The summer line up of movies would not be complete without at least one alien entering the theatres. Super 8 is J.J. Abram’s (Star Trek, series Lost) homage to Producer Steven Speilberg, so immediately ‘ET’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ come vividly to mind. Abrams wrote and directed this remarkable mystery movie set in 1979 starring Joel Courtney (Joe), Elle Fanning (Alice) and Kyle Chandler. Be prepared for special effects and the haunting terror of an unknown predator.

Joe and his friends are just hometown mid-west school kids out making their own film project, their choice of topic is of course a zombie movie, when something really film worthy happens – a terrible train crash. From here the story becomes much more interesting as Joe and his friends begin to think that this might not be an accident. Some terrifying presence seems to be behind the train accident. When they get their film footage back three days later what will be revealed? What might happen in the interim?

We are swept into the thrill and terror of the unknown and with it the complications and moral challenges of coming to terms with communities and families in conflict about what to do and how to handle alarming situations that threaten normal life. Joe’s father (Kyle Chandler) is a single parent and the local police chief. Each of the young teens has their own personalities that quickly make the movie very captivating as everything they know is challenged under the pressure of this supernatural threat, family drama and outside forces that include swarms of military descending on this otherwise complacent community.

Hot stuff at the summer box office. Don’t miss it.