Night Skies |
  • USA • 2007 • 85m •    • Directed by: Roy Knyrim. • Starring: Jason Connery, A.J. Cook, George Stults, Ashley Peldon, Joseph Sikora, Gwendoline Yeo, Michael Dorn, Jerry L. Jackson, John McCain, Stephen Waichulis. • Music by: Paul D'Amour, Brad Laner.      On March 13th, 1997 one of the largest UFO sightings ever recorded took place across the southwestern United States. The event became known as the 'Phoenix Lights' and was witnessed by community leaders, members of law enforcement, as well as thousands of everyday citizens. This true story, based on transcripts from actual hypnosis-therapy sessions, finally reveals what happened after the infamous incident ended and how six people, stranded by chance on a forgotten road, encountered more than just lights in the sky.
|
Trailers:
| Length: | Languages: | Subtitles: |
Review:
Directed by Roy Knyrim I was rather surprised by Night Skies, sure it ain't Alien (1979) in the excitement department & it reminds heavily of an X-Files (1993 - 2003) episode which were airing over 10 years prior to this being made but as a stand alone film I found it quite impressive. The sci-fihorror orientated script by Eric Miller which takes itself extremely seriously is apparently based on true events that happened in Arizona during 1997, living in the UK I really don't have a clue about these events, & is based the usual witness statements & the like. To be fair it's sort of predictable up to a point & it only goes as far as to dramatise one night seemingly based on one guy's recollection so it doesn't offer any of it's own answers up & it just ends abrupt without really trying to say anything about what happened, but then again I suppose it's just trying to relay the facts of the case & wants to let us, the audience, decide for ourselves. To be fair during the first 20 minutes of Night Skies nothing happens, it just introduces the character's, not that much happens after either but at least the film has now put them in position where the last 30 minutes are actually terrific, the stalking of the group by the aliens & what they finally do with them is pretty cool. The character's are OK as is the dialogue & if it wasn't for the coma inducing first half Night Skies could have a great film, as it is I'll say it's a good one.
Director Knyrim does a great job here, there's a decent atmosphere & the alien attack at the end is really good even if it's a bit rushed at times. The special effect are excellent & are very impressive, the aliens themselves look somewhat stereotypical with very thin pale bodies, elongated heads with bulbous black eyes & spindly fingers & most of the time they're shot in partial or complete shadow until the very end in they're spaceship where you can appreciate the excellent effects work. The very organic looking interior of the spaceship is cool with strands of what looks like melted cheese & slime hanging everywhere like huge cheesy spider webs! There's some gore, that knife in Joe's back looks painful as there are plenty of close-ups with blood spurting from the wound, someone is shot & there's some decent blood splatter.
Technically Night Skies is excellent, the cinematography is good even though it may be a bit bright considering the situation the film is trying to portray. The acting was pretty good, Sean Connery's son Jason gets abducted & experimented on by aliens. I wonder if his dad has seen Night Skies? If he has at least Jason can say something like 'well dad it could have been worse at least I didn't appear in The Avengers'....
Night Skies surprised me as I thought it was going to low budget crap, while the first half is a snooze-fest it picks up for an excellent climax with some highly impressive special effects which wouldn't look out of place in your local theatre & it's got Sean Connery's son in it, enough said. Certainly nothing original but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would all the same.
Review by poolandrews from the Internet Movie Database.
Off-Site Reviews:
Movie Database