Dark Skies (2013)

A family finds themselves the target of a terrifying and overwhelming force. This is one that had a lot of potential and you can almost see where the bean counters stuck their fingers in the pie. The potential for brilliance is right there, but they go with the gimmicks instead.  Think Paranormal Activities meets Poltergeist but with Aliens. They do a lot of sleight of hand in the first half of the movie trying to make things scary, but the meat is found in the second half (still riddled with gimmicks) with an ending reminiscent of Mama.  For a half a minute I thought they were going to throw a power twist on the end and leave it open for a potentially cool sequel (I guess they could still but it wouldn't be near as cool starting out). Still it manages to serve up a pretty good creepy in parts with Keri Russel and J.K. Simmons both turning in very respectable performances. Overall I was disappointed, but more as a result of high expectations than film lameness.  If you are a fan of Paranormal Activities you may enjoy this one as well.