Skinwalker Ranch

source: Skinwalker Ranch

Man I couldn't even watch half of this the first time, I had to look away from the screen. I could feel the the shocker moments coming, and it was way too intense. Looking through the night cameras was too much, I was just waiting for the scary alien face to show up. Lol. Plus, there is like a bear type creature, a kid ghost running around, and light orbs, this is totally insane bro. This is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. Plus, the crew keeps chasing after the monsters, they find a cave that the bear creature was crawling into, so of course they have to get ropes and jump in hahahahah. There's just too much horror for a single sitting...my advice is if you watch it...don't do it alone or in the dark in the basement.

This film has absolutely no right what so ever to be sold in stores all over the UK. Perhaps the biggest let down I have ever witnessed. Having watched many horror films in my life I would put this at the bottom of the pile. It's plot had potential to grow into a great film and yet it couldn't be anything further from it. It's plot makes minimal sense, it opens up many avenues to explore and yet doesn't tie up any of them up and so anyone who has watched this is left thinking 'what happened to him' or 'how did that happen'. One example being, why and what was the significance of the car that persistently drove up and down the driveway. Another, why was there a werewolf? What happened to sam? Why was the woman targeted? Where did the dad go? Who was the girl that was on the video tape? I have not been given enough words to express how **** this film is. It's ending makes no sense, frankly along with the rest of the film. Don't WATCH THIS FILM! Shambles from start to finish.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this film. If you are after supernatural or UFO phenomenon this film is for you. Plot is very good, acting is almost very good, visual effects are excellent! With lower budget this turned to be a very good film. I wish they could somehow explain to us what really happened and what is fiction, but in a film like this is really difficult. What is it with this ranch now? Is it still there, is someone still living there or is it abandoned? Are those UFO*s finally come and present themselves to us. We would love to know what is it they want.

What I like most about this movie is that it cares little about movie-making and more about alerting viewers about the danger of chasing alien wolf-hyenas in the dark. It all starts with a statement about time slips that occur every day at 11:11 PM; that's really 23:11 but I think neither 23:11 nor 23:23 are as scary as 11:11. Thank God it all starts when the scientists first arrive at the ranch. Not that it's a first for the enterprise they are working for. But it's for them. So hell starts breaking loose as soon as they arrive with their cameras; hell loves an audience! One lesson I learned from this movie is that VHS tapes from the 60's are prone to electromagnetic interference pretty much like today's digital cameras. And the frames tend to slip too. Maybe that explain the 90's clothing and hairdo on the people filmed on the 60's tape. And, if you find boxes your bosses have buried in a closed barn 50 years previously, without telling you anything about it, stop digging after the second one, because the third is prone to have one of those dreadful 60's VHS tapes with electromagnetic interference and people dressing like it's the 90's. In the end, we all know what really happened in the Skywalker Ranch, and that if it ever happens at our house, all we have to do is to stand in the kitchen at 11:11PM to watch our loved ones running through. Mind the alien wolf-hyenas, though! I lived my entire life waiting to see a movie like this. KUdos to it's director, Ed Wood...

Being someone who was in a wilderness program in the Uinta mountains of Utah, a film based on true events set in this area isn't comforting. Nor is it comforting that I myself saw something on my last day there I couldn't explain. But getting back to the film - wow! What a trip! Devin whatever his name is is really good as an actor, and I was surprised to learn he was the creative force behind it as well. The special effects are chilling and truly, simply put, indiscernible from the actual footage. You feel as if you are witnessing something real - and something terrifying beyond all reasoning. Granted, the film has a few laughs. No horror film is perfect - but this one really hits the mark. The ending, and I'm not going to spoil it, has probably the most terrifying alien abduction scene in recent years. While the FX when it appears is grandiose, a lot is left to your imagination. No one here is a known, established actor which helps because anyone known would have spoiled the realism. No cheap scares or overkill on gore, just terrifying images. Definitely will make you go to sleep with the lights on at night! 10/10 - this is old school horror in the vein of Fire In The Sky, Alien, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind...minus the friendly aliens.

