to her hubby. That was quite satisfying. I also liked the interactions with her children. Not sure what the significance was of her being a fakey-wakey realtor, I guess that was just random, and it did leave me sort of wondering why her given career didn't seem to be significantly connected to the overall story, whereas in the case of her husband's job situation, there was a sense of connection there. Josh Hamilton, I adore, and he was great as the knee-jerk skeptic, overall good guy young family man. (Can't believe he was born in 69 btw - he looks pretty fantastic to me. Super cute.) The kids and supporting characters were fine. The movie had a pretty good evenly paced plot, and some good scares. I'm not the type of movie viewer that believes it's best to not ever show the monster, because of the old 'what you can't see is scarier than what you can' - some of my favourite horror movie moments were when the creatures were finally revealed, as the walk by glimpse in Signs (loved that scene, scared the crap outta me!), the creatures in The Descent (some of my favourite movie monsters of all time, though people say the sight of them almost ruined the movie) and the horrendously scary sights to behold that gave me nightmares for years in Fire in the Sky. (These are just a few personal examples.) This being said, I am a reader and I do have a vivid imagination - I also find it a letdown when the monsters aren't hideous enough. But overall, if we NEVER see the monster I am the most disappointed of all. I'm just not into that. Anyway, I'll just say that the glimpses we got in this movie were pretty good, but overall it wasn't quite scary enough. The concept was scary and disturbing - it would have been good to have delved into that in a bit more detail. I like how it didn't try to be super original and the aliens were portrayed as the typical kind you hear about that people report of in abduction cases and conspiracy theories. That was kind of great - it tied it into reality and made you wonder "what if?" I don't think enough has been done with that concept in the movies, actually. There's plenty of room on my shelf for more alien abduction movies!Movies like this usually have logistical issues that I figure a competent team should be able to smooth the kinks out of but they never do, so I almost feel I can't complain about that aspect too much. The storyline had its weaknesses, though, for sure -- we just get served up the 'random' explanation for why exactly the aliens do the specific things they do in their study of humans, which isn't really as satisfying as it could be. The comparison to lab rats was OK, but I feel that a more complex and horrifying explanation could have been dished up just based on the theories floating around on the internet. The ultimate explanation amounted to no more really than "they do it because they can." The ending was a bit of a surprise - I thought it would have been a bit cheesier after the alien expert alluded to the thing that would really "get" to the aliens was sticking together as a family, and then they kind of didn't do that. Not clear why that was the case. The ending definitely had problems -- it felt rushed, incomplete and left important questions unanswered. Lamest of all though was the 'twist' - if you can call it that. I won't come out and say exactly what the twist at the end was, but let's put it this way: it was the type of end of the movie twist that you don't see coming not because the film is so clever, but because it doesn't pack a punch. In the first version of this review I'd said the ending wasn't that bad, but now I've actually changed my mind: in my opinion, it really stunk.Now, despite all my criticisms, at the end of the day if you like alien movies, this is absolutely worth watching! criticisms, relatively speaking.