Dark Skies, which is out in theaters now, was not screened early for critics. This is never a good sign. If nothing else, however, it does pique my curiosity. What am I not supposed to see? I must know!

On Thursday night, I purchased a ticket to the midnight showing of Dark Skies (along with fellow movie-writing folk Matt Singer and Jenni Miller) at the AMC Loews Village 7 in Manhattan's East Village. Dark Skies is the story of ... well, I still have no idea, to tell you the truth. If you must know, perhaps there's a nice summary on its Wikipedia page. Yes, I tried to see Dark Skies early on Friday morning, but things did not go smoothly. Along the way, I kept a running diary of what happened.

11:42 p.m. Honestly, I have no idea what Dark Skies is about. I think it's about space? Or aliens?

11:45 p.m. I live in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Here is the line for tickets to the midnight screening of Dark Skies.

line

11:54 p.m. I live in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Here is what the theater looks like at the midnight screening of Dark Skies.

theater

11:57 p.m. Strangely, a large group of people just showed up for Dark Skies all at once, yet very few seem to know each other. Including us, there are at least 12 souls in New York City who wanted to see Dark Skies as soon as humanly possible.

12:01 a.m. Just as the lights went down, Matt Singer had to close the theater door himself. That's never a good sign for those who hope that there are movie theater employees here to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.

12:06 a.m. So, after the 10-second AMC fanfare played, we've now been sitting here for five minutes staring at a blank screen.

12:06 a.m. Maybe this just is Dark Skies. Maybe this is why no one wanted us to see this movie.

12:09 a.m. The lights are still off in the theater and there's still nothing on the screen. I must say, the rest of the crowd is surprisingly calm considering that we all paid $13 to stare at literally nothing.

12:11 a.m. We are on the seventh floor of the theater, there are no theater employees in sight and the screen is still dark.

12:12 a.m. I called the theater and I was just told by whomever answered that what was happening is normal and the movie would start at 12:15. I think she thinks I'm complaining about the trailers. I literally said, "I go to a lot of movies, the screen is blank." Her response, "That's normal. Call back later if nothing happens."