Dark Skies
A struggling suburban family faces escalating intrusions and memory gaps that suggest an extraterrestrial presence has entered their home.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- eerie
- paranoid
- oppressive
- late night horror viewing
- alien invasion marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly found the premise and cast promising but judged the execution muddled, derivative, and insufficiently suspenseful.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Barrett family's quiet suburban house is progressively transformed by rearranged objects, breached alarms, blackout-like episodes, and an unseen presence.
Lacy, Daniel, and Jesse experience catatonic episodes and regain consciousness without remembering what happened.
The central threat involves alien activity targeting the Barrett family inside their suburban home.
Familiar spaces such as bedrooms, kitchens, and a residential street become sources of escalating fear.
Films like Dark Skies, and why
The Fourth Kind
Shares domestic paranoia, escalating unexplained disturbances, and an extraterrestrial threat presented through intimate family horror.
The Conjuring
Shares home-invasion suspense, supernatural or nonhuman intrusion, and a family struggling to understand inexplicable events.
Signs
Shares found-family-under-threat tension, ambiguous alien phenomena, and a grounded suburban science fiction horror atmosphere.
The Vast of Night
Shares escalating household disturbances, surveillance-like dread, and a restrained alien-abduction premise.
Movie Details
- Director
- Scott Stewart
- Release Date
- 2013-02-21
- Runtime
- 97 min
- Rating
- 6.4 / 10 (2036)
Cast
- Keri Russell
- Josh Hamilton
- Dakota Goyo
- J.K. Simmons
- Trevor St. John
- Annie Thurman
- Myndy Crist
- Josh Wingate
- Ron Ostrow
- Alyvia Alyn Lind
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Dark Skies about?
- A struggling suburban family faces escalating intrusions and memory gaps that suggest an extraterrestrial presence has entered their home.
- What is Dark Skies like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Dark Skies as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Dark Skies violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Dark Skies as mild.
- What did critics think of Dark Skies?
- Critics broadly found the premise and cast promising but judged the execution muddled, derivative, and insufficiently suspenseful.
- Which films are like Dark Skies?
- Films with a similar feel include The Fourth Kind, The Conjuring, Signs, and The Vast of Night.
- How long is Dark Skies?
- Dark Skies runs 97 minutes.
- Where can I watch Dark Skies?
- In United States, Dark Skies streams on Amazon Prime Video, Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads.
