Area 51

I did not expect much going into this movie. I was hoping for a little better than Alien Abduction. That being the case, I ended up pleasantly surprised! The first 70% of the movie could have been condensed into about 10 minutes of plot actually necessary to understand and enjoy the movie. However, it was worth sitting through to get to the last 30%. The suspense was surprisingly effective. I even found myself tensed up and gritting my teeth a few times. Special effects, although not plentiful, we effective as well. I agree with a previous reviewer that I felt dissatisfied with the end of the movie. I think that, maybe with a bigger budget and a well thought out ending, it could have been much better. A pure horror fan will likely not appreciate it. On the other hand, if you enjoy SciFi/horror/suspense combo flicks, then it's definitely worth a watch.

Okay so first off let me just say that I created this IMDb account after watching this movie, just to review it!. My friends and I have been waiting for this movie to come out for a while after first seeing the trailer for it on Facebook, which mind you, was probably scarier than this entire movie. I am a huge fan of alien movies like dark skies, alien abduction etc, and if you share the same interest then I suggest you only watch this movie if you have absolutely nothing else to watch but if you can avoid it, do it. It had some semi scary scenes, maybe a whole 5 minutes of the movie was actually exciting but other than that it was a bunch of 20 something year old, who seemed to know way too much on how to break into various locations on government technology, running around with video cameras. A lot of the story wasn't explained properly, it left me feeling confused and unfulfilled.

I definitely had higher expectations for Area 51, especially given that Oren Peli had written and directed and reinvigorated the "found footage" genre with Paranormal Activity. I'm a fan of the genre, a fan of the Peli, but this was absolutely abysmal from the very start. The concept could have been extremely engaging and given a unique twist, but it performs and plays out as expected- completely typical and utterly predictable, very poorly acted and nonsensical most of the time. I would have been disappointed even if it were a Direct to DVD or On Demand release. I guess the merits of this film like wholly on "From the writer and director of Paranormal Activity!" However, don't expect the competency which the latter film was delivered. There is very little entertainment value, lines are cut off mid-sentence, and somehow, despite being allegedly filmed with one camera, it switches angles regularly without disrupting other dialog. It places it's weight on technical talk, the late night AM radio conspiracy chatter, but does nothing to actually give the viewer anything to grab on to and immerse themselves in the adventure of these three hormonal boys.

If you'd like to reduce your IQ level or waste your time while sick and just need to say you've seen it, you're better served by searching online for conspiracy videos, which provide far more interesting concepts and, despite being rather extraordinary, manage to entertain, which Area 51 fail to do.

If you enjoy "The Blair Witch Project" this one will add something to the "found footage" genre :) I liked it, although I am sure that I watched it only because of the quarantine.

Oren Peli is now officially a one trick pony after his latest found footage flick called Area 51. Again, similar to the first Paranormal Activity, there is a lack of story and realistic actions by characters in Peli's latest. Additionally, characters are weak, having little to no back-story and often times unlikable. Even with Peli's out used hand-held style of filmmaking, there is a particular originality to the film based on the alien side story. There are creative imaginary thoughts and well done shots of cinematography with this film. It almost seemed the film steadily managed to save itself as the film progressed. By no means would it be a film I recommend to people looking for the latest and greatest of 2015 but it's not a total waste, even when I wanted it and expected it to be.