GREY SKIES (2010)

Streaming on Amazon Prime!
Directed by Kai Blackwood
Written by Mark Reilly & Michael Cornacchia
Starring Michael Cornacchia, Thela Brown, Marie Del Marco, Shelley Dennis, Anne Griffin, Stacy Jorgensen, Jeff Lorch, Aaron McPherson, Scott Mullin
Find out more about this film here!

The quick pitch for this one would read FIRE IN THE SKY meets INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS as a group of vacationers gather in a cabin to relax only to have troubled pasts and, of course, some pesky aliens surface to ruin all of the fun. In I SOLD MY SOUL TO THE DEVIL (reviewed here!), director Kai Blackwood stars in a documentary about the lengths folks would go to be successful in Hollywood. In GREY SKIES, his first feature film, it turns out Blackwood’s Faustian deal may have paid off since the film is a capable handling of the alien abduction genre with some interesting technical additions that amp up the scares.

GREY SKIES ratchets the melodrama to 11 in the first half hour as the couples introduce and deal with their own issues unhealthily. Feeling a bit too THE BIG CHILL-ish for my tastes, these opening moments might entertain some, but had my fast forward finger twitching. I can’t say the conflicts interested me much, but they do serve as nice fodder to cast the alien abduction backdrop against once the saucer lands. Blackwood does a couple of nice things with sound here, especially the bone grinding and crunching sounds the aliens make when close. Some creative editing also makes for an uneasy viewing experience as each of the vacationers are abducted and recruited to the alien’s dark side.

Though on the low end of the budget scale, GREY SKIES is a capable dose of alien horror. Blackburn wisely avoids a cheese factor by keeping the aliens out of focus and into the background. The abduction scenes were somewhat jarring and had I not seen FIRE IN THE SKY, it might have even been a little scary, but having seen that film and loved the way the abduction was handled there, it seemed uninspired.

Unfortunately, with iconic films like CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and even smaller gems like SIGNS, FIRE IN THE SKY, and even COMMUNION, the horrific side of alien abduction has to be pretty original to be effective. GREY SKIES has an expansive cast of decent actors, and Blackwood handles the abduction and creepy build-up with a promising hand. It’ll be interesting to see what the director has coming up next, given this capable alien abduction horror effort.

Check out the trailer here!!