New out on DVD/Blu-ray this week

New out on DVD/Blu-ray for Tuesday May 28.

     Dark Skies

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 (Josh Hamilton and Keri Russell) 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.

Written and directed by Scott Stewart (Priest, Legion), Dark Skies is a truly mediocre sci-fi thriller that is desperately trying to pass itself off as a scary horror film. It's basically a film about alien abduction that's filled with the usual clichés of strange occurrences around the house and weird things happening that remind you of every film you've ever seen about possession. It's not a horrible movie by any stretch but it offers absolutely nothing new or original. There's the requisite amount of typical jump scares scattered throughout the film where the music gets cranked so loud in order to startle you, but I never felt any real terror or sense of dread during the movie.

With a few mildly creepy scenes though, Dark Skies might do the trick for you if you aren't too demanding and you're really in the mood for a thriller. Sadly, this is a really lousy week for releases and Dark Skies is actually the best of the bunch. That's not saying much though.

     Bachelorette

On the night before an old friend's wedding, three frisky bridesmaids go searching for a little fun but find much more than they bargained for. With lovely Becky (Rebel Wilson) set to marry her handsome sweetheart, the remaining members of her high school clique reunite for one last bachelorette bash in the Big Apple. Regan (Kirsten Dunst) is an overachieving, über-Maid of Honor who's secretly smarting over the fact that she's not the first to marry, while Gena (Lizzy Caplan) is a whip-smart sarcastic who's actually a closet romantic, and Katie (Isla Fisher) is a ditzy beauty who loves the good life. But when Becky insists on keeping the bachelorette party tame, the women proceed with an after-hours celebration of their own.

Bachelorette is obviously trying to be the female version of The Hangover with a heavy dose of Bridesmaids tossed in for good measure. Unfortunately, however, this lame comedy fails to deliver even a small percentage of the laughs that those hilarious films provided. I found most of the characters here to be thinly drawn and unlikable, and most of the chaotic situations that arise just aren't all that funny. It's a pretty poorly written and ill-conceived mess for the most part. It also inexplicably commits the cardinal sin of placing its funniest cast member, Rebel Wilson, in a truncated and diminished supporting role as essentially the straight person and doesn't allow her to exercise her vast array of comedic chops. How stupid!

Bachelorette is a total misfire and not a comedy that I would recommend at all.

     About Cherry

Angelina (Ashley Hinshaw), an 18-year-old girl on the verge of finishing high school has a difficult family life. Her mother (Lili Taylor) is an alcoholic and her step-father is violent and unpredictable. One morning her boyfriend (Jonny Weston) suggests she take naked pictures for money. She balks at first but then does the photo shoot, using the money to run-off with her best friend (Dev Patel) to San Francisco. In San Fran, while waitressing in a strip club, Angelina meets Frances (James Franco), a well-off lawyer who offers to introduce her to a different kind of world, a place full of expensive dresses and fancy parties. But that world is not as perfect as it first appears and Frances has problems of his own. At the same time Angelina, using the moniker Cherry, has begun exploring the San Francisco porn industry under the direction of Margaret (Heather Graham), a former performer turned adult film director.

This dull, by-the-numbers drama is as generic as they come. Sure it offers plenty of nudity throughout in an attempt to titillate the audience, and if that is all you're after then you may be mildly satisfied, but if you are looking for an interesting and compelling film then it's best you look elsewhere. This plodding film is so unfocused and lazy in its handling of the material that I never once felt invested in any of it. If there is supposed to be some sort of central theme in About Cherry then it misses its mark. A young, attractive girl has a tumultuous home life... hey, why not get into porn? That's all that happens - big whoop!

Also out this week is the latest martial arts film from the director of Ong-Bak called The Kick, and the first season of the western TV series Longmire.

     Blast From the Past

If the subject matter in Dark Skies involving alien abduction is a topic that appeals to you, then I have a suggestion of a film that handles the material in a far more realistic and interesting fashion. It's the under-appreciated 1993 film Fire in the Sky.

Based on the experiences of Arizona logger Travis Walton (played here by D.B. Sweeney), Fire in the Sky opens in November 1975, with Walton and his fellow workers (who include Robert Patrick, Peter Berg, Craig Sheffer and a grown up Henry Thomas of E.T. fame) returning home from a day's work in the forest.

When Walton steps out of his truck to take a closer look at a UFO, he's struck by a blinding beam of light. His co-workers, obviously freaked out, drive off and leave him. Walton is found five days later, naked and traumatized. Questioned by a suspicious local law officer (James Garner), Walton gradually starts to remember the disturbing sequence of events that apparently occurred aboard the UFO.

Fire in the Sky is a low-key, methodically paced film that is more interested in digging into the emotional effects of Walton's experiences rather than the details of his abduction. It also features interviews with Walton's colleagues whereby they describe their guilt at leaving their friend behind and how this incident has affected their personal lives. The film is most effective though when it finally delves into what actually happened to Walton and we get his account of what the alien craft looked like. The 10 minute sequence where we see Walton dragged around the ship's interior and subjected to weird and painful looking experiments is absolutely harrowing and disturbing. There's more tension in that sequence alone than in the entire running time of Dark Skies.

Even though it wasn't a hit with critics, Fire in the Sky has become somewhat of a cult hit over the past twenty years amongst science fiction enthusiasts, and I feel like it's a film that is worth your time. 

If you want to see an interesting tale of alien abduction then check out Fire in the Sky.

New out on DVD/Blu-ray is brought to you by Leo's Videos, 2680 Pandosy St. (250) 861-8437

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.