White Sky (2021) User Reviews

Film budget is under $10,000

[Xavier_Stone · 2/10 · 20 October 2021]

Seems to be filmed on a phone most of the time, with some graphics added from a video game or something. The story is just about some people camping. If you're expecting something like Red Dawn you'll be disappointed. This is more like Blair Witch, without the witch, without the scares.

It's a vanity project by the unpaid actors so that they can get noticed for something else. Nothing more.

At least the woods are scenic...

[trishthunderroads · 3/10 · 31 May 2022]

Meh. Not the worst campers run through chased by whatever, but not great either.

The cast is good, the premise is interesting and production quality great. However the story packs the punch of boxing cats.

This is a film you watch when you run out of good stuff on your watch list.

Boring

[quietneeded · 3/10 · 15 November 2021]

Starts out good... then just rambles along. Looses its story line fast. I kept nodding off it was so bland and boring. Maybe no one really read the script properly?

Basic zombie fare

[bitbucketchip · 5/10 · 2 November 2021]

A trio of of people go camping at night with leaving the flashlights in the car and they only enough food for one. We're talking experienced outdoorsmen here. Some form of UFO something does something and a cloud and a light and a few dollars of SFX later... zombies. The remainder of the movie is the trio and another wandering about in the woods in the dark. Or hanging out in camp. Or whining. Or resting. Or fighting amongst themselves. It's all equally uninteresting.

The zombies are bound by rules of engagement that ensure they never do anything mildly exciting. They can only run when they outnumber the humans. They are as easy to kill as humans. They can't speak, but they can call each other, though never when doing so would cause them to outnumber however many humans are nearby. The encounters are easy. The pulse never quickens. It's as if the movie is aimed at cardiac patients recovering in the IC.

The movie would be more interesting is these weren't without doubt the least inquisitive humans on earth. They never ask questions, seek to gain knowledge, or attempt to find out what is going on. They just assume life on earth is over and there is nothing better to do than randomly wander about the woods until they are either eaten or run out of supplies.

Unusually for a movie of this caliber, the lead actress delivers a competent performance. That's actually bad, because it highlights how poor everyone else is. Especially her sister. Whether acting high or sober, her scenes were uniformly dreadful.

Five stars on the strength of the lead actress, the mildly intriguing alien invasion plot, the camera and sound work. Especially given what they accomplished on a budget that wouldn't cover lunch for the cast at a fast food restaurant. How far worse projects than this receive funding when this received none is a mystery. I'd like to see what this lot could do with a decent budget and a better supporting cast. Five stars.

Boring! Zombie movie, not about aliens.

[shodangojuryu · 1/10 · 3 June 2022]

This is a zombie movie. We thought this was going to be an alien film. It's just a bunch of people in the woods trying to avoid zombies.

We fast forwarded to the end it because it was so dull.

Horridly boring

[ikata-49417 · 1/10 · 21 October 2021]

This show is a total waste of resources. It would have been more useful to burn a pile of cash. Poor writing and bad acting mixed with just plain stupid. I realize the concept of crap on TV is cliché, but lately it's crossed over into absurd. There used to be a few shows worth watching, but now days it's almost all crap. The Rookie is the only show currently worth watching.

Truly abysmal...

[paul_haakonsen · 1/10 · 23 October 2021]

Strange alien invasion sounds interesting, right? Right! Well, on that note, then I opted to sit down and watch the 2021 action sci-fi movie "White Sky". Well, that and also because it was a new movie that I hadn't already seen.

Funny why writer Philip Daay would think that watching a group of people traverse aimlessly around a forest for the majority of the movie would be considered to be entertaining. I surely didn't find it the least bit entertaining. Not even 30 minutes into the ordeal and I am well fed up with the movie, but I opted to give it a bit more of a chance, so I pressed on. Needless to say that I didn't stick around for the entire movie, because watching people stroll around in a forest didn't cut it for me.

The storyline sounded interesting enough on the synopsis, but the transition from script to screen was abysmal and it certainly didn't make for an exciting or interesting movie.

Now, I am not one that jumps at the chance to watch sci-fi movies, as it is not a preferred genre for me, but every now and again I do dabble with it. I should have stayed well clear of "White Sky" though, despite it having an interesting enough synopsis and a cover/poster that certainly seemed to have potential.

Visually the "White Sky" felt sluggish and amateurish, as if the movie was filmed on a mobile phone camera. Yeah, it was that dubious. And let's just be honest, that didn't really work in favor of a movie that was already fast sliding downhill from a lack of interesting storyline.

My rating of "White Sky" lands on a one out of ten stars. This movie was not worth the time, money or effort. Some of us suffered through this rubbish in smaller or bigger degree, so you don't have to.

Just awful

[marti-29874 · 1/10 · 18 June 2022]

Why would you keep fires going and use flash lights when you're being hunted? Another horrible zombie movie. Boring. Waste of time. Kept thinking it would get better, it doesn't. Only spoiler I can offer, they all might die, find another movie, this one is just awful.

