Lights Out - Review
A review of the film Lights Out (2016)
Lights Out is based on a short by the same name, both directed by David F Sandberg. You probably, like me, hadn't heard of him, as his only other feature length film is Annabelle: Creation. With this knowledge it might be hard to believe that I am about to write about how much I liked Lights Out.
Lights Out starts with a typical set-up scene, full of cheap jump scares and lacking anything original. I believed that this was a precursor for the rest of the film and settled in for a predictable 80 minute ride of quiet quiet quiet bang horror cinema that we are so used to these days. However, after this initial scene (which incidentally does actually have some relevance later on) the real story begins. After this, the scenes that follow are very much about character development and encouraging empathy for our protagonists.
The brief synopsis, is as follows. Spoilers ahead. In the opening scene, a man called Paul is working late, and is swiftly killed by something in the shadows. We then cut to his son, who he had been speaking to on the phone before his death, who is trying to sleep at home, but is kept awake by his mother talking to someone who is not physically there. We establish quickly the mother has mental health issues. We then cut across town to Rebecca, who we quickly discover is the boys sister. We learn she is in a relationship, but the 'boyfriend' would like it to become more serious. Her brother (Martin)'s school then calls Rebecca because he has fallen asleep at school for the third time in one week. She goes to collect him. As they are talking Rebecca discovers the reason that Martin is unable to sleep, and he tells her that their mum has been talking to "Diana." Rebecca brings this up with their mum and questions why she is off her meds. The two then go to Rebecca's apartment for the night.
During the night Rebecca has a first hand Diana experience and finds Martin asleep in the bath with a torch on. The next day Rebecca and Bret (the boyfriend, not-boyfriend) go back to the mum's house and collect a box of evidence that Rebecca's dad had collected about Diana. There is a fairly hefty backstory here, but the long and the short of it is whilst at an institution when she was younger Sophie (the mum), met Diana, a girl who had been known to 'get inside people's heads' and indeed caused her own father to kill himself. A rare disease means Diana could not go out into the light, she died whilst undergoing experimental treatment at a psychiatric hospital.
Martin ends up back at Rebecca's place, where he tells her Diana is real, and Rebecca tells him she believes him. This was a turning point for me, because for once not only is the victim/protagonist allowed agency in the form of investigating these occurrences, but actively believes the other person who is saying it is real. They then go back to the mum's house to try to explain all of this to their mum, and warn her about the danger they are in, however the mum does not listen. This leads to my favourite scene of the entire movie; Rebecca, Martin and Bret, go round the entire house taping light switches on, lighting candles, and charging torches. It is so refreshing to see characters do what any sane person would actually do in real life. Despite their best efforts, Diana later manages to completely cut the power to the whole street, which leads to a confrontation between Diana and Bret, where we see him use lots of genius light sources to evade attack. He escapes by turning on the headlights of his car just as he is about to be killed. We then watch in disbelief as he drives away leaving Rebecca and Martin to fend for themselves.
A short while later, Bret (a.k.a. boyfriend of the year) returns with police officers. I couldn't believe this - that a main character had actually gone for help, and the police actually came because he told them it was a domestic disturbance, brilliant. Unsurprisingly the offices don't survive, but do allow time for Martin and Bret to escape. Rebecca goes back to try to save her mum, Diana attacks Rebecca, and is about to kill her when Sophie appears with a gun. Diana states that it can't harm her, Sophie admits that, but knows that Diana cannot 'live' without her, and shoots herself in the head.
The film ends with Bret, Rebecca and Martin in the back of an ambulance with the street lights back on. I was so glad it ended here and did not resort to any cheap nod to a sequel or any loose ends.
It is not often that a PG-13 movie sticks with you long after the credits have rolled, but there are enough new elements here to make this film worthwhile. It's portrayal of mental illness isn't ideal but it is new to have someone actively inviting the tormentor in, rather than a family just being terrified for a meaningless reason. This is as much a family drama, and an exploration of their relationships with an unstable maternal figure as it is a horror film, and I felt it was effective on both levels.
