Darkening Sky

Maybe I've just become so jaded by the type of 'sci fi' that is pumped out by big budget studios nowadays that I'm just finding anything even slightly off the wall far more interesting and engaging.

And by using sci fi in commas I mean just that. Alot of big budget sci fi simply isn't sci fi, but a highly polished, test audience approved, generic, safe, play it by the numbers bland, kid friendly, boring fantasy flick.

Darkening Sky is far from an original movie. In fact it reminded me abit of The Arrival (1996) starring Charlie Sheen. But the what Darkening Sky does extremely well is opt for a more psychological route with a massive dose of paranoia. In fact you could even make the case that this isn't so much a sci fi flick but rather a psychological thriller against a sci fi backdrop.

Whether you believe in alien abductions or not, what you can't deny is the phenomenon of people claiming to have been abducted by aliens.

I certainly do not believe that humans have ever been abducted by aliens but at the same time I do like to have my beliefs and assumptions challenged. Darkening Sky does a pretty good job of putting you in the shoes of someone claiming to be an abductee. Assuming that someone claiming to have been abducted by aliens isn't being disingenious, you only have two feasible explanations. They're either deluded or suffering from psychosis, or they were in fact truly abducted.

Darkening Sky maintains the balance between explanations throughout very well. The acting by the two leads especially Rider Strong is pretty good for a low budget movie. I don't really recall seeing him in anything else but he certainly didn't come across as your typical B grade low budget incapable actor.

The low budget obviously shows in the quality of the effects, but the last thing to impress me about a movie is the quality of CGI. For me if you have a poor movie, top notch CGI just amounts to putting lipstick on a donkey. It's meaningless.

The music is sombre and suspensful, the direction is of a reasonable standard, the dialogue is realistic and doesn't come across as forced.

All in all Darkening Sky is a pretty decent movie, so if you're into low budget sci fi flicks don't miss it. If on the other hand you're more into your big studio releases and can't stand a movie that doesn't adhere to the cheery hollywod ending formula then this movie definitely isnt for you.

It would be interesting to know how many UFO Alien encounters have been recorded by people from the US compared to the rest of the world. Especially scary stuff where aliens are sadistic & torture & terrify. I actually think fear is constantly in the culture of the US & probably goes back to its foundation in violence & slavery. The massive gun ownership of today. All the other movies & tv shows focused on violence, serial killers. The US is right out in front on all that stuff. To me this film is more of the same. Scary and not really enjoyable. This constant story that danger is out there & you are vulnerable gets tiring & does not serve humanity. I fast forwarded through most of this movie. I am tired of this dangerous alien idea. It is negative & just creates a state of caution & fear. Give me Close Encounters or ET. Now that's good cinema.

I'm a complete and utter sucker for these types of movies which (without delving into spoilers) not only play with a paranormal/supernatural concept in such a way as to be explained by something mundane, but also leave the mystery intact by not fully explaining everything to us, and framing the story in such a way that it could easily be either one or the other.

This film has a bit of a goofy start, very plainly obviously low budget and some of the acting drops to some questionable quality. This is not the major problem, but the style of the film doesn't do much to try to overcome this low-budget feel, and so a lot depends on the viewer being able to latch on to the characters, Eric and Beth, to navigate them through the early parts of the film which play coy with the concept ---- Eric is studying "modern mythology" and leans heavily towards being a skeptic with regards to alien abductions, and has to be dragged into that realm of possibility in more and more convenient ways.

The film has something of a twist ending, but the best part about it is that the twist ending isn't something that comes out of seemingly nowhere or requires you to have been taking notes all throughout the film; the inevitability of it is very slowly and gradually brought up all throughout the last 30-40 minutes of it.

Even the most casual of viewer can start to pick upon the idea that a whole lot of the conflict and conversation, even down to mundane events like Eric's former professor paying him a visit the day after a call in which he expressed interest in returning to school to work on his doctorate, starts to become more and more easily ascribed to paranoia rather than aliens.

and yet when the ending hits, it does so in a way which does not nail down one resolution over another, but instead escalates the conflict in a much more complicated way, in which it becomes even less clear what the truth really is, not because the case for either explanation is flimsy, but because the seed of doubt can completely break down either one.

If you need background noise, this is the movie for you.

A combination of science fiction and supernatural ideas. Alien abduction versus dreams. The gorgeous actress Danielle Keaton reminds me so much of the character, Death in The Sandman comic books written by Neil Gaiman. As a matter of fact her character name in the movie is, Beth. Same exact look and hairstyle.