Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Directors: Scott Stewart
Quick Impressions:
For the past couple of months, whenever a Dark Skies trailer has come on during movie theater previews, I’ve squinched my eyes shut and kept them closed through its duration. I mean, except the first time, obviously. I stopped looking because what I saw the first time—i.e. a glazed-eyed Keri Russell repeatedly banging her head into plate glass—really freaked me out.
As I rule, I don’t like horror movies. Maybe I would like them if I watched them—new thought, I’m considering it—but usually I don’t. Now don’t get me wrong. I love movies dripping with oh-so-spooky atmosphere, but that’s not really the same thing. I want to be intrigued, not disturbed. Anything that’s kind of flickery like the frame rate has been strangely accelerated—you know, something’s so horrible it can only be shown to you in quick, conspicuously choppy flashes, maybe something directed by Rob Zombie like one preview we saw tonight—that’s not for me.
Basically, the supernatural fascinates me, but if you couldn’t show it on network TV, you can usually count me out. (That’s not saying I hate all horror movies. I love Scream, The Orphanage, and the 1941 Wolf Man. I thought The Woman in Black was okay. I like that cool-looking guy with eyeballs in his hands from Pan’s Labyrinth. Misery was good. My sister and I loved Firestarter as kids.) I just don’t enjoy being actually disturbed by the movie. Plus every time my sister has convinced me to watch a horror movie with her, the plot goes to pieces before the audience. (Is Poltergeist a horror movie? I liked that. Is The Birds horror? I love that.)
I’m also not big on torture porn or excessive Satanic vomiting (by which I mean any Satanic vomiting). Vomit is unpleasant enough as it is. Do we really need occult vomit? I thought evil was supposed to be seductive and alluring. What’s alluring about vomit? I saw The Witches of Eastwick at a friend’s slumber party when I was nine, and thought, “Wow, if I had powers, that is not what I would do with them.” Give me Elizabeth Montgomery’s Samantha Stephens over people who use magic to induce random barfing day. (That movie ruins witchcraft and cherries! Good grief!)
I guess what I’m saying is, I like beautiful horror, not ugly horror. (I hit on that just now when I remembered that I liked Gothika—except the dumb ending. Ugly, scary people locked in an insane asylum would be bad. Halle Berry and Penélope Cruz locked in an insane asylum is entertainment.) Real life is ugly and scary enough, thanks.
So anyway, why I decided to see Dark Skies in the first place is beyond me. It’s from the producers of Insidious, Paranormal Activity, and Sinister, and I haven’t seen any of those (by choice).
For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed it. Seriously, I liked Dark Skies far, far more than I expected. In my book, it’s a perfectly decent, reasonably entertaining, and very thought-provoking movie.
Given what I’ve just disclosed about my personal preferences, though, a fan of horror might well assume that Dark Skies is not much of a horror movie. That’s possible. I haven’t seen many, so I have little basis for comparison. I will say that it didn’t scare me—though there were one or two moments that made me (and my husband) jump. But the preview is nine-hundred times scarier than the movie itself. Still, it’s a good movie (though kind of a downer until the end).
The Good:
I’m not spoiling anything by saying that Dark Skies is about aliens. Apparently, the preview tells you that (if viewed with open eyes and ears). When my husband broke the news to me, suddenly seeing it sounded like a much better idea. I mean, when aliens are tormenting you, it’s usually in the name of science and all just a big, cultural misunderstanding. No vomiting. (Nobody has to wonder, “Is it E.coli? Is it a virus? Is it all the powers of Hell?”)
It’s been a while since I saw a good movie about aliens discreetly causing trouble on this planet. Lately, the box office has been inundated with monsters and super heroes, but there aren’t so many good-old-fashioned we’re-experimenting-on-you-in-your-sleep aliens. So in that way, Dark Skies was refreshing.
I enjoyed watching it because it made me think—about all kinds of stuff really. It’s the type of story that raises a lot of the sorts of questions that I enjoy. Why do certain things scare us? Why is what scares us right now kind of unique? Like comedy, horror is really most effective in its own day. I mean, it’s very cultural-moment specific. Elements are included in Dark Skies because those are the things we find scary right now, the stuff of nightmares. And it’s definitely very true that there are beings here already screwing up our planet and making our lives a nightmare (usually thoughtlessly).
The movie is extremely topical. The family faces everyman (or at least everymiddleclassamericanin2013) kinds of problems.
Honestly, I expected the movie to be light—either scary or unintentionally funny, perhaps both—just a popcorn munching good time. It’s not that. It’s very serious. The problems this family faces are basically the same kinds of problems faced by all young families right now, and they feel very real. The existing issues of the family aren’t swept aside by some new wave of horror that starts. Instead, they remain very much a part of how each family member experiences the terrible things that happen next. What I’m saying is, these aren’t empty characters who suddenly experience something extraordinary. The unusual events they experience only exacerbate their existing difficulties (and those difficulties help shape their characters and determine how they respond to new challenges).
So honestly, the movie is kind of a downer in parts. (I personally was more concerned about what society would do to the family than what the aliens would do.) In fact, at one moment, I even started crying.
The movie also makes the point that things are expected to happen in a certain way. We all have well-ingrained cultural frames for interpreting reality. Once something happens to you that doesn’t fit into that mold, you’re really pretty screwed because nobody is ever going to believe you or help you. The moment something weird happens to you, most people respond by thinking you’re weird. That’s much easier than trying to figure out what’s actually happening. Nobody cares what’s actually happening because if we question the things we know, then society might quickly begin to fall apart. Nobody wants that.
