lathe-of-heaven I'm not really a big fan of Documentary style films, unless of course they are done well and the subject is interesting. Another similarly themed film that I liked was 'LAKE MUNGO' (2008). That one leaned a bit more toward the Paranormal, so it was more spooky. Whereas this one is more of a Sci Fi / Horror film, and has more of a Thriller / Suspense feel to it. I am most definitely NOT a fan of Found Footage films, but this one doesn't quite fall into that category (regardless of what some other clueless numbnuts have said here...) This is a DOCUMENTARY style film, not a Found Footage film...As a Documentary style film covering the activities of an investigative team who are looking into the disappearance of a boy at a ranch, it is fairly decent for the most part. I personally feel that what REALLY makes the film is most definitely the soundtrack; that is by FAR the strongest element of the movie. Very nice use of ambient sound, nighttime sounds, crickets, etc. There always seems to be some kind of ambient sound in the background which adds a great deal to the atmosphere; very similar to how David Lynch does in some of his films, particularly 'ERASERHEAD'.Also, what I like about this film as opposed to others that are similar, is the way the cameras are place around the ranch and the way those shots are nicely worked into the videographer's footage. So, you almost have the feeling of traditional establishment shots around the ranch, which especially at night, are quite effective. So, in other words, you don't have to suffer through shaky, hand-held camera shots throughout the ENTIRE film. The net effect is a bit more cohesive than usual for this type of movie.However... with that said... Unfortunately, what really detracts from the film is the acting. It is not ALWAYS bad; for the most part it is tolerable, considering the Documentary style. BUT... there are a few REALLY atrocious moments, particularly when people are getting upset (isn't that ALWAYS so hard to do...?) where the 'acting', such as it is, is pretty painful and amateurish, to say the least. IF the director(s) had been either a little more talented or experienced, they NEVER would have used the shots that they did in these scenes. They would have definitely gone back and used different takes. But... still... IF you can overlook those few moments, you are left with a pretty suspenseful and tense film that does indeed keep your interest all the way through.Now, one thing I really must add though... without giving anything important away, there ARE some rather imaginative elements that come into the film that may have SOME people rolling their eyes in disbelief. Thus the many blatantly negative Review Summaries here (such as 'Utter, utter, utter, utter, utter crap', etc... :) HOWEVER... IF you are the kind of person who likes a little 'Otherworldliness' in their films, and if you enjoy a nice X-Files-like vibe, then you should find this movie fairly entertaining.I REALLY wanted to give this film a '7', grading it on sort of a curve because it honestly is made quite well compared to a lot of other similar films, but the awful acting in a few places kind of brought it down to a strong '6'...But, there ARE indeed still plenty of good scares and some genuinely creepy moments to be enjoyed here...

CasualEight Let me begin by saying that I love horror movies, even the cheap ones. I seriously admire low budget films as long as their ambitious and well written. This film on the other hand is none of that. The screenwriters had no clear sense of direction for this film. Its painfully obvious that whatever direction they initially had became tangled with too many ideas from other successful films similar to its genre. This film is basically a hodgepodge of the found footage genre mixed with aliens and the supernatural. Imagine trying to mix Paranormal Activity, the Blair Witch Project, and Signs to form a coherent narrative but failing in every aspect. The characters in this film were poorly written and completely one dimensional. You feel nothing for these characters when trouble started to brew. The suspenseful monuments were weak and the ending was extremely unsatisfying. Let me stress EXTREMELY UNSATISFYING. I truly feel as though I've wasted my life watching this movie. I would really love to know the story behind this film. How could a director mess up a found footage flick this bad. Please do yourself the favor and avoid this film like the plague.

psybientfox The low rating on here for this film is astounding. Then again, this -is- IMDb.Skinwalker Ranch is a great independent found-footage film. One of the best I've ever seen, actually. The acting was phenomenal, the characters believable, the story was interesting, lots of suspense and freakiness, and the special effects were pretty great too. Unlike some people, I don't mind found-footage elements and effects, as long as they're done right.This is just another very underrated film. I hope it - and the ranch itself - gain more attention.

atinder Skinwalker Ranch (2013) Here we go with yet another found footage movie, I seen some very bad ones this year like Unaware and others, I don't even what to mention, however I am clad to say this movie does not fit into the same place. This turns out to be one of better Found footage movies that I have seen in a while. I thought it was really good. I loved the open scenes of the movie as a 10 year old s boy, who seem to disappear in the farm on his Birthday after a blue flash of light and then something else appears is in the same places where the boy was standing. (This scenes it's self was better then the whole movie of Unaware) A scientific research team investigates and documents the supernatural phenomena surrounding the disappearance of a cattle rancher's 10 year old son.Normal this kinds of movies take a while to get going, we get to know people in 5-10 minutes. I did not find this movie boring at all, as it didn't not take for strange thing to happen and there are a lot of strange stuff happens and it's not just one thing. A lot various strange things happen in this movie, the only problem is that, there far too many different things happen, there no real memorable scenes in this movie, not enough time on them, Acting was great from the whole cast, movie flowed really well and I loved it, as I said before the movie dose suffer as it's try to add too much into in short amount off time.Really good and I had fun watching it, also the movie did make me Jump once 7 out of 10