Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Dark Skies’

Written by Scott Edwards 

​Losing your job when you are trying to support a family is tough, especially if you have kids. Giving the impression that there is nothing wrong has to be the hardest front to put up when your children are asking why they don’t have cable anymore, or why they are eating ramen noodles every night. Having to be strong for your family’s sake to make sure they do not panic from the lack of income that you have coming in every month is enough to tire anyone out and not want to even look for a new job.

The Barrett family has fallen on hard times as Daniel has just been laid off and now all of the financial load has been put on his wife, Lacy. Not wanting to give the wrong impression around their neighborhood, Dan and Lacy have decided to stick to the story that he is going to be a stay at home father for the time being, but Dan is starting to feel the burden that he has placed on his wife. With their two sons, Sam and Jesse being kept in the dark about how bad things really are, they are going about their lives as usual and although everything seems good, they are starting to notice the strain of what their parents are going through.

Jesse is at the age where he knows what is best for him and is not acting out at home, but does not want to spend any time there as he has found a good older friend that smokes weed and watches porn. Thinking that this is what grownups do, Jesse decides that this is the correct route for him to move onto in life. As it is noticed that he is never home on time anymore, his parents try to wrangle him back in, but he is hesitant to come back to his family life. Sam on the other hand is loving spending time with his family, and his life is an open book for whomever wants to read it. Having a fun story time with his brother every night via walkie-talkies, Sam has heard a story that is leaving him a little bit disturbed and he is thinking that the guests he is seeing in the house late at night are characters from the story, the Sandman.

But someone is coming into the house at night and making sure that it is known. Seeing their kitchen turned upside down, Lacy urges Dan to call the police and file a report of what is happening. Although the cops do not believe it to be a big problem, since nothing is missing, the next night, all of the family photos have been removed from the living room. Knowing that this is something that their kids would never do, Dan and Lacy sit them down and try to pinpoint what is happening. Sam is too quiet when he is asked if he did it, or if it was someone he knows that is harassing the family. Sam tells them that he is not allowed to say and then the Barrett’s lives get turned upside down. With every member of the household doing things that they would not normally do, Lacy thinks that there is something much more sinister going on, and when researching what is happening on the internet, she finds that her family might be the victims of an alien attack.

As far as alien movies go, this is not a bad one at all. One of my favorite things about good horror movies is not being able to see who is doing the dirty deeds until you absolutely have to. This movie keeps them in the shadows until you need to see them for the story, and for that, I applaud them. I like the multiple storylines that are given in this movie as well, a mother and father fighting over money and trust, a kid getting ready to move out on his own and has no need for his parents anymore and the innocent child of the house, that is so darn cute, you don’t want to see anything bad happen to him. With plenty of little scares, the biggest has to come from when the kids are found to have marks and bruising on their bodies and Social Services are threatening to remove them from the house. This could be scarier than the aliens coming and trying to abduct them for any parent on any given day. Stay Scared.

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