Boring but had to see the end

[notmycat · 2/10 · 17 August 2022]

Pretty much what I expected, Zombie vs people. The dialogue was so muffled and garbled even the open caption couldn't get it all. Will there be any hope for humanity???

Not great

[nrgyzd · 2/10 · 9 July 2022]

Yea, the story could be decent. Just not with this cast or director. Awful really... it's all the little things that just don't really make sense... take a little more time on the little things.

Zombie movie only for new fans

[nablad · 7/10 · 26 February 2022]

A new version of zombie movie, for those people who have not seen many of that type. Interesting proposal, nice photography. It also talks about personal relationships in times of extreme distress, as in others of the genre.. This movie is not for fans of zombies.

Promising but ultimately fails

[postofficecb · 5/10 · 5 November 2023]

This movie is well done for such a low budget. I disagree with others regarding the camera work. It was shot well. The opening credit sequence was quite interesting and conveyed a sense of gloom and fear.

Yes, 99% of the movie takes place in the woods, but whether the story was written around that setting for budget reasons (or not) is moot: the setting is still used effectively, especially during the night scenes, in which the silhouette of a figure in the moonlight is striking or the beam of a flashlight searches for the source of a disturbing sound. My only criticism is the appalling use of CGI for a campfire.

Acting was tolerable, especially the elder sister. Where the movie fails is that towards the middle it departs from the "aliens attack" / "altered beings attack" plot to get bogged down in the tiresome survivor trope of "can we trust each other?", which gets somewhat boring. This is unfortunate, because the parts that deal with altered beings can be invigorating, such as the intense nighttime sequence on their return from getting water.

The altered beings themselves are quite intriguing - over time it seems as though they are not the mindless "zombies" we imagined, and that their behaviour follows certain rules and may include a hierarchy. Finally, their design seems to evolve, becoming more alien - colour, hands and the inexplicable white powder. I'm so curious as to what that represents, but more likely than not it was a design feature added as an afterthought to generate interest, since it is not explained in movie. Much promise wasted.

Bait and Switch

[heaterpistol · 3/10 · 3 May 2023]

This film started to be an alien invasion film. Two white girls go camping with one black guy, however implausibly. Suddenly they say a large, alien spaceship hovering over the city. I am ready for a great film.

Then zombies start coming out of the forest. Snore. The implication, of course is that the alien invasion has turned some people into zombies. Now why that would be so, we would have to ask the writer Philip Daay.

These zombies run at you, which avoids the poignant sense that zombies are erstwhile people.

I skipped the head. I read my phone. I snacked on cheese and crackers. The film never got better.

I couldn't make it to the end.

[marksra-57101 · 2/10 · 9 October 2023]

Cheapest movie ever. I lasted about half way through. This is the first zombie movie I've seen that doesn't have any zombies in it. After an hour I had still only seen 6 zombies and I had enough.

The movie, up to the point I left, was 4 people on a nature hike. The set is the local woods and the props is whatever the actors brought from home. The only redeeming feature was the cinematography. The picture quality, lighting, and audio are VERY well done but that's all. The looks large budget but feels low budget.

-FILLER- I have everything to say about White Sky. The movie isn't worth a long review.

It's slow but oddly compelling

[moorek · 4/10 · 29 April 2024]

I had watched the trailer on Netflix a few times but never watched it. It seemed a little slow in the trailer so would likely be equally slow in the actual movie. That turned out to be correct. The trailer also showed this was a very low budget and it was right on that too. So I skipped it until tonight.

The movie plotline never really gelled and was all over the place but it deserves credit for trying to do a few things differently. It didn't know if it wanted to be sci-fi, horror or just a thriller. It wasn't sure if it was an alien invasion or zombie movie. Yet there were elements that I liked such as the "social structure" of the infected humans - when they would move slowly or fast. Or when they'd stop and just bow down. Like the "smoke" effect off the back of the running aliens. The hole in the forehead deaths was interesting if unexplained. In fact I think that was what was both a little interesting and a little frustrating in that we never get any explanation.

The subplot of the junkie sister was unnecessary and just added confusion to the story. The ending was frustrating too as it came out of nowhere and we really can't be sure exactly what it means. Is she pregnant by. Josh after he was infected?

I didn't mind any of the actors although none were outstanding. Martins was certainly the best of the group and I enjoyed her character even if she did have some terrible lines at time.

The woods setting was useful and the aerial shots of the forest certainly gave us the impression of actual wilderness. However , as often happens in B movies, there are some scenes where you can see fences or structures in the background showing you that they really aren't that deep into any wilderness.

One irritating flaw was the poor editing for night and day. Some scenes flicked back and forth between day and night. That was surprising and I thought the overall quality of the direction was decent enough to not have that kind of continuity problem.

It is a movie that you'll only watch once and you'll be interested at the potential it had even if that potential wasn't realized.

