Based off of the short film of the same name by David F.
Sandberg and Lotta Losten (the link to which I will provide at the bottom) the latest James
Wan-produced horror release ‘Lights Out’ is finally here, riding the coat tails
of ‘The Conjuring 2’ and bringing us another classic story. When a strange
figure begins to haunt the halls of his family home soon after the death of his
father, Martin (Gabriel Bateman) recruits the help of his older step-sister
Rebecca to help him cope with their reclusive and depressed mother Sophie
(Maria Bello). Experiencing the same events during her own childhood when her
father left, Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) has since become detached from her family,
believing the figure to be a hoax manifested by her mother’s mental illness.
Joined by her boyfriend Bret (Alexander DiPersia), she reluctantly decides to
help her mother for Martin’s sake, as he has become paranoid about the dark. As
the mysterious circumstances surrounding the figure begin to unravel, the group
is left with one question: Who is Diana?
The positives: This film wastes no time in getting right into the action and
building tension, and doesn’t stop until the film ends, keeping that atmosphere
that Wan’s films are becoming known for. Sandberg has done excellent work in
keeping his simple premise as effective for a feature length film as possible. The
performances were on the whole good with the standouts definitely being Gabriel
Bateman who provides a foil for Rebecca and helps the viewers
remember what it was like being afraid of the dark as a child, as well as Maria
Bello’s caring yet unstable Sophie. I was also pleasantly surprised by
DiPersia’s character Bret: it was nice to see a boyfriend in a horror film that
wasn’t, for lack of a better word, an asshole. I enjoyed the ways that the film
played on a fear within all of us: the fear of the unknown, the fear of the
dark spaces in our houses we subconsciously avoid, and the fear of being
abandoned. The premise of staying in the light is a relatively new take on this
idea and was very entertaining.
The negatives: A common theme in a lot of the films I’ve seen of late, the most
glaring issue for ‘Lights Out’ is pacing. At a mere 81 minutes, this film flies
through much of the plot and character development, leaving the viewer looking
for more of an explanation and having them make leaps in order to connect the
dots. Perhaps this was done because there is currently a sequel in the works,
but it still felt as though the film was incomplete. Because of its fast pace,
it becomes harder to form an attachment with the characters and they tend to
fall into some horror movie clichés (like making stupid decisions for seemingly
no reason and painting Rebecca as the ‘rebellious young adult with equally
rebellious boyfriend’), which was a bit of a let down.
On the whole, this movie is good for a scary night in and definitely
brings a good old fashioned spook, but isn’t too revolutionary. The acting was decent and the plot was interesting, but I’m hoping that the sequel provides
us with the answers the audience is looking for and a more solid, well paced story. If you’re a
horror fan, its definitely worth a watch.
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