51 (also known as After Dark Originals: Area 51 or Area 51) is a 2011 American horror film directed by Jason Connery and starring Bruce Boxleitner and John Shea. It is part of the After Dark Originals lineup.[2] The film premiered on the SyFy Channel on February 26, 2011.[3][4]
| 51 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jason Connery |
| Written by | Kenny Yakkel |
| Produced by | Courtney Solomon |
| Starring | Bruce Boxleitner Rachel Miner Vanessa Branch Jason London and John Shea |
| Cinematography | Yaron Levy |
| Edited by | Andrew Bentler |
| Music by | Ian Honeyman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Syfy |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million[1] |
Plot
editPolitical and public pressure coerces the government into allowing two well-known reporters and their assistants limited access to the ultra-secretive Area 51. The group consists of 20-year news veteran Sam Whitaker (John Shea); his camera-woman Mindy (Lena Clark); Claire Felon (Vanessa Branch), an ambitious writer, journalist, and head of an acclaimed news blog called The Fact Zone; and her cameraman Kevin (Damon Lipari). The four tour the base and things go well for a while, but when one of the base's "occupants" attempts to liberate both himself and those of his fellow species, Area 51 changes from being a secured government facility to a place of horror.
Cast
edit- Vanessa Branch as Claire Felon
- Bruce Boxleitner as Colonel Martin
- Rachel Miner as Sergeant Hannah
- Jason London as Aaron Schumacher
- John Shea as Sam Whitaker
- Andrew Sensenig as Dr. Keane
- Billy Slaughter as Dr. Haven
- Jillian Batherson as Gomez
- Lena Clark as Mindy
- Damon Lipari as Kevin
- VyVy Nguyen as Elisia
Reception
editDread Central gave 51 a mixed review, stating that they would "write this one off as being a bit better than average by Syfy standards but still below par by conventional standards".[5] HorrorNews.net also panned the movie, writing that it was "an interesting concept, with mediocre delivery, and a scare factor of zero. It is lazy film making at its worst, and it is easy to understand why the movie sat in the can so long (six years) prior to being released. It was not worth the wait."[6]
References
edit- ^ "51 at Upcoming Horror Movies". Archived from the original on 2010-05-13. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
- ^ "After Dark Originals: '51' Finds a Director, New Details on 'Banshee'". Bloody Disgusting!. 2010-04-06. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "8 Questions to Die For: '51' Director Jason Connery". Bloody Disgusting!. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "Exclusive Interview: Jason Connery Says Too Much About 51?". Shock Till You Drop. 2010-12-30. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "Area 51 (2011) (review)". Dread Central. 2011-03-04. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
- ^ "Film Review: Area 51 (2015)". HNN. 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
External links
edit- After Dark Originals' 51 website
- 51 at IMDb
- 51 at AllMovie
- 51 at the TCM Movie Database