Horror is a very hit or miss genre, sometimes you get a hit but most of the time you get a run of the mill generic stinker. In light of recent releases there have been many strong contenders into the horror genre. Films such as 2014's The Babadook to It Follows and then this year with The Witch and The Conjuring 2. I actually thought this would be a year with no real good horror films but man was I mistaken.
Based on a 3 minute short by the same director, David F. Sandberg, the film deals with the greatess of all fear, the dark. In basic terms Lights Out does what Jaws did for sharks, making it impossible to go asleep in the dark. Its the basic primal fear that all humans have, a fear of the dark, a fear of the unseen, the unknown.
What I found really impressive is the lack of visual aid (aka CGI) no cheap lighted areas or a CGI monster. The lights are all real and project the real amount of light. It's very grounded and at times has a vibe similar to that of The Ring. Composer Benjamin Wallfisch is defiantly the man behind one of the similarities. The Ring was one of my all tome favourite movies and Hans Zimmer's score was truly out of this world. Benjamin recreates that same haunting feeling of fear and loneliness. But also gives the jolts.
Give credit where credit is due. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer had the toughest job at turning a 2 minute-3 minute short into a full length feature. He is well known in horror, though sadly he has had his share of misses, rebooting the Nightmare on Elm street franchise. He had a minor achievement in the prequel to The Thing, at least for me. Eric though turned things around when he concluded (for now) one of the longest running franchises, Final Destination. He closed the book on that series and made by far the best of the bunch. For Lights Out, Eric has done an excellent job crafting a story with well rounded characters and a back story that is not too cliche. Still, Eric deserves credit as the story isn't boring and the third act ends on a very harrowing note, classic horror.
Both David and Eric, along with Ben, have crafted a finely tuned supernatural thriller. Casting for the film has also got to be commended. Teresa Palmer returns to her horror roots (her last horror film was The Grudge 2) and she is perfect in the role, not only that but she has a striking resemblance to Maria Bello (Prisoners). Both Teresa and Bello give solid performances for a somewhat average horror movie. Its not often you get such strong talent in a horror film. Teresa plays Rebecca with real humour and fear. When she's scared she literally cries. She makes Rebecca her own and comes off extremely likeable. Maria has the toughest role as she plays a mother on anti-depressents. I've had my doubts about Maria after she replaced Rachel Wiez in the third chapter of one of my all time favourite franchises. Here though she wins me over as she shows the intense struggle and suffering that Sophie goes through as Diana, the spiritual entity, eats away at her. Twilight actor Billy Burke as a small swing as the step-father of Martin and Rebecca. He kicks off the film with new comer Lotta Losten, who starred in the short in which the film is based. He makes a good impression with the small screen time he's got and his death hangs over the first bit of the film, hell his death was by far the scariest thing in the film.
Child actor Gabriel Bateman is loveable in the role of Martin, a complete opposite of his character on American Gothic. He's not one of those annoying kids that you hope dies within the first few minutes he's on screen. I grew to care for the kid and felt he was the one with most of the brains, sometimes Rebecca does a few questionable actions. And last there's Alexander DiPersia. He plays Bret, the hot boyfriend. Now, hear me out, the guy is not some dumb jock, he's actually pretty smart and loveable just like Martin. Bret is another solid, likeable character and does not play unfair games or accuse Rebecca of being crazy.
That is one of the best things about the film, its grounded and realistic. The characters all have some form of depth and are not 1 sided. I even wouldn't mind seeing a follow-up with Rebecca, Martin and Bret.
Lights Out is a frightening, realistic thriller with a solid story and likeable characters. Truth, it isn't too scary but this is coming from someone who just loves horror so to the average film goer, yeah you'll need to sleep with the lights on tonight.
Rating - B+
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