History Film / DarkSkies

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: The protagonists fail to fight off the aliens and their eldest son is taken. And because nobody believes their insane story they are now being investigated for his disappearance. The only bright spot is the very last scene which implies that the aliens may have decided to return the elder son. The alternate ending is even worse; ending with the remaining child's nose massively bleeding like the father's earlier which implies that after taking the elder son, the aliens might still come back to take the younger son, too.]]

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: The protagonists fail to fight off the aliens and their eldest son is taken. And because nobody believes their insane story they are now being investigated for his disappearance. The only bright spot is the very last scene which implies that the aliens may have decided to return the elder son. The alternate ending is even worse; it implies that after taking the elder son, the aliens might still come back to take the younger son, too.]]

* PoliceAreUseless: A cop comes and just blames all of the sinister weirdness on a family member sleepwalking or on a kid with a psychological problem, resulting in epic YouHavetoBelieveMe.

* YouHavetoBelieveMe: The mother wants the cop and her husband to believe her that there's something going on in the house and they just play it off as one of the kids going off the deep end. The first three-quarters of the film is the mother against the father within the framework of the aforementioned MotherNatureFatherScience. [[spoiler: Even the their lawyer doesn't believe them about what exactly happened to their son.]]

NB: Shares a title with a '90s TV show.

* CosmicHorrorStory: [[spoiler: The world is pretty much controlled by godlike beings who's motivations and reasoning is beyond human comprehension. We are simply used as experiments by them and there's no way we're going to fight them off, because ''they already took over everything without us knowing''. Their plots can be thwarted but only on the off-chance that you make yourself such an annoyance that they decide to just start the experiment again with someone less irritating. The heroes fail to do so, just as expected.]]

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: The protagonists fail to fight off the aliens and their eldest son is taken. And because nobody believes their insane story they are now being investigated for his disappearance. The only bright spot is the very last scene which implies that the aliens may have decided to return the eldest son.]]

** Your teenage son going through puberty.

Dark Skies is a 2013 horror film about a broadly recognizable, American suburban family suddenly beset by strange occurrences: things are stacked in odd and impossible ways, crop-circle designs appear, hundreds of birds smash into the house, and one of the children reports nightly visits from a strange figure he calls "the sandman." The story is deeply psychological, with much of the dramatic tension coming from the inability of the characters to prove to the world outside the family just what is happening to them.

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Characters in the story are at various times presumed to be hallucinating or just suffering from some weird schizophreniform thing, which contributes some drive and psychological tension to the story line.
* TragicMistake: [[spoiler: They didn't want the younger son, they want to abduct the older one.]]

* YouHavetoBelieveMe: The mother wants the cop and her husband to believe her that there's something going on in the house and they just play it off as one of the kids going off the deep end. Typical. [[spoiler: Later, even the father's lawyer doesn't believe him about what exactly happened to their son.]] The YouHavetoBelieveMe in the first three-quarters of the film is the mother against father within the framework of the aforementioned MotherNatureFatherScience.

* GenreSavvy: The Mom gets hip to crop circles, mass bird attractions, lost time, etc. via the internet.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Are the weird happenings in the initial stages of the film just some animal or are they they result of CGI-generated citizens of the Delta Quadrant?
* MindScrew: [[spoiler: The vision the aliens give the eldest son confuses us as well; it's justified as it's intended to also confuse and distract him.]]

* NightmareFuelColoringBook: Sam's drawings either are inspired by the works of Alberto Giacometti or he's having Close Encounters of the CGI Kind.
* NoPeripheralVision: [[spoiler: In the same hallway with aliens during the fight scene, the mother sees nothing. Spooky!]]

* ProperlyParanoid: It looks like the family's gone completely bonkers, but, hey guess what, the first Kissinger-Cobain axiom actually does apply here.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: They wanted the older son all along!]]

* SupernaturalProofFather: Until a decisive moment near the end of the story, he staunchly refuses to believe. Once he does, it's PapaWolf time.

* YouHavetoBelieveMe: The mother wants the cop and her husband to believe her that there's something going on in the house and they just mansplain it away as one of the kids going off the deep end. Typical. Later, the father's lawyer won't believe him about his not having disappeared his own child, even though it's, like, REALLY IMPORTANT THAT HE DOES! The YouHavetoBelieveMe in the first three-quarters of the film is the mother (female) against father/cop (male) within the framework of the aforementioned MotherNatureFatherScience.

* ParanoiaFuel: Older son's rebelliousness, his circle of friends.

* MixAndMatch: The movie is basically Film:Poltergeist with the haunted-house conventions re-appropriated in an alien-abduction setting.

* YouHavetoBelieveMe: The mother wants the cop and her husband to believe her that there's something going on in the house and they just mansplain it away as one of the kids going off the deep end. Typical. Later, the father's lawyer won't believe him about his not having disappeared his own child, even though it's, like, REALLY IMPORTANT THAT HE DOES! The YouHavetoBelieveMe in the first three-quarters of the film is the mother (female) against father/cop (male) within the framework of the aforementioned MotherNatureFatherScience.

** SleepWalking: Some mystery is created by the viewer's and the character's not knowing whether someone is sleepwalking and doing these things in the house.

* YouHavetoBelieveMe: The mother wants the cop and her husband to believe her that there's something going on in the house and they just mansplain it away as one of the kids going off the deep end. Typical. Later, the father's lawyer won't believe him about his not having disappeared his own child, even though it's, like, REALLY IMPORTANT THAT HE DOES!

Dark Skies is a 2013 horror film about a broadly recognizable, American suburban family suddenly beset by strange occurrences: things are stacked in odd and impossible ways, alienesque crop-circle designs appear, hundreds of birds smash into the house, and one of the children reports nightly visits from a strange figure he calls "the sandman." The story is deeply psychological, with much of the dramatic tension coming from the inability of the characters to prove to the world outside the family just what is happening to them.

* TheChessmaster: The aliens have a secret plan that no mere mortal human can know and play mindgames with the family. Their mindgames serve to isolate them from people from the outside who could assist them or aid in reducing the psychological tension, which at least ''seems'' to be part of their plan.

* EvilDetectingDog: The family buys one specifically for this purpose. It's also lampshaded and discussed. Apparently dogs react aggressively in the presence of the aliens, but cats don't for whatever reason.

* NoPeripheralVision: In the same hallway with aliens during the fight scene, the mother sees nothing. Spooky!

* TheSmartGuy: The expert on alien abductions, who helps lead the parents to accept what's happening, [[spoiler: conveniently right before the aliens abduct the son.]]

* TheSmartGuy: The expert on alien abductions, who helps lead the parents to accept what's happening.

* PoliceAreUseless: A cop comes and just blames all of the sinister weirdness by sleepwalking or on a kid with a psychological problem.