Movie Review - Dark Skies

Dark Skies (2013)

Starring Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kadan Rockett, and J.K. Simmons

Directed by Scott Stewart

Back in the late eighties and early nineties, this here blogger would come home from school and turn on the new Mickey Mouse Club.  Little did he know that this little show would launch the careers of folks like Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera.  However, what the then eleven or twelve year-old kid knew was that he found himself having a crush on a young gal named Keri Russell.  Much like my teenage fascination with Helen Hunt (and I'm well aware that I was probably the only teenager in the 90s that had that crush), my appreciation for Ms. Russell has carried on into my adult life.  I watched all of Felicity (also due to J.J. Abrams' involvement) and have continued to follow her career (although I can't get into her current series The Americans).  This is a long-winded way of saying that I may be slightly biased when I say that Dark Skies proves to be a solid horror flick that manages to eschew the typical scary movie clichés.  It's not mind-blowing, but perhaps its focus on aliens rather than ghosts or supernatural entities made it a unique enough concept to this reviewer.

Russell is Lacy Barrett, wife of Daniel (Josh Hamilton) and mom to young teenage Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and six or seven-ish year-old Sam (Kadan Rockett).  Daniel was recently laid off of work and Lacy finds herself the sole bread winner with her real estate job, but even that is struggling as of late.  Still, they're a loving family, seemingly well-adjusted and "normal."  However, strange things begin happening in their house overnight -- the refrigerator is opened and food is strewn across the floor or their family pictures are removed from their frames -- with no explanation and no signs of forced entry. When Sam claims he's being visited by the mysterious "Sandman" in the middle of the night who takes responsibility for the mysterious occurrences, Lacy and Daniel chalk things up to childhood growing pains, but then the married couple start to experience some unwelcome scares of their own.

Dark Skies isn't a perfect horror film by any means, but it manages to combine decent acting with solid direction (a step up for Scott Stewart from this last film of his I reviewed) and a storyline that moves along at a pretty solid clip.  By the film's final moments, there's genuine tension created and I admittedly was on the edge of my seat wondering how it would conclude.  This isn't a horror film that attempts to frighten you with pulsing music or cheap jump scares.  Instead, it builds its uneasiness gradually with its story instead of trickery.  Don't mistake my fawning for excellence.  The film takes itself a little bit too seriously and I wanted it to provide a few more thrilling moments than it did, but Dark Skies is a good flick and was underappreciated upon its release earlier this year.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-