Lights Out (II) (2016) User Reviews

This is a surprisingly competent horror movie with chilling events , thrills and nail-biting scenes

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 22 December 2021]

Mystery and horror movie including chills , intrigue , terrifying happenings and it's certainly better than most other films of the same genre concerning a diabolic and mysterious terror appearing at a house . Enjoyable horror movie with thrills , chills and strange events , while the roles scream and panic her way through most of their scenes and including limited CGI . One of the film's strongest points is the fact that there's quite a lot of fun to be had with the supernatural aspects of the storyline . Stars Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) who must unlock the horror behind her traumatized little sibling's (Gabriel Bateman)grisly experiences that once tested her sanity , bringing her face to face with a supernatural spirit attached to their mother (Maria Bello) . At mother's house takes place a series of strange and eerie incidents . Later on , Rebecca is shocked when to be aware about the weird person there inhabits . Everything then changes in eerie way and things go wrong . You were right to be afraid of the dark. Darkness will consume you. Every Child Need To Feel Loved.

A creepy and thrilling film about a haunting house where lives a weird being , it packs inexplicable disturbing occurrences , shocks, thrills , suspense , chills, hair-rising events and surprising final twist . This starts off at the very beginning occuring mysterious happenings , as the camera lurks suspensenful behind its actors and beside them and above them and everywhere else . A scary and unsettling flick that garnered very positive reception on the internet in spite of its short budget , as the picture goes on growing more and more and developing little by little until the unexpected conclusion . The main and support cast are pretty well , giving attractive performances such as Teresa Palmer , Maria Bello , Gabriel Bateman , Alexander DiPersia and brief acting by Billy Burke as unfortunate father.

The pic contains a dark and colorful cinematography by Marc Spicer . Equally, a mysterious and suspenseful musical score by Benjamin Wallfisch , composing a sinister atmosphere . The motion picture was competently directed by horror expert David F. Sandberg who made the decision to focus on practical effects and avoided as much computed generator effects as possible . Being feature film debut of David F. Sandberg . As David decided to expand his original short film Lights out (2013) into a feature film thanks to producer James Wan , the latter has financed and directed notorious horror movies , such as : Swamp Thing , The Curse of La Llorona , Saw saga , Annabelle: Creation , Conjuring saga , Insidious saga , Demonic , Annabelle , among others . While fimmaker David Sanberg has made a few films all of them limited to short movies and terror genre as Annabelle : Creation , adding a peculiar superhero movie : ¡Shazam! (2019) . Rating 6.5/10. Acceptable and decent terror movie. Well worth watching.

great visual concept

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 16 December 2017]

Martin is a little boy hounded by a monster in the dark. His dad (Billy Burke) is killed by a woman in the dark. His mother (Maria Bello) seems to be talking to that mysterious being called Diana. Children's Services calls in his step-sister Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) who has commitment issues unwilling to even let Bret keep one sock at her place. Rebecca takes Martin to her home upon seeing her mother in dire mental state.

The visual concept of a lurker in the dark is quite compelling. The movie could have done more with a slower burn. It does a big kill right at the beginning which leaves the shock of discovery less overwhelming. It becomes the same move over and over again. It's a great move but it would work so much better with a gradual ramp up. The mother's madness is intriguing. A little more thought could be used to maximize the story.

Novel idea but needs more

[knight_ca · 6/10 · 20 August 2016]

Lights Out is an interesting stab at a horror movie based on a 2013 short film of the same name. The movie's novel concept is a creature that can only be seen and manifest in the dark. Turn a torch on, and it disappears. Naturally, this means that a lot of the movie is spent in the dark but this works well.The use of lighting is one of the movie's strong points and allows for some creative, and occasionally funny, uses of torches, candles and even car headlights. This technique generates a lot of the scares and atmosphere and given the movie's title, this is a must. Definitely top marks for the director on this part.

Teresa Palmer and Gabriel Bateman do well in the lead roles as the unfortunate kids with a crazy mother, played by Maria Bello. The problem with the movie is that apart from its main concept, it doesn't add much else. Clichés abound and yes, there is the mandatory dark basement (groan). Most of the scares are jump-out-at- you shocks and it's all been done before. Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to use psychological horror and churns out movies that are just twists on the same theme. This is probably a bit harsh as the movie is enjoyable enough and it's well-written, but I long for something new that isn't so long in the tooth.

The supernatural horror is effective and does elicit a genuine threat to the characters. Maria Bello, in particular, does well to ramp up the threat levels and makes you wonder who is going to make it out alive. As already mentioned, this was based on a short film and it really still is, coming in at around 80 minutes. Perhaps there wasn't enough material to make a longer movie but there's a feeling that it ends just as it gets going.

