Release Date: October 30, 2013 (Limited and VOD)
Director: Devin McGinn
MPAA Rating: R
Film Pulse Score: 2.5/10
As soon as the opening sentences hit the screen, I cried out: “Not another ‘found footage’ movie!” But, indeed, that is what Skinwalker Ranch is – another found-footage genre movie. Like nearly all within this subgenre, the film explores something paranormal and does so in an effort to shock, surprise, and even scare. I was not shocked, surprised, or scared, but there were enough strange events to pique my interest now and then which is from where the 2.5 points come. Because those points certainly are not due to any performance, cinematography, direction, plot, or other mainstay of moviemaking.
Skinwalker Ranch begins with a child’s mysterious disappearance and quickly switches to the investigation by a team sent from MDE (Modern Defense . On his birthday, little Cody is captured on video by his mother as he greets his father, Hoyt, who has arrived with his present. Cody and Hoyt are filmed playing together and having a grand old time. And then, suddenly, Cody is standing still and alone when a ball of light appears and whisks him away. This is the film’s precipitating event and the first to capture my attention. I actually wanted to know where the boy went and how he disappeared. When the film ended a mere 70 minutes later (there are some drawn-out, visually-enhanced credits that make the movie technically longer), I realized I had stopped caring.
Why had I stopped caring, though? Was it because other events made me forget about little Cody? I think the answer is in the question. I will not say more about Cody for those who intend on seeing the film as I am afraid of providing a spoiler. But my attention was drawn to animal deaths on the ranch; to a burst of sonic energy that should have killed the MDE team members; a gigantic, 500-pound wolf that appears out of nowhere; and crazy flashes of light that appear on the ranch and sometimes do and sometimes do not leave traces.
All of the above are enough to drive a group of people insane and believe me, the team members and Hoyt start to have a go at each other. Then they miraculously make up so that they can have another go at each other again for added “drama.” Well, the drama has to come from somewhere because it is not to be found in what could be considered an actual plot. However, I will give the filmmakers some credit for trying newish and somewhat inventive events to keep that all important attention from completely draining away.
Ultimately, I cannot recommend this film despite the numerous potentially intriguing occurrences that it presents. The most profound flaw is in the film’s execution and in the way the footage was shot. Some of it is captured with static cams set up inside the ranch house and at certain perimeter locations. Some of it is shot on one of the team member’s personal video camera on which he records his video journals. Finally, most of it is captured by the team’s photographer who always seems to be at just the right place at just the right time, always running the right way, and pretty much always okay when everyone else is freaking out and could not be recording anything with any degree of steadiness (but hey, he is a professional, after all). The real problem is that too many times did the footage become unwatchable as if the camera was experiencing extreme static. And of course this is going to happen when aliens are likely visiting the ranch and there is probably a large spaceship hovering overhead. But it makes the movie so difficult to even remotely “get into” – I found myself just waiting for the next bit of fuzziness to occur. And there was a lot of fuzziness here, not just in the footage, but in the film’s plot points, performances, and overall execution.
I must make one final observation. The film’s poster says that Skinwalker Ranch is “inspired by true events.” This is not fabrication or exaggeration. After all, alien abduction, cattle mutilation, unexplained lights, and creature sightings have all been well documented and some for a very long time. The film was shot in Utah and the movie’s location is aptly set in the heart of America’s Alien Territory – the West/Southwest connection. Thank goodness there was no soundstage here (though I cannot vouch for whether the ranch house interior shots were not created on something like a soundstage but in Utah) because the setting actually seems quite realistic for the film’s premise.