I'm not really a big fan of Documentary style films, unless of course they are done well and the subject is interesting. Another similarly themed film that I liked was 'LAKE MUNGO' (2008). That one leaned a bit more toward the Paranormal, so it was more spooky. Whereas this one is more of a Sci Fi / Horror film, and has more of a Thriller / Suspense feel to it. I am most definitely NOT a fan of Found Footage films, but this one doesn't quite fall into that category (regardless of what some other clueless numbnuts have said here...) This is a DOCUMENTARY style film, not a Found Footage film... As a Documentary style film covering the activities of an investigative team who are looking into the disappearance of a boy at a ranch, it is fairly decent for the most part. I personally feel that what REALLY makes the film is most definitely the soundtrack; that is by FAR the strongest element of the movie. Very nice use of ambient sound, nighttime sounds, crickets, etc. There always seems to be some kind of ambient sound in the background which adds a great deal to the atmosphere; very similar to how David Lynch does in some of his films, particularly 'ERASERHEAD'. Also, what I like about this film as opposed to others that are similar, is the way the cameras are place around the ranch and the way those shots are nicely worked into the videographer's footage. So, you almost have the feeling of traditional establishment shots around the ranch, which especially at night, are quite effective. So, in other words, you don't have to suffer through shaky, hand-held camera shots throughout the ENTIRE film. The net effect is a bit more cohesive than usual for this type of movie. However... with that said... Unfortunately, what really detracts from the film is the acting. It is not ALWAYS bad; for the most part it is tolerable, considering the Documentary style. BUT... there are a few REALLY atrocious moments, particularly when people are getting upset (isn't that ALWAYS so hard to do...?) where the 'acting', such as it is, is pretty painful and amateurish, to say the least. IF the director(s) had been either a little more talented or experienced, they NEVER would have used the shots that they did in these scenes. They would have definitely gone back and used different takes. But... still... IF you can overlook those few moments, you are left with a pretty suspenseful and tense film that does indeed keep your interest all the way through. Now, one thing I really must add though... without giving anything important away, there ARE some rather imaginative elements that come into the film that may have SOME people rolling their eyes in disbelief. Thus the many blatantly negative Review Summaries here (such as 'Utter, utter, utter, utter, utter crap', etc... :) HOWEVER... IF you are the kind of person who likes a little 'Otherworldliness' in their films, and if you enjoy a nice X-Files-like vibe, then you should find this movie fairly entertaining. I REALLY wanted to give this film a '7', grading it on sort of a curve because it honestly is made quite well compared to a lot of other similar films, but the awful acting in a few places kind of brought it down to a strong '6'... But, there ARE indeed still plenty of good scares and some genuinely creepy moments to be enjoyed here...

Incredibly bad in almost every possible way. If the director had been jumping up and down waving his hands in front of the camera for 84 minutes it would undoubtedly have made more captivating cinema. Try to imagine the worst movie ever, times a 1000 and you are not yet even close to understanding just how horribly shitty this pile of crap is. The recipe for this bucket of vomit is as follows: Copy all the scariest parts of every found footage horror movie made since 2004, then copy all the most annoying parts of every budget-UFO movies made since 2004, throw in a werewolf, an wise old Indian, some "scary" kids, and a handful of people who have a dream of becoming actors. Sprinkle with a few tons of hand-held-camera disturbance/glitch effects. Mix it all up, do not worry about plot, coherency or acting skills, as long as you got all the other ingredients. Compared to this garbage Sharknado should be getting Oscars and Palme d'Ors.

Looking at my ratings for the last 8 years or so, I came to realize that this is the 6th movie that I have rated a 1. Skinwalker Ranch is probably the one film that I could single out that really, really deserves it. More so than Batman & Robin, more so than the remake of The Fog. Even more so than Barely Legal Lesbian Vampires. Where do one start to describe the utter, brilliant mess of nothingness that makes Skinwalker Ranch? First of all, the concept of this being a true, eerie place really is unsettling. After watching this, I couldn't care less about the whole place though. People often take a dislike to the lost- footage genre in general, but I don't really have any problems with that. I loved movies like Chronicle and Europa Report. But then again, movies like this really gives the genre a bad name, if not filmmaking in general. Using half-ways familiar actors like Michael Horse (Twin Peaks) really destroys much of that docu-aspect from the very beginning. The whole movie is a mishmash of a wide variety of paranormal concepts, that all has in common that they end nowhere. There are unbelievable amounts of easy scares, absurdly plastic-felt acting/directing throughout the entire movie, and the most horrifying aspect of the entire movie is the laughably bad script. I easily find forgiving aspects in the most hated of productions, and I just as easily get jumpy, even from the most ridiculous horrors. But this gave me absolutely nothing but series of yawns, some laughs at the stupidest/most "scary" scenes, and a great deal of sighs. Not even "so bad that it is good" like Trolls 2. Just stay miles and miles away from this garbage.

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. :)