These guys aren't looking for Reese's Pieces...

I'm going to throw it out there that perhaps I wasn't fully tuned into the vibe the trailer put out, but I'll also say that ahead are spoilers if you wanted to watch the film. Not anything crazy but I have to get something off my chest right away. I really felt like this movie was a semi-modern sort of poltergeist movie. I thought the powers behind the strange goings on in the film were some sort of ethereal being bent on nefarious activity through forceful intimidation. As it turns out, it wasn't ghosts. It was little green men. Well, technically I think they were referred to as grey. But the culprits were alien, not ghost. I say this mostly because it's always interesting how aliens can ride the line between this genre and others. Ghosts are almost exclusively horror. Sure, you get an errant apparition in a comedy, or even Patrick Swayze moonlighted one once. Or maybe he moonlit. I don't necessarily know the past tense of that particular verb. But typically they are confined to the tales of terror. Aliens seem to be more free to move about genres. I find them to be quite curious when it comes to the horror genre. So before we get too far into it, lets break it down with the good stuff first and then any remaining qualms I have with the film.

The first thing that jumped out to me was that the storytelling felt really pretty cohesive. Not without fault here or there. It wasn't perfect. But horror can be a mixed bag at best sometimes with how plot focused a film can really be. The narrative can really feel like an afterthought mixed in among jump scares and ghoulish effects. When the story is secondary, a horror movie can really be a burden to try and make it through, even with a modest run time. Thankfully this movie really felt like it kept things fairly balanced. There was a real introduction into the characters and an exploration of the space around them. It felt like you were exposed to their ups and downs which made the principle cast feel both real and accessible. As I mentioned in watching Primate, by being able to attach to the family in the film really made the entire experience a lot more pleasant because there was a measure of investment in the world that was created in front of me. Keri Russell was the anchor, cast wise, and she was fantastic. Nothing over the top but she felt very tangible as a mom. Josh Hamilton played her husband and is one of those actors you know you've seen somewhere but never know his name. He was passable as a dad. His arc was meaningful within the narrative though and the two married together quite well. They had a reasonable balance of tension and unity which translated well on screen. There was a de-evolution as things progressed that they clung to each other with just enough conflict to challenge them also. The children actors were quite impressive too. The young man who played Sammy, their younger son, wasn't overtly involved in the overall presentation, but his contributions were both integral and well played. As the "little boy" he commanded a lot of that innocent fright on screen and managed it well. His older brother was just enough of a turd while still having a strong sense of family in the end which made the stakes appropriately high.

My second favorite part of the film was easily J.K. Simmons. His role was basically just a cameo but landing an actor of his caliber in a film that otherwise seemed to be relatively insignificant He lent an authenticity to the film at large as well as in the role he played. In the progression of the movie, we eventually find the source of their calamity is said extra-terrestrials and the expert on this subject is Simmons. Having him in this role, with the authority and authenticity that he played the character, really added a measure of credibility to the plot as a whole. The way he categorized their paranormal plight being from visitors beyond the stars and explaining things in the way that someone like an actor like Simmons can, felt like it validated the extraordinary nature of all the crazy things happening to the family. It somehow seemed to ground it in a way that made it all feel far more real. To be able to do that with such limited screen time and relevance felt like a gift in the third act of the film.

If I had to really point towards a flaw in this movie, it would be that while it was an enjoyable film, it did also feel pretty average. Not that this is a bad quality. As I've said for years now, there is a seemingly unending stream of utter garbage flowing within the genre of horror movies. So being an average movie is still an above average horror movie. But at the end of the day, I feel like this is the one thing that really takes away from this experience being resoundingly positive. It's an enjoyable movie, but it's also forgettable. It was never really seen to begin with. I'm sure there are plenty who have watched it. There's probably a fan base out there that quite enjoys it. I'd be surprised if it sold zero copies on physical media. There are a number of previously owned copies on eBay so logic would dictate that a portion of the people were motivated enough to purchase. So it found an audience. But I think it did so against the odds. I'd venture to guess that more of it came from people stumbling across it like I did today. I like to think of myself as someone relatively tuned into the world of movies. As this was a film from 2013, it should have easily been anywhere in my purview. But I had never heard of it. Never seen a trailer. Never had any insight into it being a thing before it manifested itself in the limited wheel of horror movies on display for Amazon Prime Video. I think what has kept it in this limbo of mediocrity is the fact that it is just ok. I will say, though, that this feels like a pretty good negative to have. The film wasn't perfect, as I've already noted. But having no clearly definable negatives, especially in the way that Primate definitely did, is still somewhat of an advantage in my mind.

All things being what they are, I think it's pretty easy to arrive at a C for this movie. I might be tempted to bump it up to a C+ because it was still an enjoyable movie. But I also don't think there's anything particularly wrong with a C in many senses. There aren't many movies that rise to the A range for me in the world of horror. I think when I come across those ones, they end up on my shelf. B are the movies I really enjoy but can't quite cross over into ownership because down stream repeat viewings don't feel necessary, much like Dog Soldiers from yesterday. C is a pretty solid place. I didn't really enjoy it, but I far from hated it. And with so many titles that are so easy to hate, enjoying something just enough to be middle of the road still feels like a victory in and of itself. I hesitate to call this movie filler, but I will say in the realm of horror movies that could also entertain a PG-13 crowd, Dark Skies was a crowd pleaser in my house. That's gotta be worth something. Tomorrow we will be back with some more fare of the similar sort but we have some promising titles to explore on that front once again. I think I do really enjoy the prospect of reviewing some of these lower rated films to see what level of fright exists out there beyond all the standard horror excess. So we'll be back again tomorrow with another entry and see what else we can find. Until that time, I'll catch you on the flip side.