The Sky Has Fallen
Directed by Doug Roos
Courtesy of Lost Forever Productions
Released: 2010
I am proud to say that I won this DVD in a giveaway from Hayes Hudson’s House of Horror. Now before you start rolling your eyes and muttering things like “Of course you won…you guys are buddies”, you should know that I have entered MANY of his contests but this is the first time I’ve ever won anything. Hayes is an honest guy and runs an honest contest. Anybody that knows him (and me, for that matter) can attest to that.
But all of that aside, I’m very glad I won because this film was a very nice surprise.
The plot of the film, courtesy of imdb.com, is this:
Within a couple of hours, a new disease wipes out almost all of mankind. Trying to avoid infection, people flee to remote locations, but they start seeing mysterious black figures, carrying away the dead and experimenting on them. Now, Lance and Rachel, two survivors determined to fight back, must kill the leader of these creatures before the rest of humanity disappears.
Now, before I go any further, I have to admit that this was not an excellent film, but it was good. I had very low expectations before I watched it. After all, it was reviewed on Quiet Earth a couple of years ago and given a pretty brutal review. So I was quite surprised to find out it was actually worth watching, a very worthy first-attempt effort by Missouri-native Doug Roos.
What caught my attention first was the haunting but beautiful score. I didn’t catch who did it, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Roos had a hand in it. He did, after all, write, direct, produce, act in, shoot, and edit the film. The score lends an eerie but subtle backdrop for the story to develop.
The camera-work was top-notch, too. You can tell a lot of thought and calculation went in to the filming of this movie. From dramatic close-ups to uniquely-angled fight scenes to slightly blurry ‘visions’ of the mysterious creatures, the camera angles caught everything perfectly.
But the film had a few downsides as well. For example, the acting was way too over the top campy for me, and the dialogue between the two characters was lackluster. Also, the action scenes weren’t really action as much as side-shot blood-splatters. Don’t get me wrong…those scenes were very well done…but I wanted to see some actual swordplay, especially since the DVD cover does show a Samurai sword.
You really can’t say anything truly bad about this film, though, given the fact that it had a very miniscule budget and Roos is a first-time director. This was definitely a project of the heart and Roos put a lot of that into it. Well done, Mr. Roos. I hope to see more from you in the future.
As for the rest of you lot, go track down a copy of this DVD and watch it. I’m going to insist that you do. We all need to support indie filmmakers and do our part. Heck, if you need to, I might even let you borrow my copy.
MSB
