Area 51

I believe this movie has been mis-labeled. It is by no means a "horror" film. It is, however, better classified as a "sci-fi thriller".

I enjoy the found-footage genre, for the most part. When it's done correctly, which this film is. Everything that's filmed makes sense given the context. Quite a few times, my adrenaline was up while watching and I was genuinely concerned about the main characters.

That's one of the things I liked about this film was the character development. Unlike a lot of thrillers, where the characters are hackneyed and cliched, these characters were actually written like people and you can genuinely understand where they're all coming from.

So I do recommend this movie, just not as a horror flick.

First, I must say that most of the low ratings for this movie say "not scary!" The movie may have been sold to audiences as a pure horror movie, but false advertising shouldn't take away from the movie for what it is: A found-footage movie about a group of friends (one way more than the others) who go to great lengths to break into Area 51 that should be classified as a suspense sci-fi movie; definitely not horror.

A great portion of this movie is about the set-up of these guys (and a girl) getting ready to sneak into the lower levels of the base, which I can see how the average movie-goer could scoff at. If you go into this movie hoping for action, I'm sorry. Though it isn't what many were expecting, it is still very interesting to see their plans unfold.

The third act is where it really surprised me. Oren keeps with the golden rule of good horror: waiting for the unknown is a lot scarier than finding the unknown. You see very little of the aliens, which could be a let down to those looking for a monster movie. But watching the shadow of the aliens walking down the hall, or seeing an alien slowly slide from the darkness is truly creepy. There were many times I was very tense and on the edge of my seat.

The ending isn't as bad as many people are saying, for I kind of liked it. With some slightly better writing/imagination towards the ending, it could've made this movie a true diamond-in-the-rough. The acting, despite what many say, is tolerable and, for the most part, believable. The main character does have these moments of awful, goosebumps- inducing acting, but the other elements of the movie made me forget about it.

All in all, give it a shot. Its streaming on Netflix, and I'd say its well worth a shot. Worst scenario, you lose an hour and thirty minutes of your day. Or you could walk away with a pleasant experience. Just remember to keep your mind open to what the movie wants to be, not what you want it to be. Have fun!

I did not expect much going into this movie. I was hoping for a little better than Alien Abduction. That being the case, I ended up pleasantly surprised! The first 70% of the movie could have been condensed into about 10 minutes of plot actually necessary to understand and enjoy the movie. However, it was worth sitting through to get to the last 30%. The suspense was surprisingly effective. I even found myself tensed up and gritting my teeth a few times. Special effects, although not plentiful, we effective as well. I agree with a previous reviewer that I felt dissatisfied with the end of the movie. I think that, maybe with a bigger budget and a well thought out ending, it could have been much better. A pure horror fan will likely not appreciate it. On the other hand, if you enjoy SciFi/horror/suspense combo flicks, then it's definitely worth a watch.

The way this movie starts off with the sort of frat boy vibe to it, I didn't have much of an expectation. I found myself riveted to the tv about half way in and it was definitely worth it. It's a suspenseful ride and considering lower budgeted I was very surprised. It's not the movie of 2015 but seeing some of the other reviews it's a testimony for me that consensus is not always in line with ones taste.

I love scary movies, and I really love "scary" movies-- from Blair Witch to Paranormal Activity, I've always been a huge fan of shaky cameras and found footage. Ghosts and aliens scare me, and classic terror tropes work wonders on me! Things jumping out from behind other things and unexpected screams are my idea of a fun movie night.

If you are looking for a scary movie with aliens as the focus, I would recommend picking up Dark Skies, or John Carpenter's The Thing... but not Area 51, because this is a terrible film. I put it on expecting to be shock-scared, or at least creeped out... but all I got was progressively more and more annoyed.

The first half of the film does absolutely nothing but establish that the viewer should lack empathy for the main characters-- they are vapid young men who enjoy drinking, planning ineffectively, and disrespecting professional entertainers.

The second half of the film is meant to heighten the viewer's anxiety and presumably scare us, but it falls disappointingly short in that respect. Instead it devolves into lots of running and flailing, lots of awful camera work, and terrible physical acting. When the end finally comes, it's more a relief than anything else.

The only positive thing I have to say about this movie is that the main characters' treatment of their female colleague was basically respectful, which is more than what I can say for most movies that are structured in the "x number of guys + 1 girl" model. Nobody grabs her breasts or calls her disgusting names or belittles her intelligence based on her gender. That's awesome.

The rest of the film? Really not so much.