Sky Monster (2023) by Aaron Winsal

Director: Aaron Winsal, Rhys Frake-Waterfield (uncredited), Tyler James (uncredited)

Year: 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Creature Feature

Plot:

Celebrating her twenty-first birthday, a woman and her friends take a ride on a plane charter to a private island to begin the festivities, but when the plane gets stuck in a strange magnetic current become aware that a massive creature is stalking the plane forcing them to try to get away alive.

Review:

This was a massively fun and enjoyable effort with a lot to enjoy. One of the finest aspects to be had with this one is the rather enjoyable setup providing a far more chilling scenario than expected. With the main setup involving the plane trip taking place as a convenient way to get them to the island while allowing them an opportunity to celebrate a big birthday party along the way, this serves to nicely get everyone in the air to later be attacked while also giving off the kind of minuscule attempts at getting to know the group that they’re far more likable than expected for this type of film. With this setup in play, there’s a fun time featured here so that when it starts to turn into something far more overtly ominous there’s a great starting point present.

That serves the film immensely well when the plane enters the storm and is continually unsure of something out in the darkness. The paranoia that is established by constantly acting out as if it's just simply turbulence enacted out against the plane that brings brief bouts of darkness and constant shaking allows for a creepy enough starting point before it finally brings out the real source of the incidents. The presence of the creature is built up incredibly well, with the brief glimpses in the storm clouds or a blurry phonograph being the main idea that something’s there until it finally appears towards the midway point to attack the plane. This is a fantastic idea that builds off a genuinely creepy and unnerving idea which is given a lot to like with how the series of encounters afterward are based on trying to worm its way into the plane to get at them which showcases several somewhat suspenseful confrontations. There’s quite a lot to like here which all provide plenty of positive points.

There are several slight drawbacks on display here. One of the main issues here is the seemingly unrealistic approach taken here where it continually brings about questionable tactics to keep itself moving. The whole time the creature can get inside the plane as no one thinks to shut the door that it’s using to enter inside, while it’s strong enough to destroy a regular passenger plane in one go yet can’t take out a small private passenger jet. This runs rampant throughout here with this type of unrealistic and unnatural type of behavior trying to make sense of what’s going on. Even without that being a factor, this one generates such little information on the titular creature to explain where it came from, how it operates, or what it’s doing that there’s nothing to go on here which is a bit disappointing overall bringing this one down.

Overview: ***.5/5

Not without its issues but still fun for what it is, this one manages to become quite enjoyable and generally entertaining with the positives here being more than enough to hold this up over a few minor drawbacks. Those who appreciate this kind of low-budget feature, are curious about it or are fans of the creative crew will be the main target audience here while most others out there should heed caution.