Any mention of a new movie that involves aliens gets me pumped. Hearing about “Dark Skies” was no different.
Personally, I believe the existence of the extraterrestrial is one of the best plot devices for any movie looking to suspend disbelief, as it is one of the few forms of fiction that is plausible in concept. Statistically speaking, it makes perfect sense for us to be sharing the universe with other forms of life.
And when I saw the preview for “Dark Skies,” I couldn’t wait to see what our cosmic neighbors had in store for some unsuspecting humans.
The plot follows the Barrett family, your average American household of mom, dad and two kids. As they begin to experience increasingly disturbing break-ins and out-of-body experiences, it is revealed that otherworldly creatures are the perpetrators behind these unsettling events with motives that stretch far beyond a desire to inspire fear.
My initial perception is that this movie would do for the supernatural “Paranormal Activity”-inspired genre what “28 Days Later” did for zombie films: provide a relatively believable scenario in which something absolutely terrifying happens to average people, making it that much scarier.
Now let me be clear: Watching the preview for “Dark Skies” was the most enjoyable part of my experience with this movie, and made me reconsider my universal excitement for forthcoming extraterrestrial films.
Seriously. If you’ve seen the preview, you’ve seen the best parts of the movie. All of them. By the time I mentally checked off the last element I had seen in the TV spot, there were at least 45 minutes left in the film (keep in mind it’s only an hour and a half), which left me wondering where they could possibly take the story.
The answer? Through a series of poorly executed attempts to mess with the viewer’s mind. The plot twist in the last five minutes was on par with those of any “Saw” movie past the first two; sure, I didn’t know what the plot twist was until it was revealed, but this new information did not make the overall story any more interesting or scary.
The bigger problem with putting all the best parts of a horror movie in the preview is that I knew what to expect as each character took their turn peering around a dark corner. We can all agree the only redeemable quality of a bad horror film is that it still might be able to make you jump out of your seat. Thanks to the distributors of “Dark Skies,” my posterior never left the chair.
That brings to me to my last point. Obviously, to help this inadequate script sell some tickets, scaring people would help. That can’t happen if you have a preview that ruins every instance of suspense. But after watching “Dark Skies,” I realized there wasn’t anything else interesting enough to sell the movie in a teaser. My conclusion? Don’t bother making a movie that can’t sell itself without ruining the experience of watching it.
But hey, if you haven’t seen the preview and feel like watching “Signs” recreated by a first year film student … no, I can’t even tell you to watch it, even if you manage to do so for free. I’m not one to speak out against illegal video pirating, but do us a favor: Skip watching this movie online, save us all the bandwidth and save yourself 95 minutes.
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