Fire in the Sky - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Fire in the Sky



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Growing up IN Arizona during the 80s and 90s hearing about Travis Walton and his alien abduction during the UFO phenomenon of the 1990s was a staple campfire story for years. We all heard about the local boy who got abducted back in they 1970s, and once I grew up and realized that most of the Ed and Lorraine Harris and Travis Walton’s were scam artists I promptly forgot about it. But part of me still remembers watching Fire in the Sky back in the late 90s on VHS and being all wide eyed and nervous about being out in the Arizona desert late at night. 20+ years later I have to admit that the film hasn’t aged well, and has a hokey sort of 1990s charm to it that is hard to ignore, but also hard to not get a chuckle out of too. Scream Factory brings the near 30 year old film back with a new exclusive 4K remaster and a nice boatload of new extras to enjoy, so fans of the movie should be well pleased.

Taking place in northern Arizona (although it was filmed in Oregon for the most part. All but a few courthouse and hotel scenes), the film tells the story of Travis Walton circa 1975 (D.B. Sweeney playing the role of Travis). Travis and his buddy Mike (Robert Patrick) are loggers taking care of brush for a government contract when Travis is taken by a UFO like object. Suddenly Mike and the rest of the logging crew are under suspicion of murder, as the local Detective (James Garner) and local cops think that they just killed Travis and buried the body.

However, sticking to the truth turns out to be a 5 day nightmare, as no one will believe Mike and his men. That is, until Travis shows back up in town after 5 days with nary a stitch of clothing and no memory of what happened to him. Taking a lie detector test the boys seem to be telling to the truth, but it’s not until some regressive hypnosis on Travis that the real truth comes out. He was taken up into the UFO and experimented on by little gray men (no rectal probing at least).

Fire in the Sky really harps on the scare tactics of little green men taking people up into the sky to be probed and poked and prodded. As a child it was a nerve racking film, but as an adult it is a bit hokey. Not to mention Travis Walton has long since been called a fraud due to how hard he pushed to get a book written, and how much news attention he loved later in life. Amusingly enough, the real Travis Walton actually shows up in the film as a background character during the Church confrontation. Still, the movie has a solid enough premise, but it doesn’t have the hooks to bring it home. Most of the story is told from the view of Mike and his men as they’re grilled over by the cops, with the final 25 minutes or so being told from Travis’s point of view.

It also doesn’t help that we don’t really get to see any aliens or any creepy stuff till the hour and twenty minute mark, where Travis’s story takes over and he remembers what happened to him up there. At the end of the day it’s a silly alien move with a SUPER low budget, decent acting, and a sort of unhinged lunacy that goes along with these alien abduction “true stories”.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence




Video:

The new 4K transfer for the grainy film look really really good. It’s been VHS days since I remember seeing this, but the new transfer is very filmic, with a nice layer of grain (that only has a few spike instances) and great textural details. The forest is appropriately green and luscious, with deep shades of earth tones and green alike. Facial details is really good in daylight sequences, but I noticed some optical effects which give a soft appearance from time to time (such as when Travis meets Mike at the cabin). Black levels are solid and show no major issues, and I didn’t even see any banding to my eyes. Great looking transfer.







Audio:

With both the typical 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD MA tracks on board, Scream Factory knocks it out of the park with a robust and energetic mix. The first portion of the movie is very dialog centric and front heavy, but once the abduction takes place things amp up a few notches. You can hear the background rumble of angry citizens in the church, the roar and rumble of the craft near the beginning, and the last 25 minutes or so are pretty sonically impressive during the alien encounter. For a low budget 1990s flick, this punches way above it’s pay grade, and the new lossless mix pretty much maxes out how good the movie can sound.












Extras:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
• NEW Interview with Director Robert Lieberman
• Interview with Actor D.B. Sweeney (2020)
• Interview with Actor Robert Patrick (2020)
• Interview with Composer Mark Isham (2020)
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Fun, silly, cheap, ludicrous, you name it. Fire in the Sky has been called all of those names and more over the years. However, the flick has garnered a bit of a cult following among the UFO crowd and sci-fi fans alike. Personally I’m of the opinion that the movie is really only for the fans hokey old low budget sci-fi romps, but I know there’s a lot of people who think I’m crazy for not loving it (my brother being one of those). Scream Factory luckily brings us a brand new 4K remaster, a good set of extras and a new DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix to enjoy, so fans of the movie will definitely love the Blu-ray package.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer
Directed by: Robert Lieberman
Written by: Travis Walton (Book), Tracy Torme (Screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 109 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 21st, 2022

Recommendation: For the Fans

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Never heard of this. Sounds like a Stephen King novel!

Curious to see what it is all about so will check it out on netflix/amazon prime .

 

[Asere]

I saw this at the theater with my girlfriend at the time and though it was eerie. In fact I remember after I dropped her off at home I was driving in a long narrow road really dark and the film made me look up and around. I was scared I'd say lol. Thanks for the review.