46 reviews
Average
This is one of those disposable films I put on just so I have something to watch, and not expect too much. Of course I'm always open to an unexpected gem, but this was not one of those.
It is just your basic generic disposable 'at least its not unwatchable'. Not really engaging, and some fairly problematic premises. I was hoping for more, I give it 5 stars because anything lower is reserved for films that make me mad for being so bad, waste of time, or films that prioritize commentary over artistry.
Better than a student film project, but nothing inspiring at all. There wasn't any point in the film, turn of events, or surprise or sequence that had any impact at all. Not necessarily a train wreck, but more of a quarterback fumble on the 50 yard line.
The worst most annoying part is some of the footage is supposedly shot by the film maker on his cell phone, and guess what? The filmaker is shooting cell video in portrait mode. I mean...
It is just your basic generic disposable 'at least its not unwatchable'. Not really engaging, and some fairly problematic premises. I was hoping for more, I give it 5 stars because anything lower is reserved for films that make me mad for being so bad, waste of time, or films that prioritize commentary over artistry.
Better than a student film project, but nothing inspiring at all. There wasn't any point in the film, turn of events, or surprise or sequence that had any impact at all. Not necessarily a train wreck, but more of a quarterback fumble on the 50 yard line.
The worst most annoying part is some of the footage is supposedly shot by the film maker on his cell phone, and guess what? The filmaker is shooting cell video in portrait mode. I mean...
- dancurtis-info
- Nov 15, 2022
- Permalink
Ambivalent focus and generic story bring movie down
HOLES IN THE SKY: THE SEAN MILLER STORY is a mockumentary (fake documentary) which purports to tell the story of someone who has had highly unusual experiences which are traced back to possible encounters with extraterrestrial beings.
In order to increase the feeling of authenticity, the credited film crew members play semi-fictional versions of themselves, and one suspects that even the name of the actor who plays the eponymous character, credited as "Sean Ed", might just be his first and middle name.
An issue that becomes apparent right away is that, contrary to what the title indicates, the story is not (just) about Sean Miller but even more so about the documentary film crew that goes to his house to interview him and film the strange happenings there. In principle, there is nothing wrong with that approach, but given the title, it amounts to a bit of bait and switch.
Apart from the ambivalent focus of the story, what is presented here is not any different than what has been presented in numerous alien encounter/abduction movies before.
From the perspective of someone who really believes in these kinds of encounters, it could be argued that this is the very point, that people should be exposed to the "usual" or expected manifestations of possible aliens encounters to recognize them for what they "really are", in the same way that we do not want novelty and variation of content in any given set of public service messages, since that would only undermine them by causing confusion.
But the problem with that argument is that whereas public service messages of the usual kind (e.g. About buckling up, avoidance of drunk driving, vaccination etc.) have essentially conclusive evidence behind them that is denied only by hardcore conspiracy theorists, the evidence for alien counters still falls sufficiently short that it has so far only convinced hardcore conspiracy theorists. In short, the evidentiary status of this subject is exactly the opposite of what it needs to be in order for this argument to work.
Apart from that, one can imagine that even within the confines of an entirely standard presentation of alien encounters, it is possible to weave compelling and innovative human interest stories. The closest the film comes to that is with the story of Brett, who is already facing severe life challenges when he takes on the assignment, but somehow his story failed to touch me.
Although toward the end, we are treated to a few special effects, the overall low production values did not do the movie a service.
I think this is a film that only fans of the subgenre of alien encounter found footage movies will enjoy.
In order to increase the feeling of authenticity, the credited film crew members play semi-fictional versions of themselves, and one suspects that even the name of the actor who plays the eponymous character, credited as "Sean Ed", might just be his first and middle name.
An issue that becomes apparent right away is that, contrary to what the title indicates, the story is not (just) about Sean Miller but even more so about the documentary film crew that goes to his house to interview him and film the strange happenings there. In principle, there is nothing wrong with that approach, but given the title, it amounts to a bit of bait and switch.
Apart from the ambivalent focus of the story, what is presented here is not any different than what has been presented in numerous alien encounter/abduction movies before.
