DARK SKIES (2013)

Studio:       Alliance Films
Director:    Scott Stewart
Writer:       Scott Stewart
Producer:  Jason Blum
Stars:     Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kadan Rockett, Josh Stamberg, LJ Benet, J.K. Simmons

Review Score:

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Summary:

Unexplained events and strange behavior lead one family to consider that they may be the targets of an alien visitation. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Lacy Barrett and her husband Daniel prepare a cookout with their youngest son Sam. Their older son Jesse is at his friend Kevin Ratner’s house watching a softcore movie. Daniel cannot understand why Jesse hangs out with Ratner, as he is a bad influence. Jesse tells his little brother stories over walkie-talkie as they go to sleep in separate rooms. Jesse reads Sam a story about “The Sandman,” a being who steals people’s eyes. Lacy gets up during the night and discovers the refrigerator ransacked and the sliding door open.

The next day, Daniel blows a job interview, but tells his wife that it went well, as they are struggling financially. That night, Jesse tells his brother more stories. Lacy finds multiple kitchen items stacked in various shapes that make a crop circle-like reflection on the ceiling. Sam tells his mother that “The Sandman” made the construction.

A policeman finds no signs of forced entry in the home. Lacy is shown to be a real estate agent with a conscious for telling clients the truth about a home’s value. Daniel renews the home’s alarm system service. Lacy learns that her husband lied about his job interview, leading to a fight that their boys overhear. That night, every sensor on the alarm system is tripped simultaneously and the security company has no explanation. Lacy notices that the photos have been removed from every picture frame in the living room. Once again, the police officer dismisses the family’s concerns, believing the children may be responsible. Lacy discovers that Sam had another visit from “The Sandman.”

While playing in the park, Sam enters a trance, wetting his pants and screaming. Lacy finds a drawing Sam made of himself holding hands with a dark slender being. Hundreds of birds die while crashing into the Barrett’s house and scientists come to investigate. Sam has no memory of his trance at the park. Later, Lacy checks on Sam in his bedroom and sees a dark slender shape over his bed. She turns on the light and both the shape and her son are gone. Daniel finds Sam walking in a trance outside. Daniel later notices strange marks behind his own right earlobe.

Jesse and Ratner spend an afternoon with two girls after sneaking into a house Jesse’s mother is showing. Jesses uses a line from the softcore movie he saw previously, which angers the girl he is with, but they eventually kiss. As Jesse bikes home, streetlights explode. Daniel installs security cameras throughout the home.

In the morning, the video playback shows corruption as something apparently moves through the house. While showing a home, Lacy enters a trance and begins slamming her head against a window. Her boss calls her later and forces her to take a leave of absence. Lacy realizes she is missing six hours of time. She also receives a call from a scientist who tells her that the birds hitting the house came from three different migratory patterns. Lacy begins researching alien encounters on the Internet. Daniel finally lands a new job.

Daniel is the next family member to enter a trance. He has a nosebleed and Lacy shows him her Internet research, which he dismisses. At a public swimming pool, family friends notice that Sam has purple lesions all over his body. While in the woods with Ratner, Jesse goes into a trance. The doctor shows Jesse’s parents that he has brands on his body shaped like crop circle markings. As a matter of routine, the doctor notifies Child Protective Services. Believing Ratner is responsible, Daniel confronts the boy before Ratner’s father punches Daniel. Daniel sees more video anomalies on the surveillance footage, but isolates a strange shape in one bedroom. Lacy and Daniel go to see Edwin Pollard, an “expert” who tells the Barrett’s about “The Greys.” He explains that there is no way to escape the aliens and they will ultimately take the first member of the family that they contacted.

To prepare for the next visitation, Lacy gets a dog. Daniel buys a shotgun and boards up the windows. Eventually, “The Greys” make it into the home. Jesse has a vision of his father killing Lacy and then himself. Jesse comes out of his trance and the family then witnesses his abduction.

Three Months Later – The Barretts have moved. Lacy finds pictures Jesse drew as a child and realizes that along with the illnesses he experienced as a youngster, the evidence indicates Jesse was actually the first family member to be visited, and not Sam. Sam finds his walkie-talkie and hears Jesse call his name from the other side.

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Review:

“Dark Skies” opens with this quote from Arthur C. Clarke: “Two possibilities exist… Either we are alone in the universe or we are not.  Both are equally terrifying.”  There are exceptions, but usually two possibilities exist when it comes to an alien invasion premise.  Either the aliens attack en masse and in full force or they skulk about in the shadows, unseen and largely undetected.  Both are not always equally entertaining, depending upon the viewer’s mood.

“Dark Skies” opts for the latter of the two options above on its leisurely march towards skin-crawling creeps.  The Barretts are a typical middle class suburban family with two young boys and financial difficulties.  Daniel is unemployed, which has put a strain on his relationship with wife Lacy.  Not helping matters are the nightly visitations their youngest son Sam receives from “The Sandman.”  Once family members begin taking turns entering unexplained trances and behaving strangely, Daniel and Lacy consult the ever-wise J.K. Simmons with their suspicions.  He confirms that their family has been targeted by “The Greys,” and there is nothing that can be done to prevent the aliens from taking what they want.

The concept is simple, and the movie rightfully approaches it with a straightforward style.  If say “Psycho” is the horror movie equivalent of filet mignon, then “Dark Skies” is a Big Mac.  It is familiar, reliable, and does its job.  At the same time, it will not survive as a memorable moment when it comes time to write a memoire.  That may be a backhanded compliment, or not even a compliment at all, but it serves to illustrate that “Dark Skies” is not out to reinvent the genre, which is perfectly okay.  Its true goal of providing entertainment is more laudable anyway.

When the Barretts begin to suspect that they have been visited by extraterrestrials, they consult an “expert” for guidance.  This particular expert is one tinfoil helmet away from looking like every other self-proclaimed expert in the field of alien visitations.  Before worrying about his mental health, however, he might need a visit from the makeover team at “Hoarders.”  Any corner of his apartment not cluttered with a haphazardly placed book stack is occupied by a cat.  Or two or three.  Yet just as the urge to cough “stereotype” comes up when eyeing his newspaper clipping collection, the word is bit back after soaking in J.K. Simmons’ performance.  “Gravitas” is too pretentious of a term, but Simmons has a delivery method that makes it easy to buy into unlikely scenarios.

Keri Russell raises the ante with her own demonstration of how a strong performance breathes life into what is typed on the page.  The film is only 90 minutes, and there are four core family members to come to know.  They are given almost perfunctory characterizations, but the actors have a commitment to the script and it is their serious approach that elevates average plotting into familial terror that can be empathized.

With a less capable cast, “Dark Skies” would drown in mediocrity from a story composed mostly of recycled elements from other thrillers.  But whether it is paying homage, borrowing, or outright stealing, the film has a competency in how to take from a trick bag of what works and weave familiar scenarios back into a modest chiller of alien visitation.

Sure, that trick bag also doubles as a mixed bag.  Several threads (the father’s job search, the oldest boy’s crush) do not contribute much story-wise, though they do add to the family’s endearment.  Scares are mostly limited to quick pops.  “Dark Skies” is centered on creating atmosphere with moody cinematography than through visceral shock.

The horror genre does not cough up “aliens among us” plotlines half as much as “haunted asylum” or “lost in the woods.”  There are more notable invasion films available, but they are released far enough apart that there is still a place for the PG-13 chills of “Dark Skies.”  It moves at a deliberate pace, as this is a movie for those who prefer the subtly tingling terror of feeling unsafe from an unknown threat, even in one’s own home.

Review Score:  60

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