GREYDON WILLIAMS – Hoof Prints Staff

“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

This quote started off the movie “Dark Skies,” a horror movie directed by Scott Steward, which hit theatres recently. The movie itself follows a traditional lurking horror style in that it starts off kind of slow and gradually things get worse and worse for the people suffering from the threat. It stars Josh Hamilton, Keri Russell and J.K. Simmons. The movie itself is not altogether scary as it is creepy.

“Dark Skies” was better than the average alien movie, because rather than have it about aliens trying to take over the world it was a struggle for one family to overcome their fear of the creatures. The aliens at first do very small things like making a mess in the kitchen, but they eventually begin to uniquely but physically harm the Barretts.

The scariest thing you can do in a horror movie is keep your monster unknown. We as humans fear the unknown which is why movies like Jaws, Scream, and other horrors where we don’t know who or what the killer looks like until the end frighten us so much. This movie is a perfect example of the fear of the unknown because we do not see the aliens through most the movie we just see their actions.

I for one thought that this was a fantastic horror movie. Most every horror movie now is a remake or it just isn’t scary. Especially alien movies most alien movies are more thriller action movies than horror, such as “District 9,” “Battle: Los Angeles,” etc. The movie in general surprised me for its quality and thrills.