Lights Out is a decent film if you feel the need for a dash of supernatural horror but don't expect anything stand-out; it just doesn't deliver enough of a impact to make it memorable. It's good for what it does but don't buy too much popcorn as you may not have time to finish it.

Good horror movie

[SyamRawk · 7/10 · 28 August 2022]

This is the full length film that all horror fans waiting for after watch short movie at YouTube.

Great storyline and great acting from al cast.

The atmosphere is there and wayyy to many jump scare plot.

In the film, a young woman must confront her childhood fears to protect her brother from a vengeful supernatural entity holding a mysterious attachment to their mother.

In a textile factory during closing hours, an employee named Esther encounters a silhouette of a strange woman with claw-like hands when the lights are off, but cannot see it when the lights are on. After she leaves, her boss Paul encounters the woman and tries to run away, but he is killed.

You guys need to watch this.

After the short film's success, Sandberg announced a film adaptation based on his short film.

Really recommended. Enjoy and entertaining movie.

Giving it a back story and more detail made it feel cheapened.

[dlbkcmo · 5 August 2016]

It wasn't until I checked the credits that I realized this was based off of the short film by David F. Sandberg. I knew the lights off/lights on shadow figure thing seemed familiar. While I really loved the short film, I don't necessarily agree that it needed the full length treatment. I feel like we see this a lot - capitalize off some popular internet thing that, when extended, loses some of what made it special in the first place. The short film was unsettling and creepy as it was; giving it a back story and more detail made it feel cheapened. I'm not a huge fan of "BOO!" gotcha horror movies, though; I come from a generation that was raised on the original Halloween and, for me, that is the apex of subtle, creepy, slow burn etc - everything that makes one get enveloped in a movie. When there are two many jump-atchas, it is jarring and does not make for high replay value (for me, anyway). I thought the mental asylum backstory was so played out; I feel like maybe that trope should be burned alive. We get it. Although that's kind of how I also feel about kids being creepy (or "troubled"), too. There's just so little variation in horror these days. Not all bad, though - I feel like the choice of Teresa Palmer as Maria Bello (Sophie)'s character's daughter was a fantastic choice. I not only enjoyed her performance but I feel she looks the part; she looks like a younger version of her.

Fine for a fun theater experience, nothing special though

[meredithkemble · 6/10 · 23 July 2016]

Lights Out wasn't a bad film, and it's always nice when a horror film comes out that has some scary moments and is only PG-13. Usually I go into PG-13 horror films with low expectations, which allowed me to enjoy the movie for what it is: a bunch of jump scares. The short film this movie was based off was simple, and effectively scary. By adding so much to the concept, it threw off the pacing. This film tried to be more than what is was. It tried to explore a deeper meaning, touching on mental illness and family problems (think The Babadook but not nearly as good), but it only managed to scratch the surface in a pretty shallow and uninteresting way. This was only accentuated by sub-par acting from quite a bit of the cast.

However, the film succeeded in making Diana frightening. By not ever showing her real form for much time outside of the shadows, she managed to be pretty horrifying. Definitely a creature to inspire nightmares when you turn out the lights.

Overall it was fun to go see in a theater filled with jumpy teenagers, but not really worth a second watch.

It's OK, We're all a little afraid of the dark

[Jared_Andrews · 7/10 · 8 October 2017]

Its brilliance lies in its simplicity. Lights out doesn't attempt to confuse anyone, nor does it look to introduce a totally original idea. Instead, it boldly and unambiguously taunts the audience with the message, "you were all afraid of the dark as kids and most of you still are."

Never has a scary movie villain had such an easy foil—light. Literally any kind of light—sun, fluorescent, bright. They each work perfectly well. Shine any sort of light in the direction of this movie's monster and she disappears. Poof. She's gone and everyone is safe. Writing this, I recognize that this doesn't sound even the tiniest bit scary. Yet somehow, as I sat in my well-lit house after watching the movie, I felt afraid.

A brief telling of the plot: there's a monster-demon-ghost-girl named Diana that lives only in darkness because light hurts her, and sometimes she kills people. She haunts other people in the movie who try to not be killed by her and also they try to defeat her. That's really all there is to know. Yes, it's a very simple plot, but still an enjoyable one, at least in this instance.

Something about the beautiful simplicity of the scare tactics just worked. Nothing confusing, nothing shocking. There weren't even very many classic hanging suspense moments interrupted by loud, jolt scares. These we textbook jump scares. A seemingly safe moment with normal amounts of sound that slowly drifts to silence then POW! A jump scare.

