Customer Reviews

Night Skies (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First off, the movie's not as bad other reviews may have made out. Just know what you're in for. This is a horror film - not science fiction!

"Night Skies" bills itself as based on a true-story and, in a very twisted way, it is. There was in fact a whole series of unexplained lights sighted over Phoenix Arizona, ten years ago this coming March, by millions of people, virtually none of whom believed any of the official explanations (which changed four times.)

There was not, however, any reports by anybody of being stranded on an outback road and being subjected to a horrific alien abduction. Unfortunately, using the (genuine) Phoenix Lights sighting as a pretext for the (fictional) abductions shown in the movie is just about the only original idea in this movie.

But let me praise before I criticize - the movie starts out very effectively, beginning with a clip of Senator John McCain commenting on UFO's in general and discussing the Phoenix Lights in particular. There's also effective use of some genuine footage of the Phoenix Lights as shot by actual eyewitnesses. The lighting is very good and gives a real feeling of isolation and claustrophobia in equal parts. Marsy Blasgen's creature effects are very good - the aliens are suitably spooky and just "grey" enough to satisfy most UFOlogist types.

The acting is as good as it can be, given the limitations of the characters. There's only three interesting characters, Jason Connery as Richard, A.J. Cook as Lilly, and Ashley Peldon, who plays a yummy (and all-too-brief) eye-candy part as Molly. Everyone else never really develops into anything except as caricatures placed in the script to get the body count up. Even the suggestion of romance waiting to bloom between Richard and Molly is snuffed out by evil aliens, obviously disinterested in character development or the integrity of the plot line. Still, don't think that I'm entirely discarding the actor's performances - they're doing their best. There's just not much to work with.

Maybe I'm just being too critical of these particular aliens, who have none of the finesse we've come to expect from years of "X-Files." Instead of paralyzing their victims, floating them through any barrier, into antiseptically clean examination rooms where painless procedures are performed in the name of (alien) science, these guys are a little more, shall we say, direct. These seem to be the alien equivalent of back-woods, inbred hillbilly's busting through windows, blasting down doors, (completely leveling one structure) and grabbing their teen victims with the shocking suddenness of a Jason or Freddy.

And that's my real problem with this move - and a minor complaint given the genre: slasher-flick. As I watched the story unfold I got a weird feeling of déjà vu - I had seen all this somewhere before. Had I been abducted by aliens, only to have the appalling memories sealed away forever?

Unfortunately, the truth is less compelling. Ideas and concepts from many, many horror films are lifted almost verbatim and thrown into the plot in a frantic fashion. You'll recognize scenes from "The Hills Have Eyes," "Night of the Living Dead," "Fire in the Sky," and (the most obvious of all) "Carrie."

Still, if you liked the Freddy or Jason franchises, you'll enjoy this movie. Just don't expect a Stanton Friedman lecture!

I grabbed this cause it took my interest of Alien/Sci-Fi/Horror movies. I knew right away that when I read on the cover it is based on a true story that that was not true, I refuse to believe that, but I hoped for an interesting story and a decent movie tho.

However I soon discovered that a group of friends driving there R.V who spot a bunch of light's in the sky and end up crashing because the driver did not notice a man and his broken down car on the side road end's up making them skid into a power pole and crash.

One of them end's up with a knife in his back and the driver of the broken down car end's up trying to help them as a couple of them venture into the woods and get picked off by "aliens" like a Jason Voorhee's could have done it.

Then they come back, yelling away, blah blah blah, let's get out of here, oh no she's dead, the aliens have abducted us, the dingo stole my baby and then end credits.

Overall, this movie as I expected was claimed to be based on a true story, which is a lie, it's just to get your attention, and then the plot is not at all well thought out, and then goes into a lot of a waste of time to watch and thing's that could have been done better.

About the only decent idea they had was that when aliens perform surgery, they can use a goo of some kind to make human skin transparent, yet does not allow blood to poor out.