So many are missing the point

[jgesselberty-1 · 5/10 · 14 February 2024]

I get it. You came to see a science fiction movie about an alien invasion. In true bait and switch, it turned out to be, you guessed it, just another zombie movie. What you missed was the real bait and switch. This is not a science fiction movie, but only has a few of the trappings of one. This is not a zombie movie, but has the altered humans, as zombies, to add the thrills, of which there are not many. The real movie, and the real bait and switch, is that this is a Love Story. If you accept that premise, it is an okay film, with some decent acting and a lot was done for a little bit of money on a really low budget. There is potential here, and I hope it is realized with other films by this director.

Zombies. Not aliens.

[gnkelly-97322 · 2/10 · 27 January 2024]

This film looks good. Largely filmed in the wilderness it's nice enough to look at. When the aliens arrive the ship hangs in the sky like an updated V. The advertising for the film focused on these impressive images which is what caught my eye.

Being positive, the idea is ok, the acting is ok, and the sfx and makeup is ok.

BUT it is just so dull. After a promising first 15 minutes it loses all its steam.

First up, this is really a zombie film and not aliens. The afore mentioned ship in the sky scene is as close to aliens as it gets.

Very little happens and what does happen makes little sense. Think a very long uneventful episode of The Walking Dead.

By the ending I had really lost all interest and any understanding of what was going on. In the closing scenes I couldn't tell if there was even a conclusion.

In a quality bit of writing, a full on argument about not using a flare as it would give away their location is followed seconds later with them all carrying flaming torches.

Only a zombie would find this interesting

[tunetrackersystems · 1/10 · 19 August 2023]

...and even most of them probably wouldn't. Like others, I thought the premise sounded potentially entertaining, but the movie contained nothing, nothing, nothing. Aliens overhead, some shooting from an obscured looking ship, then the focus turns to a group of frightened campers who wander aimlessly around in the woods with no clear objective other than to evade some humans who have been changed into zombies. White Sky seems to be one of a new generation of shoestring budget movies that count on an exciting poster and a misleading trailer to sell enough tickets to cover expenses and make a profit. All the sales must come in the first week, because once word gets around, they're sure to languish and become one more freebee on Amazon Prime.

Nothing happens..

[Scott_dowding · 3/10 · 21 January 2024]

Nothing is explained Nothing happens There is no budget Why even the drug angle?

He's seen his friends go lie this? It hadn't even happened long enough to have his friends change..!

Gawd awful movie.

Only think i like is "Natalie Martins" he acting was on par as was her beauty. The rest could easily be forgot.

Army base? It was a single tent with nothing in it.

Aliens come and turn people to zombies? I guess it might be a quicker way of getting humans to kill each other off but so could a biological virus.

Storyline was highschool at best, Maybe some on had a dream and wrote it down and though "Hey this makes a movie". No it didn't.

Not bad...

[MovieNomad2024 · 6/10 · 28 January 2024]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie, and what struck me the most was how effectively it utilized its low budget. The film predominantly took place in a single location, which was an intentional choice that contributed to its unique charm. The limited budget forced the filmmakers to get creative, and they succeeded brilliantly.

One standout aspect was the CGI, which was subtle yet well-executed. It's often challenging to strike the right balance with CGI in low-budget films, but in this case, less was indeed more. The effects were seamlessly integrated into the narrative, never reaching the point of becoming laughable or overly obvious. This subtlety in the CGI added to the authenticity of the film and made it even more engaging.

While I tend to prefer "alien invasion" scenarios over "zombie breakout" ones, I found this particular alien storyline intriguing. The mysterious nature of the alien added an extra layer of suspense, as it kept both the characters and the audience in the dark, creating a sense of shared uncertainty.

Compared to some of Drew Casson's work who put me off low budgets for a while, this movie stands out as a much better offering and has re-ignited my curiosity in these low bduget movie. I genuinely liked it and would definitely be interested in seeing a sequel, and even just more movies from this particular director. Overall, it was a well-executed film that successfully delivered on its premise, all while making the most of its limited resources.

Passable 'zombies in a forest' drama

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 24 January 2024]

As this film opens sisters Hailey and Sienna, along with their friend Josh head off for a weekend camping in the woods. Hailey hopes this will help her sister get over her drug problems. It turns out that is the least of their worries. Shortly after arriving they see what appears to be a giant UFO hovering in the distance. There is a flash of light and the next thing they know it is night time. People who approach them are behaving like zombies. Shortly afterwards they meet Liam, a shady character who has a campsite in the woods. They get away to this camp but how long can they stay safe... especially when one of the group is starting to show signs of infection.

I didn't think this was terrible. It may be obviously low budget and feature a cast of people who I don't recall seeing in anything else but it managed to be suitably tense at times. I quite liked the fact that certain details aren't explained... the campers have no idea what the UFO did to make many people behave like zombies or why it was done so why should we... I'd rather an unexplained mystery than a pretentious explanation. The zombies, or as the credits call them 'the altered', are suitably creepy without being as scary as they are in some classic examples of the genre. The woodland location is atmospheric and serves to keep the budget low. I thought the cast did a pretty solid job; I've certainly seen far worse performances from well-known actors. Overall it may not be a must watch but I'd still recommend it to fans of low budget horror.