DARK SKIES (REVIEW)
Dir. Scott Stewart
Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield
Blum House have become the best Production company for the genre including box office hits SINISTER, INSIDIOUS and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY saga. With each new film a different element of the genre is bought to life. We’ve had ghosts, demons, parasitic killers and witches. What else is left to tackle?
‘Dark Skies’ opens up in the perfect suburbia backdropped to re deeper things creeping at the surface. Lacy (Keri Russell) and Daniel (Josh Hamilton) seem to have it well. A nice house, two children, Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and Sammy (Kadan Rockett) and everything else a loving family could ask for. That is until Daniel loses his job and it becomes evident that Keri is too lenient on hers to make a commission. Cutting back where they can, it is evident the stresses of life are catching up on them.
The tensions turn to maximum when bizarre events take turn on their house (most of which are covered in the trailer) including geometric shapes with their kitchen cupboards, sensors pick up unknown intruders and the children behave in a manner only a Blum House production can muster.
What is causing these events? Something unearthly has been attracted to the house and yes, they’re Aliens.
But don’t expect some crazy CGI or evident man in prosthetics here, these are the scariest MF aliens you are going to see outside of Ridley Scott’s 1979 epic. Sticking to a formula that has seen horror become less of a niche market over recent years and bringing the scares back to the cinema, DARK SKIES is terrifying. The slow build up to any answers serves this film well and the token crazed loon (played by J.K. Simmons) adds only to the dark story giving no hope to this family seeking answers and escape.
Tastefully mixed between family drama and E.T, DARK SKIES has a perfect cast ensemble and direction from Scott Stewart who has perfected his skills from recent disappointments, PRIEST and LEGION. Forget ghosts, ghouls and zombies, prepare yourself for the extra-terrestrial terror that awaits. You’ll be looking up and the skies praying they don’t find you…
