Aliens: Zone of Silence

Note to all aspiring film-makers out there: the "found footage" movie is very old and should have died with "The Blair Witch Project". I remember back then thinking that I wish I had not heard all the hype about how scary "The Blair Witch Project" is because perhaps I would've found it disturbing. Film-makers, give this found footage approach a rest. Perhaps if you are low or zero budget and need to make a movie for your film studies class, then you have no other option.

I only watched this movie because I am a subscriber to Canadian Netflix.

Seriously folks, give this a pass.

Aliens is a good effort, and also something of a demo of the latest portable technology. It is a found footage contribution to the alien abduction genre, here filmed in the always beautiful Mohave desert and possibly including Alabama Hills or similar. The story line is pretty thin, but some of the audio and visual effects are cool for a small film. Ms. Hester, however, does a great job portraying her character's changing responses to unseen threats. It will be interesting to see what she does next. This is film for followers of the genre and not many others. The sincere effort made by the producers is appreciated.

Half the movie is a woman walking in the desert, and sitting inside a tent at nighttime. You'll hear a few growling sounds here and there along with camera glitches during the nighttime, which is supposed to indicate the aliens are nearby, but nothing beyond that. The movie has no tension, no atmosphere, no actual payoff for sitting through the entire thing. I was bored after the first 30 minutes. The acting was subpar, and the filming is what you'd expect from a found footage film. The one positive thing was the CGI for the ending scene. That was all right. And I emphasize "all right." The entire budget must've gone into those 2 minutes. Other than that, you'll see lights buzzing in the sky two or three times. That's the extent of the alien presence. 3/10. Unless you're an alien movie junkie, skip it.

Build up, build up, build up, then . . . .. NOTHING! What is the sense in making a camcorder movie that shows nothing in the end? In the ending sequence, you can't make heads or tails of anything in the light though the images of whatever is in there is transmitted to video. If you want to watch a movie for only its scare value without ever finding out what is scaring people, this stupid movie is for you!

The premise was good... Possible aliens in a mysterious zone. But that's the only good thing about this movie. The rest of it was nothing but dumb people making stupid decisions, & then freaking out. Repeat several times over. Its too bad this movie is wasting space.