I have to say, I really love the found footage movies that mix in a bit of faux-documentary to the proceedings. When done well, it adds an element of realism that, even as you KNOW the film is just a movie, makes you wonder – maybe?
There are plenty of examples of movies that do this well – LAKE MUNGO and POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES are high on my list, here – but it’s an element of PROJECT SKYQUAKE and, sadly, it’s the most successful element of the film.
OPERATION SKYQUAKE gives a world where much of the population has mysteriously disappeared, leaving only questions in their absence. A man whose step-daughter is among the disappeared is desperate to find her or answers to what happened to her, and we are presented with footage she and a friend had recorded just before their disappearances. The stepdaughter and her friend were doing a private investigation into sounds that were emanating from the sky. While there were many theories of what these sounds could be there were no answers, so the two women are hoping to find and record evidence of the sounds and maybe something more. As their search goes on, they begin to experience strange things they cannot quite understand and come across what may be a cult that seems to worship something in the sky. Something is up there, but what?
Ably acted and shot well; the film really leans into the mystery of the sounds from the sky. The two female leads do a good job of conveying their friendship and desire for answers to this mystery. The film teases things out very well but just can’t seem to figure out what exactly is happening or won’t tell us. The biggest issue, for me, was scenes where we were listening to recordings and just watching people listen. There’s a scene that’s at least five minutes where this happens with the image even cutting out from time to time and it was just painfully slow. It makes me wonder why they wouldn’t have done something in the edit to make that scene more lively in SOME way.
The film is decent enough, but there are too many questions with no answers. There’s a mysterious voice they hear. A cult. The sounds. And then some final revelations that happen at the very end that just made me shake my head more than anything else. It is a huge bummer because the idea for the film is great, and there is a really compelling and scary movie here that just isn’t given a chance to breathe. The actors are good, the intro is good, and there are good moments throughout but the entirety just cannot live up to the idea. They had too many ideas and not enough explanations for me.
It may be slow for some, and it’s more about mood and tension than scares, but it’s not bad at all and some may really find something compelling if they want a slower, more thoughtful found footage film.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14883936/
2.25 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 