MOVIE REVIEW: Lights Out

Lights Out (2016)

Horror

Directed By: David F. Sandberg

If you go back and watch David F. Sandberg's 2013 short film that led him to this job you can easily see why he was picked to turn it into a feature film. The short runs just under three minutes and doesn't really have much of a plot to speak of, but he builds a scare like a pro and anyone capable of doing that these days is valuable to the genre. Fast forward three years and his feature length film based upon the short of the same name, Lights Out, is finally here to re-establish our childhood fears of the dark. 

After the sudden and unexpected death of his father, Martin (Gabriel Bateman) begins to experience the same paranormal occurrences that plagued his step sister Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) years ago when her father left. Every time they turn the lights off they see a mysterious woman standing in the shadows, and she doesn't appear to be friendly. Though they believe it to just be a weird psycho phenomenon they soon realize that the horrible things happening to them are directly related to their mothers (Maria Bello) decaying mental state brought on by the death of her husband. It's up to all three of them to find a way to break the hold this entity has on their family before it gets too close. 

Lights Out may not offer us much in the way of new and original material but it operates on familiar ground in an impressive way. Instead of trying to reinvent the genre they went and tried to just make a really good version of what we already know, with a few new plot twists we maybe haven't thought of. The idea of a demon who can only be seen with the lights out proves to be a brilliant angle when you realize this creature can really attack at anytime of day, if the lighting is right. That makes this a tense movie throughout, once this realization sets in you understand that at any moment they could find themselves in a dark space and with the wrong company. 

The movie admittedly operates much of the time in setup of a big jump scare, but they are always earned. I know plenty of people like to complain about them nowadays but jump scares are a huge part of what created and fueled this genre for so long and when they are done properly they can make a movie a hell of a good time. That's exactly what this flick was for me, a great time at the movies. The great jump scares and high tension make this one of the better horror movie theater experiences of the year. Plus, it isn't afraid to throw a few crowd pleasing moments in, one of which earned an impromptu round of applause mid-movie at my screening. 

At a brisk eighty-one minute run time it is hard for me to complain about any of the small missteps the movie makes because as soon as you think to complain about it the movie has already moved on and forgotten about it all together. The story moves quickly, never wasting time on silly exposition but instead having faith in its audience to be competent enough to pick up on subtle cues that further the characters and their stories. 

I'm not sure how the flick will hold up on repeat viewings, as much of this is based in jump scares I will be interested to see if they still land a second time around. Regardless of that the movie is a great time at the theater and with all of the high tension and big scares you are sure to have a blast seeing it on the big screen. I'm quite happy to see this be given a theatrical release before hitting VOD and other outlets, it's a horror flick that begs to be seen as big and as loud as possible (there is one specific sound effect that I know is still creeping my brother out). The only real complaint I have is that I don't get to go back for another round in October.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!