Personally, I find alien home invasion movies scary. The combination of being awoken at night by a terror that seems plausible and the fact that there is nothing you can do to prevent it is genuinely terrifying. Having said that, I wasn’t aware that was what Dark Skies was about when I decided to see it. It does a good job of some things while others are less effective. The Barrett family (parents, two sons) is going through a difficult patch when their younger son, Sammy, starts talking about “the sandman” visiting him at night. At the same time, inexplicable events happen at night inside their locked house. Daniel, the father, is unemployed and Lacy (mother) is having trouble at work. The police think the kids are playing pranks but Lacy begins to realize they’re not alone in this.
Discovering the alien abductee phenomenon, she realizes that they have all the signs. Having finally landed a job, Daniel doesn’t believe her. Until he experiences it for himself. The problem is nobody will believe them if they report it. A fellow experiencer tells them they can fight back, but there is little they can hope to achieve. The aliens, he says, take the one they first contact in a family. When the aliens return, the Barretts try to protect Sammy, not realizing that Jesse, the older son, is really who they’re after. There’s a lot of tension that works for this film but there’s also a number of questions raised. The final reveal feels like a bit of a let down after all the build up. The financial stress of Daniel’s unemployment seems to have done nothing for the plot. And the burgeoning love between Jesse and a girl he likes simply drops. As does the visit of child welfare.
Still, the ideas here are quite scary. If you know something is happening and know nobody will believe you, that’s scary. The idea that we are inferior to the technology of a more advanced race is also frightening. The whole not knowing the motive of the monster works. The tension build-up is good but the resolution leaves too much unaddressed. Overall it isn’t a bad movie. It did make me feel a bit paranoid after watching it, which is usually a good sign. The acting is good, but the fatalism makes you wonder if there’s a point to the story other than to be afraid. Dark Skies wasn’t bad for a last-minute pick for a rare free slot, if you can accept aliens as viable monsters.