Dark Skies
2013 · Directed by Scott Stewart
Original language: English
- science fiction
- thriller
- horror
The story
From the producers of Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister comes Dark Skies: a supernatural thriller that follows a young family living in the suburbs. As husband and wife Daniel and Lacey Barret witness an escalating series of disturbing events involving their family, their safe and peaceful home quickly unravels. When it becomes clear that the Barret family is being targeted by an unimaginably terrifying and deadly force, Daniel and Lacey take matters in their own hands to solve the mystery of what is after their family.
What it’s like
Cool, low-key suburban daylight gives way to nighttime kitchens lit only by the glow of a refrigerator door and porch lights, with the camera settling into still, patient frames of ordinary rooms that slowly feel wrong. The palette is muted beige and grey-blue, the textures grainy and unpolished, and the sound design leans on creaks, electrical hums, and sudden silences rather than a full score. Its vibe is uneasy domestic dread, the feeling of a safe house quietly losing its footing, best suited to a late evening alone with the lights low or a dark, rain-free night when you want to be on edge. Pacing builds steadily through small, escalating disturbances, with long stretches of tension before sharp jolts, and its emotional core is a strained marriage and a protective parent who must hold a family together under pressure. The intensity is moderate: frightening home-invasion scenes and some startling violence, including a few brutal moments, but little gore and no sexual content, with fear doing most of the work. It is for viewers who enjoy slow-building paranoia and found-fear suspense more than spectacle, and who don't mind a bleak, unsettling ending.
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