Very solid. Likable characters (well besides the mother), decent scares/storyline and... it's not stupid like a lot of films in this genre. It also manages this in a really short running time which is nice.

Long estranged from her unwell mother Sophie (Maria Bello), Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) is forced to revisit her past when her frightened half brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) reaches out for help; a clawed, light-averse phantom to whom Sophie is mysteriously beholden is present in his house and growing more violent. Lights Out is a minimalist, spry genre film. Lasting around 75 minutes sans end credits, it moves fast, mining substantial suspense and dread from variation after variation on the same flip-the-light-switch scare tactic. Committed and sensitive performances by Palmer, Bello, and 12-year-old Bateman also lend the film's themes of mental illness and domestic trauma a degree of dramatic weight despite a script relatively short on character development and detail. It ends a tad too abruptly and could use one or two more set pieces in the second act, but in general, Lights Out is a modest triumph for Swedish director David F. Sandberg, turning his own YouTube-beloved three-minute short film into a feature under the guidance of producer James Wan.

B

I definitely would have liked this more if the third act wasn't so rushed, and if the ending didn't feel like such a cop out. Palmer and Bello give solid performances, although I'm still undecided on the kid and the boyfriend was kind of an idiot. It does have some good scares though and I did love the look of ghoul Diana.

A solid horror. Bit underdeveloped but what it does do, it does it good.

I like that characters aren't retards like in pretty much every horror movie nowadays. Everybody takes exactly 30 seconds to figure out - "oh, I need light to save myself". The plot is fast, it's not muddled and pretty straightforward (slightly Ring-ish, but I don't mind it as it was a nice twist on the idea). The characters are good (even though they could use a bit more fleshing out). Most of the scenes are creepy and very effective but not outright scary.

I hope this is just a beginning of good things for Sandberg. Lights Out definitely promises a lot (even if it doesn't deliver as much).

*** / ***** (C)

Director David F. Sandberg's turn from his Youtube-hit short film to big screen is an edge of your seat thriller if not always scary. The movie is very short and some of the scenes felt very rushed specially the final act. The characters aren't flashed out enough, like Diana's story, the boyfriend, the death of the father. It has a very quick narration and doesn't deflact its focus of introducing the premise and solving the mystery of Diana for a conclusive ending. The scares come in a rapid fashion that will keep you glued even with similar variations of "light-switch-must-stay-on" premise. The movie has smart characters, no one is stupid enough to turn off the lights by mistake and figuring out the ghost's weakness, I would have loved the use of phones more though. Teressa Palmer gives a committed performance. Maria Bello as the mother and Gabriel Bateman as the haunted child/brother are pretty good as well.

6/10

This was AWESOME! It puts The Conjuring 2 to shame, in my opinion. It's just got such an incredible sense of atmosphere and David F. Sandberg does such a great job directing here and building tension. I was on the edge of my seat throughout and there were quite a few great scares. I also really liked the characters and performances. Teresa Palmer was great. I can't wait for the sequel. A-

You don't vote in the poll?

I'm surprised you didn't see this until now. I would have thought you'd have seen it theatrically.

Lights Out

Lights Out features a novel and effectively scary villain, and its creepy set pieces build greatly on the short-film in which this was based, but unfortunately it is the other areas that let it down. It becomes a predictable jump-scare horror film which means it also contains stupid horror film characters and stupid horror film conveniences/holes. Teresa Palmer gives a terrible performance, but then the script is very thin. Although that didn't seem to hinder Bateman, who is actually pretty impressive. It was also nice to see Lotta Losten reprising her same actions as in the short. And kudos to solving the film's threat by just having Bello shoot herself in the head instead of recent supernatural horror conventions such as traipsing through library records, enlisting a specialist, and holding a seance etc. I shall chalk Sandberg up as "has potential".

B-

Well this was fantastic and totally different than the haunted house movie I was expecting. I've been thinking that using horror as an allegory for mental illness would be the next big step for the genre, and Lights Out almost proves that by itsef. Very effective look at it, respectful but doesn't get preachy about it. It Follows worked for a lot of the same reasons, using the monster as a metaphor for HIV. Don't Breathe is a lot more literal about it, but still fits in with my Disabled Monster Trilogy.

Lights Out works just fine as a creature feature even if you ignore the deeper goings ons. I really symphathized with all the characters almost immediately. All of them have flaws, but those are things to be overcome in the next 90 minutes. Rebecca especially feels like a complete character which is pretty rare for the genre, even in the great stuff like the ones mentioned earlier. Yet it doesn't sacrifice any intensity with all the character building.

I know people think the ending is a cop out, but in my opinion it was the only way to go. Bello sells her illness so well and it was always going to come down to sacrificing herself for her children. And I think their reaction to the flickering lights sells the trauma of the experience. Having Diana come back for one last scare would have been the lazy way to go.

And a movie called Lights Out should have good lighting, but it still needs to be noted just how good it was. Might be my #1 vote for Best Cinematography.