I suppose if you love B-movies where the cast don't act like anything but actors trying to be cool, swearing in useless and unbelievable dialog, and 3 woman with firm chesticles that they half expose most of the time making sure you can see right down there top's for an excuse of, "at least if you can't stand our acting you can stare at these puppies" then this is the perfect movie for you..... If not, avoid it.

They should have just cut out the Alien stuff, replaced them with a maniac in a hockey mask, called the cabin Camp Crystal Lake, re written the ending, and wallah, Friday The 13th part 1000. Tho, as a F13th fan, I still don't like this movie.

Within the first ten minutes, I hated everyone in this movie. I don't understand why recent movies have mean spirited people in it. Maybe I'm just getting old. These Hollywood jackasses' should realize that not everyone acts like THEM or their bratty KIDS. Cursing every five seconds, putting each other down every chance they get, Going for the POT as soon a the situation presents itself, drinking while driving. Give me a break.

This is all within the first ten minutes. I would care less if they drove off a mountain by that point.

I know it's only a movie, but movies reflect society and movies influence it as well.

Some kids are driving in an RV on some back roads. They notice some lights in the sky, then they crash into a pickup truck that's parked next to the road. One guy falls on a knife that was lying on the floor. Luckily the guy who was driving the pickup knows some first aid, and fixes him up using super glue. Yeah, he probably hasn't got long to live, LOL. Everybody else is pretty unconcerned with their mortally wounded "friend", and spend most of the movie discussing their relationship problems. Then some aliens start...appearing. They might as well be Bigfoot or maybe even mind-controlling evil trolls, it doesn't really matter. It's not like they do anything "alien" to these people other than terrorize them a bit. Kind of funny actually, they can travel all the way here from another planet yet they can't break through the door on an RV.

After a somewhat exciting scene with the RV being attacked by something from outside, we move on to the next part of the movie - I won't spoil it - but suffice it to say I was expecting another ten or fifteen minutes before the movie eventually built to its climax. Instead, it just ended. Yup, roll credits, we're done here. What happened to half the characters? Don't know, we're through, wrap it up already.

The characters were mildly interesting, the plot was fairly disappointing because it relied on people getting confused (or maybe their minds were being controlled?). Eh, doesn't really matter I guess. Overall, I've seen much worse, but that doesn't mean this thing is especially good either. Good for a boring Tuesday night when you're not really expecting anything too exciting anyway.

A fun film that scared me plenty.

Some friends are on a cross-country trip when a tire blows out and they are stranded on the road. One of the friends is badly wounded by a falling knife and is in critical condition. A passer by stops to help them and turns out to be an ex soldier with medica training(yeah Right). All is going well until they try to find the locals in the forest and are attacked by none other than giant-black eyed, Gray, skinny aliens. They run back to the RV and wait in there for morning. After several shocks and jump-in-your seats. they decide to fight back and end up getting. Eventually they are all Abducted and awake up in a strange organic enviroment and find themselves being studied and not inh the good way. The story ends there.

When i rented this from the video store i thought it was just another friday night crap filled fun film to hit of the weekend with. I was suprised by its quality and the impressive character design and banter between them. Its your classic Abduction Story.

This movie is the sleeper of the decade. Ever since my first viewing, I've wanted to research the alleged factual basis for it. I still do and will likely get around to doing the necessary research one day. Understandably, this particular case, if partly true, is readily dismissed because of the lack of additional witnesses. I wonder why? ;) This movie is truly one of the scariest because of it's partly factual basis. "Night Skies" is even more eerie than "Fire In The Sky". Very good screenplay and performances from the cast. Nearly brilliant!

Released on DVD in January, 2007, "Night Skies" is an alien encounter film based on the UFO sightings in Arizona on March 13, 1997.

I was hesitant to give this film a chance because the plot was so thin, as seen in the trailer: On the night of the UFO sightings a group of youths in an RV come across a man in a broken-down truck and then, frighteningly, have an encounter with aliens.

After viewing the film, the thin plot and the resulting padding is the only real negative, unless you count the low-budget, which means a very confined location and only a handful of characters. But since that's what the movie's about (a small group of people in a remote location) that's not really a problem.

