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Confessions of a Cinephile – On the Trail of UFOs: Dark Sky (2021) – Documentary Review

Column written by David Garrett

  • Film: On the Trail of UFOs: Dark Sky
  • Year: 2010
  • Director: Seth Breedlove
  • Starring: Shannon LeGro and Seth Breedlove

Review:

I got the opportunity to check out this documentary thanks to Justin Cook. He sent me a screener since I had enjoyed another of director’s other documentaries On the Trail of Bigfoot: The Journey. This is an interesting follow up to the television show of the same name that features both the cryptid documentarian Seth Breedlove and paranormal investigator Shannon LeGro. For this documentary, they are focusing mainly on UFO sightings and other odd events that accompanied them in West Virginia along with branching a bit into the Ohio River Valley.

This doesn’t waste any time getting into it. Now I haven’t seen the television show, figured I should put that out there as a disclaimer. It gives us first an interview here of a man from Clarksburg, WV who claims him and family members seeing a UFO along with a strange being. It spooked them so bad they moved away from the town. Interesting, he stated that he saw their ship over the power lines. What I like is that the production took what he stated and then gives us a computer re-enactment instead of just watching individuals talk. That makes it easier to watch with visual representations.

What I found interesting here is that I didn’t realize the high number of UFO sightings that are in this area. I like that the movie leans into Mothman, as this is the best-known cryptid from the area. There seems to potentially be a connection with this creature, along with UFOs. I’ll swing back to this shortly. One possible explanation though for the number of sightings here is that there aren’t as many big cities, so there is less light pollution. Some of the residents in the movie also say that there isn’t a lot to do as well, so more people tend to look up being not as fast paced. I don’t mean to disparage anyone or claim that what they saw isn’t real, but there also tends to be less educated people in the areas of these sightings on top of these.

Something else that I find interesting here that is brought up is the amount of military presence. Part of this reason for this is amount of land in the state that is not being used. There are multiple military bases, FBI office and some other similar places in the area. Some of these sightings could be top secret vehicles that the government cannot confirm. This documentary also brings up the ‘Men in Black’ phenomena. This could be government agents out to figure out what the residents saw and trying to spread disinformation.

To then get back to what I was getting at previously, there seems to be a correlation between Mothman and UFOs. One of parts of the lore there is this mysterious individual by the name of Indrid Cold. I first learned of the name from The Mothman Prophecies movie and appeared in the book that is based on. We learn of encounter that someone had seeing Indrid, speaking with him and then getting into a UFO. He also correlates to the Men in Black. This makes it seem like Mothman could potentially be an alien.

Then really the last part I wanted to bring up is that during many of the interviews, Breedlove asks if there are mines around the area that they saw these objects. One of the interviewees is interested in why Breedlove asked this. I won’t spoil his response that he has, but it goes back to a conspiracy theory about the make-up of the Earth as an explanation for some of this information.

I did find this documentary to be quite interesting. I do believe there is life on other planets, but I’m still undecided if it has come to Earth or not. There was just the releasing of information from the government confirming that UFOs have visited Earth. Seeing this does make me interested in the television show along with other documentaries from Breedlove. Until there is concrete evidence, I don’t fully believe what some of these people saw, but I enjoy it for entertainment value. I also respect that is what they believe as well. How this is shot is good and it just well made in general. I’m glad they don’t add things for entertainment value, as the information for me works enough. If you enjoy documentaries like this, I would definitely give this a watch. This is an above average documentary for me.

My Rating: 7 out of 10

This documentary will be available on August 3rd, 2021 on platforms including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu and FandangoNOW

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