From the perspective of someone who really believes in these kinds of encounters, it could be argued that this is the very point, that people should be exposed to the "usual" or expected manifestations of possible aliens encounters to recognize them for what they "really are", in the same way that we do not want novelty and variation of content in any given set of public service messages, since that would only undermine them by causing confusion.
But the problem with that argument is that whereas public service messages of the usual kind (e.g. About buckling up, avoidance of drunk driving, vaccination etc.) have essentially conclusive evidence behind them that is denied only by hardcore conspiracy theorists, the evidence for alien counters still falls sufficiently short that it has so far only convinced hardcore conspiracy theorists. In short, the evidentiary status of this subject is exactly the opposite of what it needs to be in order for this argument to work.
Apart from that, one can imagine that even within the confines of an entirely standard presentation of alien encounters, it is possible to weave compelling and innovative human interest stories. The closest the film comes to that is with the story of Brett, who is already facing severe life challenges when he takes on the assignment, but somehow his story failed to touch me.
Although toward the end, we are treated to a few special effects, the overall low production values did not do the movie a service.
I think this is a film that only fans of the subgenre of alien encounter found footage movies will enjoy.
- Armin_Nikkhah_Shirazi
- Jul 22, 2023
- Permalink
Very Meh. Cool premise, dull watch.
Not sure how to feel about this movie. So I went into it knowing only that it's a found footage mockumentary of an alien abduction story. Sounded right up my alley; I love that kinda crap.
Right off the bat you can tell it's trying to be super cheesey and fake, especially when it shows the filmmakers repertoire. He's done some pretty awful horror movies and not much else. At the same time, you can tell they just didn't really have any budget so they had to go this route and make it seem like it was done on purpose. I was wondering for awhile why it was focusing so much on the documentary filmmakers backstory, but it becomes clear that when they went to make the documentary they experienced some weirdness of their own and that's what the true story here is. It took a pretty long time to actually get to Sean Miller's Story, despite that being in the film's title. I think they should have put his story in sooner than they did because it ends up just kind of getting lost. I found it pretty hard to focus on this movie because most of it is dull B-roll. Because it was hard to pay attention to it I can't tell if it was actually hard to follow the story or if that was just because my attention kept wandering. It's very much a film where if you blink you'll miss the punchline of any given scene, but also, some scenes just don't have a point to them really, so you end up either missing the "good" parts, or having to endure a whole bunch of boring content to get to them. Most of the effects are really cheap and cheesey, which is expected for the most part with a movie like this. There were some actual cool and freaky bits in there, but not really enough.. they all happen very late in the game when you're already kinda over the movie and the characters. I'm not sure what else to say really. I didn't fully hate it and I didn't really enjoy it, so I gave it an average rating of 5, right smack dab in the middle. That might be pretty generous of me, honestly, but I've watched some terribly awful movies this past month, so I'm going easy on this one.
Right off the bat you can tell it's trying to be super cheesey and fake, especially when it shows the filmmakers repertoire. He's done some pretty awful horror movies and not much else. At the same time, you can tell they just didn't really have any budget so they had to go this route and make it seem like it was done on purpose. I was wondering for awhile why it was focusing so much on the documentary filmmakers backstory, but it becomes clear that when they went to make the documentary they experienced some weirdness of their own and that's what the true story here is. It took a pretty long time to actually get to Sean Miller's Story, despite that being in the film's title. I think they should have put his story in sooner than they did because it ends up just kind of getting lost. I found it pretty hard to focus on this movie because most of it is dull B-roll. Because it was hard to pay attention to it I can't tell if it was actually hard to follow the story or if that was just because my attention kept wandering. It's very much a film where if you blink you'll miss the punchline of any given scene, but also, some scenes just don't have a point to them really, so you end up either missing the "good" parts, or having to endure a whole bunch of boring content to get to them. Most of the effects are really cheap and cheesey, which is expected for the most part with a movie like this. There were some actual cool and freaky bits in there, but not really enough.. they all happen very late in the game when you're already kinda over the movie and the characters. I'm not sure what else to say really. I didn't fully hate it and I didn't really enjoy it, so I gave it an average rating of 5, right smack dab in the middle. That might be pretty generous of me, honestly, but I've watched some terribly awful movies this past month, so I'm going easy on this one.