Rating: 6/10
Similar films; El Orphanato, The Babadook, Sinister
Lights Out is based on a short by the same name, both directed by David F Sandberg. You probably, like me, hadn't heard of him, as his only other feature length film is Annabelle: Creation. With this knowledge it might be hard to believe that I am about to write about how much I liked Lights Out.
Lights Out starts with a typical set-up scene, full of cheap jump scares and lacking anything original. I believed that this was a precursor for the rest of the film and settled in for a predictable 80 minute ride of quiet quiet quiet bang horror cinema that we are so used to these days. However, after this initial scene (which incidentally does actually have some relevance later on) the real story begins. After this, the scenes that follow are very much about character development and encouraging empathy for our protagonists.
The brief synopsis, is as follows. Spoilers ahead. In the opening scene, a man called Paul is working late, and is swiftly killed by something in the shadows. We then cut to his son, who he had been speaking to on the phone before his death, who is trying to sleep at home, but is kept awake by his mother talking to someone who is not physically there. We establish quickly the mother has mental health issues. We then cut across town to Rebecca, who we quickly discover is the boys sister. We learn she is in a relationship, but the 'boyfriend' would like it to become more serious. Her brother (Martin)'s school then calls Rebecca because he has fallen asleep at school for the third time in one week. She goes to collect him. As they are talking Rebecca discovers the reason that Martin is unable to sleep, and he tells her that their mum has been talking to "Diana." Rebecca brings this up with their mum and questions why she is off her meds. The two then go to Rebecca's apartment for the night.
During the night Rebecca has a first hand Diana experience and finds Martin asleep in the bath with a torch on. The next day Rebecca and Bret (the boyfriend, not-boyfriend) go back to the mum's house and collect a box of evidence that Rebecca's dad had collected about Diana. There is a fairly hefty backstory here, but the long and the short of it is whilst at an institution when she was younger Sophie (the mum), met Diana, a girl who had been known to 'get inside people's heads' and indeed caused her own father to kill himself. A rare disease means Diana could not go out into the light, she died whilst undergoing experimental treatment at a psychiatric hospital.
Martin ends up back at Rebecca's place, where he tells her Diana is real, and Rebecca tells him she believes him. This was a turning point for me, because for once not only is the victim/protagonist allowed agency in the form of investigating these occurrences, but actively believes the other person who is saying it is real. They then go back to the mum's house to try to explain all of this to their mum, and warn her about the danger they are in, however the mum does not listen. This leads to my favourite scene of the entire movie; Rebecca, Martin and Bret, go round the entire house taping light switches on, lighting candles, and charging torches. It is so refreshing to see characters do what any sane person would actually do in real life. Despite their best efforts, Diana later manages to completely cut the power to the whole street, which leads to a confrontation between Diana and Bret, where we see him use lots of genius light sources to evade attack. He escapes by turning on the headlights of his car just as he is about to be killed. We then watch in disbelief as he drives away leaving Rebecca and Martin to fend for themselves.
A short while later, Bret (a.k.a. boyfriend of the year) returns with police officers. I couldn't believe this - that a main character had actually gone for help, and the police actually came because he told them it was a domestic disturbance, brilliant. Unsurprisingly the offices don't survive, but do allow time for Martin and Bret to escape. Rebecca goes back to try to save her mum, Diana attacks Rebecca, and is about to kill her when Sophie appears with a gun. Diana states that it can't harm her, Sophie admits that, but knows that Diana cannot 'live' without her, and shoots herself in the head.
The film ends with Bret, Rebecca and Martin in the back of an ambulance with the street lights back on. I was so glad it ended here and did not resort to any cheap nod to a sequel or any loose ends.
It is not often that a PG-13 movie sticks with you long after the credits have rolled, but there are enough new elements here to make this film worthwhile. It's portrayal of mental illness isn't ideal but it is new to have someone actively inviting the tormentor in, rather than a family just being terrified for a meaningless reason. This is as much a family drama, and an exploration of their relationships with an unstable maternal figure as it is a horror film, and I felt it was effective on both levels.
Rating: 6/10
Similar films; El Orphanato, The Babadook, Sinister
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