Directed by Pat Holden, the nephew of the real-life family this story is based around, When the Lights Went Out (2012) is a British horror film set in 1970's Yorkshire. In short, a movie which I thought was going to be a complete washout turned out to be a movie that was actually pretty good but just didn't quite live up to it's potential. Plus, as is pretty typical with average horror movies, the ending was dreadful.
Based on a true story – apparently the most violent poltergeist haunting in European History, the film follows the Maynard's. They are a family semi-struggling through 1974 northern Britain, as they move into a new home which isn't quite as empty as they had hoped.
It really does hit the ground running. Unlike other horror movies that build the tension over time with quiet scenes where your heart pounds out of your chest just as absolutely nothing happens YET, the creaks and bangs in this movie are present straight away. And who knew that a slinky could be quite so sinister?
Other than the overly stern priest/exorcist (Gary Lewis: Filth, Billy Elliot), the acting was pretty convincing. The one thing I cannot stand with horror movies is when the cast are far too serious and just suck the life out of a scene by making it so completely unrealistic from a human point of view. People do have lives, yes they can be scared witless but they can still laugh. The cast and direction made the family out to be a typical, Yorkshire, 70s family that enjoyed avocado kitchens, floral wallpaper (great scene involving this, GREAT scene) and drinking babycham whilst smoking (the movie world has lead me to believe that everybody smoked in the 70s). They poke fun at each other even in the face of a pending exorcism. It all adds up to a pretty believable collection of people.
And the ghost isn't terrifying but is creepy. And the fact that the main character is a rough and tough Yorkshireman helps: if he's creeped out then it must be pretty creepy.
All in all, not bad. And, in my wonderfully inexperienced opinion, I'd give it a 5/10.
Based on a true story – apparently the most violent poltergeist haunting in European History, the film follows the Maynard's. They are a family semi-struggling through 1974 northern Britain, as they move into a new home which isn't quite as empty as they had hoped.
It really does hit the ground running. Unlike other horror movies that build the tension over time with quiet scenes where your heart pounds out of your chest just as absolutely nothing happens YET, the creaks and bangs in this movie are present straight away. And who knew that a slinky could be quite so sinister?
Other than the overly stern priest/exorcist (Gary Lewis: Filth, Billy Elliot), the acting was pretty convincing. The one thing I cannot stand with horror movies is when the cast are far too serious and just suck the life out of a scene by making it so completely unrealistic from a human point of view. People do have lives, yes they can be scared witless but they can still laugh. The cast and direction made the family out to be a typical, Yorkshire, 70s family that enjoyed avocado kitchens, floral wallpaper (great scene involving this, GREAT scene) and drinking babycham whilst smoking (the movie world has lead me to believe that everybody smoked in the 70s). They poke fun at each other even in the face of a pending exorcism. It all adds up to a pretty believable collection of people.
And the ghost isn't terrifying but is creepy. And the fact that the main character is a rough and tough Yorkshireman helps: if he's creeped out then it must be pretty creepy.
All in all, not bad. And, in my wonderfully inexperienced opinion, I'd give it a 5/10.