By: JV
This review comes courtesy of JV, co-host of The Supercast. Be sure to check it out over at hashtagstudios.tv. Dark Skies is currently in theaters. Watch at your own peril. -Heather
Dark Skies follows an average suburban family that has an increasingly difficult time dealing with the reality that the strange occurrences surrounding them stem from something supernatural. Lacy (Keri Russell) and Daniel (Josh Hamilton) have two sons - the teenage Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and the younger Sam (Kadan Rockett). The film attempts to juxtapose the family’s money issues, the teenage son’s rebellion and all of the other cliches you can think of with the surrounding supernatural events.
While Dark Skies does have a few genuinely creepy moments and some good performances, the real issue is the script. Writer/director Scott Charles Stewart has constructed a film that is so generic and boring that by time you’ve gotten to any of the creepy scenes, you’ve already nodded off. The first act of the film is entirely too long. It attempts to strengthen the characters and build a parallel between the family's emotional issues and the strange occurrences. It fails at doing both. The final act of the film, in which the family laughably uses a butcher knife and shotgun to defend themselves, is so rushed and incoherent that I wasn’t quite sure what I was watching.
At the films finale you’ll either find yourself laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole matter or pissed off that you just paid your hard-earned cash to sit in the theater to have your intelligence insulted. If you’re looking for films of the genre that won’t make you hate yourself, I suggest Fire in the Sky or Communion. Both of those would certainly be a better bet than this derivative slop.
1.5 out of 5 stars