So I thought the family responded to what was happening to them in a particularly realistic way. And that’s where most of the actual horror comes from in my opinion. It’s not so much that things are happening that can’t be stopped. It’s that things are happening that no one will believe. People who say crazy stuff are usually crazy (at least, that’s what everybody tells me. I haven’t thought too much about it).
(That was a joke.)
Several times, the movie reminded me—in a good way—of an old episode of The Twilight Zone with just a bit more action. For a while, it plays with the same kinds of ideas as “The Monters Are Due on Maple Street” (so much so, in fact, that I have to think that was a partial inspiration).
Best Scene Visually:
The most exciting part to look at comes when all the birds show up. (Honestly, though, that probably would have unnerved me if I’d viewed it as a ritual killing rather than the side-effect of an intergalactic science project.)
Another great moment comes in the father’s nightmare (although it’s kind of creepy and awful, of course). When it happened, it was only mildly disturbing to me, but later on, there was a moment when I thought the same thing might happen again, and for some reason, the anticipation of it possibly happening again was a hundred times more horrible.
Funniest Scene:
I’ve forgotten the exact dialogue leading up to it, but there’s this great moment when Keri Russell’s character is saying something hysterical, and her husband is being dismissive, and she gives him this look of death. My husband was already whispering to me about how that dynamic seemed familiar, and then she gave him that look. It was awfully funny—and also something she really didn’t have to do with that degree of intensity. It was like a little added bonus thrown in at the end that made the scene that much more enjoyable.
She’s really funny in the dog scene, too.
Best Scene:
Even though it was the reason I stopped watching the preview, the Keri Russell/plate glass scene is probably the scene I enjoyed the most. For one thing, the movie does something kind of clever there. (I didn’t think it was up to any tricks like that, so I enjoyed the way that unfolded.)
Best Action Sequence:
Everything is most exciting when people aren’t themselves. There’s not really a lot of actual action, though the scene with the kids in the woods is actually pretty weird before anything paranormal happens. That’s definitely an element that might make the movie worth re-watching.
The Performances:
Keri Russell is a better actress than she often gets credit for. She’s definitely much stronger than the guy playing her husband (Josh Hamilton). He has all the best lines, but she makes way more of her silences than he does of his lines. I’m not saying that he’s bad. He plays the part adequately, but he’s a little one-note and based on this performance I’d guess he has limited range. We spend quite a bit of time seeing things from the father’s point of view, and in terms of the dialogue he’s given, the character seems really well developed. But I think a more talented or experienced actor could have taken the performance to another level. On the other hand, practically all of Keri Russell’s best moments don’t come from what she says, but how she reacts. She makes more of less.
I also really like Dakota Goyo. (This time I swear I’m going to remember who he is. I said that when I looked him up after watching Real Steel and again after watching Rise of the Guardians, but this time I mean it.) He’s a talented young actor. He kind of reminds me of a young Josh Hutcherson. I don’t mean that his screen persona is the same. I mean he displays the same kind of potential I used to see in the really young Josh Hutcherson (who was great in Zathura and made Firehouse Dog watchable.) So let’s hope he grows into it as well as the still pretty young Josh Hutcherson.
J.K. Simmons is a welcome presence in any movie. He’s very subdued here, but gives a strong performance.
The Negatives:
The scene with J.K. Simmons is great, but after that, I think the movie falls apart a little. The big problem is that there’s really nowhere for it to go. Why continue after that? Well, I mean, I see why they do, but I can’t say I admire the way they do.
Until then, the movie is reasonably well written (particularly for its release date) and highly engaging. But the ending is just a little bit silly. At least, I think so. (It’s suddenly very mockable. In light of their stated goals, their actual strategy just really makes no sense.) But what are they supposed to do instead? (Well, they might start by doing what they said they were going to do.)
Actually, when J.K. Simmons showed up, and then Keri Russell wandered into his back room, I suddenly hoped, “Maybe there’s about to be some really big twist!” But no.
I mean, there is a twist, but I have to think it’s more of a surprise to the family than to the audience. At least, it didn’t surprise me all that much. (I won’t say that I thought it was inevitable, but we get quite a few heavy handed hints, including an entire scene that’s whole purpose is either to draw attention to this possibility or to convince us that the mom is a terrible realtor and so the family is doomed to starve.) I do think it’s interesting that the family is blindsided by this “twist” because like their neighbors, they see only what they’re expecting to see.
Sometimes I think it might be fun to have one screenwriter complete a screenplay, then pass it on to someone else and ask him to write a different ending. Maybe they already do that. But I think the ending should either have been more surprising or more disturbing or bigger and more conspicuous (and therefore, weirdly, happier).
Also, it probably won’t be scary enough for most people because it didn’t scare me (while the preview for it did).
Overall:
I really enjoyed Dark Skies and found it both more thought-provoking and more coherent than I had expected. The performances are pretty good, especially from Keri Russell, Dakota Goyo, and J.K. Simmons, and the movie is consistently engaging. It’s not exactly fun to watch, but it engages both the intellect and the emotions and doesn’t become unavoidably mockable until very near the ending. Even then, its conclusion is coherent (if a tad lackluster).
Dark Skies isn’t disturbing in the way that I feared, but is legitimately disturbing in some other ways that horror fans might find diverting. I don’t know if you’d call it good horror, but it’s a decent throwback alien movie for sure. It surpassed my expectations.