Skinwalker Ranch (2013)

Too much of everything

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The first must-see film of the year.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Deciding to hold a Found Footage (FF) day to kick off my viewing of the Paranormal Activity series,I started looking for a third FF title.Seeing Kim Newman give the flick a pretty good review,I was pleased to spot the movie in a local DVD shop,which led to paying a visit to the ranch.The plot:After getting reports of a child being abducted by aliens,the Modern Defense Enterprises (MDE) are sent to investigate.Placing cameras round the ranch,the MDE soon start gathering paranormal footage.As they try to figure out how to deal with the entity,the group discover that they are not the first gang from the MDE to have been sent to the ranch. View on the film:Working on what is likely a pretty tight budget,co-writers/(along with Murphy Michaels/Ken Bretschneider & Adam Ohler) directors Steve Berg and Devin McGinn do rather well at getting the most out of their special effects,with a blue "digital" tint giving the alien and paranormal animals a crisp, eerie glow. Settling down on the ranch,the writers gradually build up the supernatural horror,flying from something moving in the background,to a ruthless alien invasion. Locating the paranormal in a Found Footage format,the writers give everyone an intro to set their role in the investigation. Disappointingly,the writers use the intros to set an oddly calm mood which bolts down any chance of horrific tension invading,as the skinwalker walks on the ranch.

Before I even start I can guarantee that majority of readers will not have seen heard of this film, it was a very small release I only came across it by accident I'm not even sure if it got a cinematic release in the UK I can't speculate on the US but at a guess I can't imagine it really if it was it was very limited.We've seen it countless times before a film based on "true events" however, this film does take place on a widely reported paranormal and UFO hot spot whether you believe in that stuff or not, doesn't change that reports state stuff happened there and this is where the film takes place. Same can be said about "The Amittyville Horror" all be it real events, vastly twisted for cinematic reasons, "Skinwalker Ranch" does the same.The first starts off with eight year old Cody disappearing in a flash of light outside his home on a ranch in Utah in November 2010. Less than a year later a paranormal investigation team called MDE (Modern Defense Enterprises) turns up at the ranch in order to look into unusual activity involved in the disappearance of the young boy. The boys father Hoyt (Jon Gries) allows the team to take over his property and fit it with their surveillance equipment in order to catch something paranormal.The equipment detects everything including lights from space, cattle being mutilated, shadows and even unaccountable vehicles, over the following weeks the events in paranormal activity increases in ways you couldn't have guessed. Leaving the MDE to to decide whether finding out this truth is really worth risking their own lives? There is a great vibe you get when watching the film, that they are actually taking themselves serious, like they really want you to believe it in order to enjoy the film even more and myself I enjoyed that. That being said, the realism they are going for kind of takes away from the Found Footage aspect they were going for the nicely edited and well filmed scenes make it feel like an everyday followed opposed to thee known Found Footage genre.Overall the film was thoroughly enjoyable watch for people who are fans of the genre, some nice CGI, a few scares and added story elements that bring the characters closer to you. The film is nothing more than a film to watch on Halloween or when you want a couple of scares, do not go into it expecting something on par with "The Exorcist", I believe it was Roger Ebert who said "If you're looking for a neat little Halloween movie, you could do worse." and I completely agree with him, it's just a fun Halloween flick not to be taken seriously.

What the heck was this? Okay people just admit that there won't be another Close Encounters With the Third Kind. Like Europa Report, this movie promises to give us chills but except that we only got boredom. The formula is quite basic. Mean that there was a nasty thing around here and there, set all your high tech equipment all around place and after that open the gates of tension. I don't think so. I'm really embarrassed to mention this one here but it's like 10k of the same movie, over and over again and they still got this scene: All powerful, all mysterious, all strong and maybe omnipotent compared to us aliens, can -literally- twist a huge pick cup like a beer can but can't handle a wooden door. please stop doing this s h i t. so like Europa Report - i got bored twice as this one bored me while watching it - there is a reward waiting for you if you are stubborn enough to reach the end:a cripple alien for 10 seconds.beware!

NO, the "actors" did not play well at all. None of them. Any B-movie still has some guy that has charisma, or a guy that at least remembers his lines. This movie has nobody. Anger, fear, trivial discussions - it all feels like hesitantly chewing on plastic. NO, the script was not good. I know, the place exists and it had some of the occurrences portraited here allegedly going on. To line up all those strange events, and throw in some of your own strange ideas, would take up some skill to be glued together in a coherent story. There was no glue. It felt like parody paranormal youtube movies mashed together. Dialogues? Neah! Just a farmer that "wants his kid back" and long, useless selfie monologues. NO, the "paranormal" part was not right. It was not suspenseful and classy, it was not blockbuster glitter, and had nothing to do with "classic" paranormal encounters. NO, do not watch this movie, unless you want to agree with me, and up this review afterwards. NO, you did not count right. :)