- temptedblaze
- Feb 8, 2023
- Permalink
A whole lot of nothing!
- htownklown
- Nov 3, 2022
- Permalink
Lacks focus and direction
The biggest fault of this movie is that it focuses way too much on the filmmakers, which really skews the focus of this movie. The part where they talk about sad songs is super cringe, and it feels like a vanity project. They don't even describe what the original Sean Miller story was until like a third of the way in. It feels like a student film, not in a good way. The audio is not good. I feel like we saw way too much of the filmmakers for this to be a believable found footage "documentary" film. The video quality is also pretty poor. The acting is poor. The most common voice and face is Ash, who's supposed to be a professional filmmaker/documentarian, which goes against how you make a documentary. This definitely feels like the filmmakers had friends left positive reviews, so the IMBD score is egregiously skewed.
Ignore Any Good Reviews!
I actually paid to watch this movie. What a BIG mistake! Nothing really happened until the last 10-15 minutes of this movie, and then what happened wasn't scary at all because it was filmed SO poorly. Shaky camera without a full view of the action. I had to watch the ending 2 times for it to make any sense. Bland, uninteresting characters whose actions often made no sense. The movie could have done without the characters of the sister and her awful husband. Did not care that the movie ended with the disappearance of 2 of the characters. Was looking forward to watching this movie. Should have spent my money on another movie. Skip This Movie!!
- lisajn-30081
- Nov 24, 2022
- Permalink
Any review above a 2 is fake
This mockumentary has a budget of a few thousand dollars and it looks like it. It's about the same as what you could do at home with your phone. After the first 15 minutes I had to recheck the IMDb rating which is above a 6 amazingly. I figured it must get better or something for the ratings to be that high. So I watched another 15 minutes before checking all the reviews and I see that mostly there are 1s and 2s and then incredibly a bunch of 9s and 10s. I kind of checked out when the crew had a long conversation in the car about sad love songs or something. I finally gave up when they spent several minutes spooking themselves out about "unexplained phenomena" which was a light turning on or off.
- drjacobgrayson
- Jan 20, 2023
- Permalink
The cast and crew...
... Obviously inflated the user reviews.
Some films use found footage and documentary style shots as an artistic choice. From the very first frame, it's plain to see this was not made out of artistic choice but budget necessity.
Meandering, boring, full of clear self insert characters, wouldn't fool even the daftest human alive for a millisecond that it's real... Genuinely more of an endurance test than a movie.
Tries to keep building and building this sense of mystery and curiosity, but basically just stretches out it's very basic story of maybe, two or three sentences and stretches it out to movie length.
Utter waste of time.
Some films use found footage and documentary style shots as an artistic choice. From the very first frame, it's plain to see this was not made out of artistic choice but budget necessity.
Meandering, boring, full of clear self insert characters, wouldn't fool even the daftest human alive for a millisecond that it's real... Genuinely more of an endurance test than a movie.
Tries to keep building and building this sense of mystery and curiosity, but basically just stretches out it's very basic story of maybe, two or three sentences and stretches it out to movie length.
Utter waste of time.
- sventempest
- Nov 7, 2022
- Permalink
Documentary & Found Footage
Despite the niche of filmmakers with tight budgets to tend to rely on this type of movie, Holes in the Sky: The Sean Miller Story is a well thought out and entertaining film.
What stood out the most was the solid performances of the cast. Convincing portrayals of witness and experts really help the narrative along when you're trying to convince an audience the fictional story you're telling is based on fact.
I loved the nods to other dissapearance related documentary shows as well as the commentary.
Like any film with a small allowance, it's east to see where cuts were made. But these were done with care.
Really great work. Watch it, don't skip it.
What stood out the most was the solid performances of the cast. Convincing portrayals of witness and experts really help the narrative along when you're trying to convince an audience the fictional story you're telling is based on fact.
