''51'' (also known as ''After Dark Originals: Area 51'' or ''Area 51'') is a 2011 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Jason Connery Jason Joseph Connery (born 11 January 1963) is a British actor and director. He is the son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento. On screen, he is best known for appearing in the third series of the ITV drama series ''Robin of Sherwood'' in 1986. H ...

and starring

Bruce Boxleitner Bruce William Boxleitner (born May 12, 1950) is an American actor and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series '' How the West Was Won'', '' Bring 'Em Back Alive'', ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King ...

and

John Shea John Victor Shea III ( ; born April 14, 1949) is an American actor, film producer and stage director. His career began on Broadway theatre, Broadway where he starred in ''Yentl (play), Yentl,'' subsequently winning his first major award, the 1975 ...

. It is part of the After Dark Originals lineup. The film premiered on the

SyFy Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

on February 26, 2011.

Plot

Political and public pressure coerces the government into allowing two well-known reporters and their assistants limited access to the ultra-secretive

Area 51 Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport ...

. The group consists of 20-year news veteran Sam Whitaker (

); his camera-woman Mindy (Lena Clark); Claire Fallon (

Vanessa Branch Vanessa Lynn Branch (born March 21, 1973) is an English-born American actress and model. She is best known in the United States as the Orbit Gum girl for its series of television commercials (her catchphrase is "Fabulous!"). Early life Bran ...

), 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

as Claire Felon *

as Colonel Martin *

Rachel Miner Rachel Anne Miner is an American actress. She first came to prominence for her portrayal of Michelle Bauer on the television soap opera ''Guiding Light'' (1990–95). She made her film debut in Woody Allen's ''Alice'' (1990), and later earned cr ...

as Sergeant Hannah *

Jason London Jason Paul London (born November 7, 1972) is an American actor, known for his roles as Randall "Pink" Floyd in director Richard Linklater's film '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993), as Jesse in '' The Rage: Carrie 2'' (1999) and as Rick Rambis in '' O ...

as Aaron Schumacher *

as Sam Whitaker * Andrew Sensenig as Dr. Keane *

Billy Slaughter William H. Slaughter is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles in '' The Campaign'' and ''Focus''. In his free time he works with students that want to become actors and actresses at Launch Model And Talent in Metairie, ...

as Dr. Haven * Jillian Batherson as Gomez * Lena Clark as Mindy * Damon Lipari as Kevin * VyVy Nguyen as Elisia

Reception

Dread 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". 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."

References

External links

After Dark Originals' ''51'' website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:51 2011 films 2010s English-language films 2010s science fiction horror films American science fiction horror films Films directed by Jason Connery Syfy original films 2010s American films