Lights Out (2016)

[Plain Old Tele]

Discuss.

[baumer]

Lights Out is an intense, frightening and atmospheric movie.  It does everything you could ask for in a horror film and yet, it suffers from it's pg-13 rating.  I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here but this is not entirely about Lights Out.  I rather enjoyed it, especially the last 20 minutes.

 

The problem with horror these days, imo, is that even though they do have legitimate scares, no one fucking dies.  You can look back to the beginning of the 2000's for this new direction horror films have taken.  And of course the found footage stuff has been a blessing and a curse.  They revived horror films and gave producers a way to spend as little as possible while turning in big profits.  But for those of us who like horror in our horror films, a few deaths would be nice.  Paranormal Activity, The Sixth Sense, The Conjuring, The Ring, The Grudge, The Others, Mama, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and so on.  They are all really short on killing and rely on spooky scenes and jump scares.  Don't get me wrong, I like many of these films.  But I'm at a point where I need my Saw's and slasher horror and so on.  I want to see people fucking die.  

 

Lights Out has a flimsy premise with just enough back story for the film to make sense in a small way.  They really don't say how this ghost is a ghost, she just is.  It also doesn't really get into why the ghost is now following the little boy everywhere.  But that aside, when the film gets to the final 20 minutes, it's pretty relentless and it doesn't stop for a breather.  There are some truly terrifying scenes and it is well directed by David S. Sandberg.  One terrific effective area of the film is the natural lighting.  The director has gone on record as saying he tried to use as much natural light as possible and it shows and it really adds to the authentic feel and organic scares he manages to conjure up.  The natural lighting was one of the highlights of the film.

 

Overall I liked Lights Out, especially the final twenty minutes.  

 

7/10

[La Binoche]

The movie feels rushed and she scares are fairly soft (and become repetitive). Some good character work and strong performances by Teresa Palmer and Maria Bello keep it watchable. 

 

B-

[Jake Gittes]

I guess now I know what a bad version of The Babadook would look like. The monster is not just a physical manifestation of depression but also a ghost of an actual person with a clichéd and needless backstory, there's little compelling about any of the characters (Palmer does her best though), and no real style to speak of - technically it's pretty bland and unimaginative. As drama, it fails completely, and as horror, it just takes the single creepy image of a figure standing in the dark and milks it for all it's worth, which makes the movie feel monotonous and overlong despite actually being just 80 minutes. And then there's the seriously wrongheaded, cheap ending which basically suggests that people suffering from depression should kill themselves so as to not bother their loved ones. 

[RobinHood26]

Glad I saw it, I was entertained but overall it falls flat and takes the way route every time. I did like the ending however. Actually more the idea of the ending but it wasn't devolved enough as it played out exactly by the book. And the boyfriend does nothing hahaha

 

Tessa Palmer is like the more gorgeous women ever. Im not into blondes but I would marry her. 

 

C+ (78)

Edited July 26, 2016 by Jay Hollywood

[GeneralKong]

It's a competent genre film, with strong performances and good direction to mitigate the flaws of its script. It doesn't break any new ground, but it never gets boring and the relatively brief running time prevents it from overstaying its welcome, elevating it above the typical studio horror flick.

 

B

[somebody85]

The summer of let downs continues.

I should have waited for this to hit home. Rebekah didn't even feel like a real character. The gimmick was cool the first few times but quickly wore out it's welcome. The story was like Mama meets The Ring and made absolutely no sense. It was like someone took a creepypasta and put it on screen.

The best moment in the entire movie was when you hear the car turn on during the climax and the boyfriend peels out. If a comedic moment is the greatest thing a horror movie can offer then that's not the best sign for me. 

If fun house/jump scare horror is your thing then I'm sure you'll find plenty to like here. But unlike The Conjuring 2 nothing was innovative about any of it. There's no cool angles or anything like that. It honestly felt like a horror movie made in 2002-2009. It kind of reminded me of Dead Silence in it's execution and atmosphere (which I really enjoy). But I thought the overall idea here was a lot worse and there was no memorable score like that had. Surprisingly it also felt longer then 80 minutes (while still feeling rushed).

It's not a bad movie or anything (like The Forest, The Other Side Of The Door. The Darkness), it's just really average.

For people on the fence: I'd wait if I were you unless you like jump scares. A black silhouette running at the screen accompanied by a loud noise, doesn't do much for me. If this idea frightens you, then go for it because it's done a ton and Lights Out doesn't have much else to offer in terms of scares.

During the climax, I thought Rebekah was going to fight Diana with her black light like a light saber. The movie had gotten that ridiculous and I couldn't take it seriously at all. I never felt the danger and a day after seeing it, I can't remember a lot of it.

 

I dunno, maybe I'm being harder on it because I kept wishing I had trusted my gut and waited, because this wasn't worth seeing in theaters at all to me. Goodbye $14.

I liked Before I Wake way more then this. It might not have been filled with scares but it was a lot more original.

C+

Edited August 1, 2016 by somebody85

[Blankments]

Lights Out desperately wants to be like a James Wan movie. It kinda fails at this regard, because Wan's movies triumph thanks to strong atmosphere and a general humanism to them. Lights Out lacks the former and has the latter in very minimal terms, but still works overall. The central premise of a monster that thrives in the dark is universal and well-executed, especially in the last twenty minutes which are totally creative and the best part of the film. The backstory for the monster (Diana) also actually adds to the intrigue rather than ruining it, as it's appropriately creepy and yet grounded in some form of reality. However, there is a major issue hurting Lights Out, and that's the very ending of the movie. It is by far the most problematic ending I've seen this year. Spoiling shall be avoided, but needless to say, if one is going to make a horror movie about mental illness, the ending Sandberg chooses should have not once been an option in any stage of development. Despite its horrendous ending, Lights Out is an enthralling-if-generic horror movie that doesn't overstay its welcome. C+

[Joel M]

It was an inspired idea to try and bring the "metaphorical" monster indie horror trend of the last few years to the mainstream. It was the most ambitious thing about the movie but sadly it failed flat in the execution. One big problem was the ridiculous kinda possesed character of the mother, she was accidentally funny for all the wrong reasons and the resolution of the story was just plain bad. Although the movie has some redeeming qualities like the few scenes it manages to get creative with really cool premise searching for any source of light in the darkness to stop the demon. Teresa Palmer was also very good. She still looks like Kristen Stewart's long lost twin sister though, the resemblance is uncanny.

 

[Jake Gittes]

25 minutes ago, Joel M said:

Teresa Palmer was also very good. She still looks like Kristen Stewart's long lost twin sister though, the resemblance is uncanny.

 

 

Stewart, Palmer, Riley Keough and Jena Malone really need to play four sisters one of these days.