I loved the nods to other dissapearance related documentary shows as well as the commentary.
Like any film with a small allowance, it's east to see where cuts were made. But these were done with care.
Really great work. Watch it, don't skip it.
- vanessamotherofmovies
- Nov 27, 2021
- Permalink
Fell asleep three separate times ...
I feel like a fool for paying to watch this. When I think of the time I invested searching for a good movie to watch, and fell for the reviews on this one, it chaps my ...
I'm sorry, but you have a responsibility to provide a modicum of entertainment when you require someone to pay for entertainment.
There were so many twists and turns and strange events - that in no way tied together or even made sense on their own - that it was impossible to stay focused and maintain interest.
Unbelievable, unrelatable, nonsensical, no discernible plot, no answers to any questions. Certainly not the slightest bit scary.
Zero value for investment.
I'm sorry, but you have a responsibility to provide a modicum of entertainment when you require someone to pay for entertainment.
There were so many twists and turns and strange events - that in no way tied together or even made sense on their own - that it was impossible to stay focused and maintain interest.
Unbelievable, unrelatable, nonsensical, no discernible plot, no answers to any questions. Certainly not the slightest bit scary.
Zero value for investment.
- cjmouserlittlervlife
- Nov 9, 2022
- Permalink
A Good UFO/Alien mockumentry
I dont review too many movies but this deserved it.
@Ash Hamilton. This is simply great !
This is the kind of found footage movie you want to see after the genre getting stale over the years.
Good Dialogue...
Good Sound Effects...
Great Story...
Great Acting... Sean Millers expressions looked so genuine. Somebody please give him an award !!
Great Direction... Want to see more from you Ash !
Mediocre on the visuals (I was hoping for more action in the end) but understandable as this is still a low budget film.
This movie was gripping throughout and was overall refreshing. Definitely give it a watch !
@Ash Hamilton. This is simply great !
This is the kind of found footage movie you want to see after the genre getting stale over the years.
Good Dialogue...
Good Sound Effects...
Great Story...
Great Acting... Sean Millers expressions looked so genuine. Somebody please give him an award !!
Great Direction... Want to see more from you Ash !
Mediocre on the visuals (I was hoping for more action in the end) but understandable as this is still a low budget film.
This movie was gripping throughout and was overall refreshing. Definitely give it a watch !
Real??
So well done!! I keep hearing its a true story in one search then its not in another. Either way it was worth a view. The only part when I said ok this cant be real was the end. A little crazy. This is why I ask if its a true story or if seans story was true and they made a film around that. Kept me watching the whole time. Beginning slow but needed. Good job guys. Real or not. This also took place near my hometown so hoping its made up. Really the 1st I have seen to cross aliens and ghosts together unless the aliens were doing all the poltergeist stuff. Not sure. Lots of questions but only finding reviews online and all have different answers for same questions guess it was made so we never know the. Truth. I just need to know. I think it's just a movie added to a story someone told about their abduction. Ifanyone has facts or knows please lmk. Lol thanks.
- jensgems-65766
- Feb 21, 2023
- Permalink
Wtf.
..... Went in to this after reading reviews and the synapse of the movie. .... I thought this was a movie about, A CHILD, that was abducted. A documentary film, about a potential alien abduction.
This was. Not what I was expecting. If the synapsis if the movie was better it would have been 100% less confusing. I don't know. Just not great visual effects were horrible and should have been left out, and if they wanted to make it more realistic with the documentary they would have been better at filming the alarming events that took place. Or any other normal human interaction. Could have been a good bad movie but it left a lot to be desired. And the ending was ... Dumb. Sorry Brian.
This was. Not what I was expecting. If the synapsis if the movie was better it would have been 100% less confusing. I don't know. Just not great visual effects were horrible and should have been left out, and if they wanted to make it more realistic with the documentary they would have been better at filming the alarming events that took place. Or any other normal human interaction. Could have been a good bad movie but it left a lot to be desired. And the ending was ... Dumb. Sorry Brian.