Other than that the film delivers with:

- A serious, non-campy approach. Someone likened "Night Skies" to the "Friday the 13th" franchise (Friday the 13th: From Crystal Lake to Manhattan Ultimate Collection (Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part IV: The Final Chapter / Part V: A New Beginning / Part VI: Jason Lives / Part VII: The New Blood / Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)) with the exception that Jason is substituted for aliens. Although this is pretty accurate, "Night Skies" lacks the goofy entertaining vibe of most of the "Friday the 13th" sequels. In other words, the filmmakers and cast take the material serious. What would happen if a group of youths and a stranded man really came across some scary aliens and were abducted? This film shows you.

- A quality cast. Jason Connery is great as the sympathetic stranger with a troubled past. Jason is Sean's son, of course, and very reminiscent of Will Patton in "The Mothman Prophecies." Also on hand is Ashley Peldon; she's petite, beautiful and likable. Her character, Molly, senses something admirable and benevolent in the stranger, despite his past struggles. This shows that the writers at least tried to give the characters depth. The only unlikable character is Matt, the clichéd arrogant "alpha male" who thinks with his crotch and fists. All the actors do their part to convey a serious, frightening situation, not that I found the movie scary (though some may), but neither was I laughing (as with most of the "Friday the 13th" flicks).

- Although the soundtrack isn't all that noticeable it contributes to the serious, frightening vibe of the film. There's also a decent rock/metal song played during the closing credits "Dragon" by Feersum Ennjin, Paul D'Amour's band. Paul was the original bassist for Tool during the Undertow period, which featured the devastatingly honest & potent "Sober."

- At around the hour mark I was thinking that this would be one of those lame alien-encounter movies that fail to deliver, but the final act gives you everything you might want in a movie of this nature. I won't say anymore. Let's just say the film doesn't wuss out on the abduction factor and the F/X are good.

The film was shot in California (L.A. and Santa Clarita) and runs a lean 1 hour, 23 minutes, which is good since movies like this shouldn't overstay their welcome.

FINAL WORD: There's not much else to say, "Night Skies" has a thin plot, confined locations and few characters, but it takes its subject seriously, has quality actors and gives the viewer everything you might want from an alien-encounter flick.

GRADE: B

I have read the reviews people have left for this movie and an still shocked at what they complain about. First off this is a typical B horror movie with a very low budget. When you have a low budget you can't afford great actors. These type of movies are made for fans of B horror. I'm not sure why people dissect these films and try to find everything that's wrong with the film. You are going to find hundreads of things wrong with this movie it's low budget. I loved the fact that they used a true event and created a story out of the Arizona sightings. I knew it was not all real. Come on people how can you believe this really happened. Only the lights in the sky are true events the rest is made up story. This movie was pretty good compared to other movies of its genre. I loved this movie just as well as I loved Altered. The idea of this film was great and I give the director his props for making a great little B horror movie that I can add to my collection. If you liked this movie check out Altered this movie was awsome as well. I'm sorry I just don't think people understand that not all movies can be big budget with great actors. You guys can keep your high priced tickets and your stale popcorn. Give me a B horror movie and taco bell and I'm in heaven. You can pay $12 dollars for a movie that's okay like Fourth Kind.I only paid $2 dollars for this movie on Amazon I will stick to my low budget movies and see the actors who will become future stars.

A guy, who looks like a young version of Brad Pitt is driving across Arizona at night and is not on I-40. He was 3 great looking babes with him as well as another dude. They see lights in the sky, crash into another guy's truck. People get killed and abducted. Once abducted we go through the classic womb images normally associated with regression memory plus tall grays (one of 5 alien types for you UFOs people.) Mild violence, cleavage, and language. Not at all believable. Based on actual events? Oh Please!

The basic premise involves a bunch of people being stranded in the middle of nowhere and obviously that is very generic. However, unlike many similar films this one is quite atmospheric. The characters are a bit less generic than the usual horror archetypes although not by very much. The saucer lights were kind of different. It has some disturbing imagery toward the end.

Truth be told I'm not quite sure why it works so well but it kept me awake the night after I saw it!