Anyone remember Vanishing on 7th Street? No? You're in a lucky position because the distributors that bought up that flick wish they could forget about it too. The Darkest Hour 3D takes on the story from Vanishing on 7th street but adds its own Sci-Fi twist.

Two young software developers travel to Moscow to ply their trade only to discover that the world of business is cut throat indeed but who's going to update their social networking status when the world is plunged into darkness and the aliens have landed?

No one, right? Right!

In The Darkest Hour an alien invasion descends on the planet leaving only a handful of people alive around the globe, we get to follow these two young Americans as they run from the threat with two young ladies hanging off their arms and of course find common ground with each other along the way.

Alone in a country where they don't speak the lingo, these four must navigate the dangers of the invasion and trust in the kindness of strangers to see them through.

Turn off, look ahead and prepare for Sci-Fi Horror aimed at the teen market, which isn't all bad but aiming low just means a product isn't as good as it could be but The Darkest Hour is still an okay way to spend an hour and a half.

The story is simple, its fast paced and it has a whole host of likable characters. SciFi Horror allows for writers to break the mould from the jock, the pretty girls, the geek and the lone gunman, although The Darkest Hour chooses to use stereotype it's a VERY loose template that they've used so that each of these characters actually has room to evolve.

Playing our four main heroes are Emile Hirsch as Sean, Olivia Thirlby as Natalie, Max Minghella as Ben and Rachael Taylor as Anne. Everyone here is worth their weight in gold despite the script not really calling for us to connect to the characters; with its generic on the rails give Hollywood what they want approach but when a few of these characters don't make it, you may actually feel a twinge of regret as the Sci-Fi style special effects turn them to ash.

I bet Joss Whedon wished he had this technology when he was shooting Buffy The Vampire Slayer because the deaths in The Darkest Hour are an un-gory treat to behold. People are lifted up into the air and disintegrated into a pile of ash but instead of being lazy and having this pile of ash poof into existence, they've taken the time to slowly tear people apart! Second by second they burn away into nothingness as if they never existed.

The only problem is that the film is so generic and doesn't really push boundaries. Isn't science fiction about pushing boundaries? That final frontier gubbins that Star Trek fans go on about?

It's fun but it just isn't fun enough to make the movie watching experience worthwhile. If you're looking for Sci-Fi horror, you can't beat a good session with Melissa George in Triangle.

If special features are your thing, The Darkest Hour comes loaded with 5 Deleted and Extended Scenes on DVD.

The Darkest Hour is worth your money but only if it's at a bargain price and you have nothing better to do with your time.