- michelemorin-03735
- Jan 7, 2023
- Permalink
Holes in the Plotline: The Fraud Miller Story
- LordGriffiths
- Nov 25, 2022
- Permalink
fun...
To make movie, and to do it basicly from home, a 101 encyclopedia how to make a fictious documentary about a F. L. crime dissapearance, involving loads of hi tech stuff and trying to make an ''invaders from space'' abduction into something cool and nervewrecking...
well dissapointed i was, not by the efforts and esteem, more the fact that the story is very generic...based on all the true life incidents that runs the gossip over there usa... that leads to a heartstuck lack of realism, and i do feel that i am one of the best moduscandidates to test such a film on, mostly due to im a grumpy old man, i am considering me as an eminent observer and viably sceptic and fully litterate norwegian that thinks far beyond the countyborder...
yes its a film for the digital generation, baiting every conspirative thout on social media, and for the rednecked illiterat... a 2 star recommendation is generously given to ''holes in the plot''
well dissapointed i was, not by the efforts and esteem, more the fact that the story is very generic...based on all the true life incidents that runs the gossip over there usa... that leads to a heartstuck lack of realism, and i do feel that i am one of the best moduscandidates to test such a film on, mostly due to im a grumpy old man, i am considering me as an eminent observer and viably sceptic and fully litterate norwegian that thinks far beyond the countyborder...
yes its a film for the digital generation, baiting every conspirative thout on social media, and for the rednecked illiterat... a 2 star recommendation is generously given to ''holes in the plot''
A real time waster
I was about three quarters of the way through this before I Googled and found out the story of Sean is fake. Regardless, my opinion remains the same. I don't get why a UFO story turned into a story about a haunting. I don't know how else to explain it. The UFO incident is never touched upon. I could care less who is knocking on what door. The guy 'disappears' for 4 days and I get to hear a pot losing its handle. So much promise but it fell shorter than a pile of snail poo. At the 1 HOUR, 14 MINUTE MARK, the UFO incident is touched upon. By this time, I don't care anymore. I gotta go to the bank and cash a check anyway.
- bacardistuff
- Mar 17, 2024
- Permalink
Blair Witch Project,.....
Don't Even Bother...
I wanted so bad to enjoy this film but couldn't make it past 40 minutes. I liked the concept they were going for but the film develops way too slowly. The acting is atrocious. It's hard to follow as the film jumps between scenes and times seemingly every minute. Even when the "horror"
starts to happen you see nothing and it's not even remotely believable. I'm a huge horror fan and have seen it all but unfortunately this one has to be one of the worst "movies" to ever exist and i hate saying that. As an amateur film maker myself i understand the massive undertaking it takes to even write a script never mind filming it, production, editing, casting, etc. It's hard work so i don't like to dump on anyone's hard work but this was just that bad. I wanted the the other low reviews to be wrong as like i said the concept sounded good but this is legitimately one of the worst movies ever made. Please don't waste your time like I just did. The 4.? Average review of this film is generous to say the least.
Ugh
Where to begin??? Poor production, overall lousy script, bad acting and ambiguous dialogue are the downfall of this atrocity. At least try to convince me!
Right off the bat they try to associate UFO phenomena with paranormal activity. I've been following both for decades and have NEVER run into this kind of overlap with maybe the exception of Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. Nothing clever and clearly working within a shoe string budget. My Dad's home movies were better than this and those were shot on 8mm with NO budget.
This "film" is akin to The Blair Witch Project having a really bad hair day. Should not be seen in public. Yikes.
Right off the bat they try to associate UFO phenomena with paranormal activity. I've been following both for decades and have NEVER run into this kind of overlap with maybe the exception of Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. Nothing clever and clearly working within a shoe string budget. My Dad's home movies were better than this and those were shot on 8mm with NO budget.
This "film" is akin to The Blair Witch Project having a really bad hair day. Should not be seen in public. Yikes.
- mdpeters-97658
- Mar 17, 2024
- Permalink
When a documentary gets a little too real..
The first 10-15mins or so i had to pause and check if this was a real documentary or not, but i decided against it and carried on watching..
