There Be Monsters on the Skyline

Skyline (US-2010; dir. Colin and Greg Strause)

I must have been living under a rock. When I saw the second trailer for this film I’d never heard of, and saw the huge invading spaceships, the slick production values and the really, really big monsters, I was definitely interested — but couldn’t understand why there’s been so little talk about it, even from my kaijuphile comrades. Hopefully there will be, because this looks good. It may be another War of the Worlds spin — but that’s not surprising as H.G. Wells created the template for such things.

Click to enlarge the poster below — and yes, all those fly-specks are people…

Synopsis:

In the sci-fi thriller Skyline, strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth.

Skyline was directed by Colin and Greg Strause (of Alien vs Predator: Requiem fame) and stars Donald Faison, Eric Balfour, David Zayas, Scottie Thompson and Brittany Daniel. It was written by Joshua Cordes and Liam O’Donnell. Cordes’ SFX (if not his scriptwriting) resumé is rather impressive, listing Iron Man 2, Avatar, 2012, The Incredible Hulk, 4: The Rise of the Silver Surfer and much else besides, mainly as animation/digital supervisor. SFX for Skyline are being handled by the Strause Brothers’ own company Hydraulx, who provided visual effects for Iron Man 2, Avatar, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 300.