I must say from the start, Ash and Channell's 'acting' was so real it unnerved me a bit, so much so that after 25 mins in i had to stop and tell myself : "this is just a story, everyone is fine.." (I hope..)
Sean also played exceptionally well, if this was acting it was the most fluid form I've ever seen..
This to me is not horror of course, it is a drama/paranormal documentary style film.. But oh my word did it leave an impact..
I must commend all the people who worked on this, all actors and crew did a phenomenal job
Will I watch it again?....not a chance....lol.
I must say from the start, Ash and Channell's 'acting' was so real it unnerved me a bit, so much so that after 25 mins in i had to stop and tell myself : "this is just a story, everyone is fine.." (I hope..)
Sean also played exceptionally well, if this was acting it was the most fluid form I've ever seen..
This to me is not horror of course, it is a drama/paranormal documentary style film.. But oh my word did it leave an impact..
I must commend all the people who worked on this, all actors and crew did a phenomenal job
Will I watch it again?....not a chance....lol.
- timmermanwoodcraft
- Nov 2, 2022
- Permalink
Definitely fake
I actually watched a little more than half of this one, but I turned it off right after the "figure in the field" scene. Obviously scripted and the acting was just poor. I did think that adding the poltergeist element was a nice touch though.
Guy gets abducted, turns up four days later, he is traumatized and everytime he speaks about the experience or about his dad "strange phenomenon" and paranormal-like Iccurances start happening. Don't water your time watching this one. I saw it on freevee so sorry to all of the others who actually paid to see it. I nee 33 more characters to post this so...
Guy gets abducted, turns up four days later, he is traumatized and everytime he speaks about the experience or about his dad "strange phenomenon" and paranormal-like Iccurances start happening. Don't water your time watching this one. I saw it on freevee so sorry to all of the others who actually paid to see it. I nee 33 more characters to post this so...
DONT WASTE YOUR TIME!
I do believe there are things we don't understand. But, this is the fakest thing I have ever seen. What bothers me the most is stuff like this really muddies the water of the stuff that really needs to be put out there for people to see. Very disappointed!!!
Very poor audio and video. Seems to be thrown together. They talk about the travis Walton account. This is by no way even remotely close to what I think is an actual true experience in the Travis Walton case. I do think it spends an awful alot of time trying to showcase the people making the film.
Only rated it 1 star because that was the lowest I could go. Not even worth 1 star.
Very poor audio and video. Seems to be thrown together. They talk about the travis Walton account. This is by no way even remotely close to what I think is an actual true experience in the Travis Walton case. I do think it spends an awful alot of time trying to showcase the people making the film.
Only rated it 1 star because that was the lowest I could go. Not even worth 1 star.
- redoakfireman
- Aug 2, 2023
- Permalink
Ridiculous
It was the dumbest movie I seen so far . So bad that within ten minutes of the movies . I got to do the kitchen, feed the chickens, went horse back riding . Check my fence line came back to see a kitchen pan thrown across the kitchen. You know how many pans been thrown at me for coming late . . I started watching UFO's on the mountains of Mexico. Pop a Corona Extra , kept me in my toes pop tops the whole night . Like dark of if moon. The Alien space station in the moon . Million times better . This should of been a comedy movie there some real funny stuff. Like when the guy started spitting chocolate through his mouth after the neighbor get caught steering. Man it turn into a love scene they go at each other given chocolate mouth to mouth .
- frozen-19088
- May 31, 2023
- Permalink
The funniest thing I've ever seen!!
Yet another pseudo-doc
This wasn't the worst mockumentary I've watched, but not the worst. In my opinion, this and found footage are two genres that could forever disappear without a care from me, so either of those two are going to start low in my book. However, the acting was at times impressive (in SOME of the characters), considering it's obviously small budget. I was surprised at the director's choices and (although their name escapes me now) I think they are talented. I would like to see them work in a different horror sub-genre. (Please stop making pseudo-docs/found footage. Please!) I wouldn't pay to watch by any means, but if you're into the genre I would recommend it. If you share my feelings about this tired format, skip it.
- vephurst-72107
- Aug 15, 2023
- Permalink