You may be thinking, "this sounds lame. How does this brutally basic approach yields effective scares?" Great question, my astute and thoughtful reader.

I've thought about this question and come up with a few explanations. First, we owe a tremendous credit to the actress who played Diana (Alicia Vela-Baley). Her intimidating posture and sickly contorting and Freddy Kruegerish flailing arms bring to life a terrifying character, whose mere presence on screen is enough to leave viewers unsettled. There's something about crouching, and Vela-Baley is great at it. Seeing a person crouch in a well-lit area is comical. But looking at a crouching figure in the shadows, that will make your skin crawl. The other explanation that I will offer is the visceral nature of the scares. Much of the movie takes place in the dark and the dark is scary. We are evolutionarily predispositioned to fear the dark. It's a survival instinct. Don't argue with me on this. I'm right.

Anyway, the dimly-lit, shadowy settings are the perfect playground for visceral and pure jump scares. Director David F. Sandberg hits all the right beats in framing and lurking camera movement to maximize this simple and smart approach.

So, that's it. If you can't stand jump scares or scary movies, don't see Lights Out. Honestly, I'm not sure why you're even reading this review if you don't like scary movies. If you do like jump scares and scary movies, watch Lights Out. And maybe buy a couple extra lightbulbs or a nightlight before you do.

Excellent horror movie!

[dlora_santana · 10/10 · 21 July 2016]

I personally think this movie is one of the greatest horror movies ever! Teresa Palmer and Gabriel Bateman's acting is very good, absolutely credible, almost like Rosa Byrne's performance in Insidious, which was flawless. The cinematography was good, dark scenes pretty clear, intense sound effects well achieved.

If you go to the cinema with your childhood fears, you will really enjoy this movie. It's full of scares and if you put attention to them, they are the kind of scares that you really fear when you are a kid.

I don't understand why people cannot leave their critics-attitude at home and simply enjoy this movie or any other movie. If they do it, you'll enjoy it a lot.

You *might* be sleeping with the lights on tonight...

[Coventry · 7/10 · 7 November 2019]

If you want to make it in Hollywood's horror industry nowadays, you have to make a scarily good short movie with one terrific idea and a handful of spooky images, and then simply hope that it'll go viral on the internet. If it works, influential producers will undoubtedly offer you a big sum of money to turn the short into a full-feature film and, with a bit of luck, your career is launched. It worked for Andy Muschietti with "Mama", and now he's helming the massively popular "It" remakes. It even worked for James Wan in 2003 already, with "Saw", and he's now so successful that he can act as influential producer to launch the careers of new arrivals, like he did for David F. Sandberg and his splendid "Lights Out".

I'm honestly happy to state that "Lights Out" is - at least in my own personal and humble opinion - the first mainstream horror movie in a very long time that is truly good and genuinely frightening. As cliched as it might sound, "Lights Out" is the type of fresh new film that restores hope and faith in in the horror genre for old and narrowly cynical fans like myself. The story is simple but highly effective, the lead characters are sympathetic and identifiable for a change, and the special effects (or even the lack thereof) definitely rank the most unnerving ones of the decade. Yes, it's another tale of an eerie ghost terrorizing a poor family, and admittedly several of the jump-scare moments are foreseeable, but the Diana character is authentically nightmarish and for me it was quite exceptional that I hoped for all these likable lead characters to survive instead of to die a quick & painfully.

Basic jump-scare flick, nothing more

[devinkirby · 4/10 · 19 July 2016]

Lights Out doesn't break any new ground, nor does it really attempt to. 81 minutes of PG-13 jump scares and basic horror tropes in the vein of The Grudge. Not bad for a summer fright fest, but don't expect more as you won't find it here. Technically it looked and sounded great, with a notable crazy-mom performance from Maria Bello.

If you've seen the director's original short you've basically seen this movie already, however if you're looking for a quick scare without a lot of substance this should do the trick. For a good storyline with stylish direction look elsewhere, as the missed opportunities pile up rather quickly with this one.

Worth the watch!

[robert-b-norby · 8/10 · 30 July 2016]

This movie will get your pulse up fast, revealing the "horror" very early on. Interestingly enough, it keeps that pulse up throughout the movie despite of this. The concept of something that can only appear and be seen if it's dark (and with a somewhat supernatural ability to destroy light bulbs) is bound to lead to a jump scare or ten whenever it appears. Towards the end you've almost gotten so used to it that the scare effect wears off a bit, and is one of two reason I don't rank this a 10. But thanks to a good story and good actors, the movie still holds its ground to the very end.

The characters are really good, well written and performed, and with a young boy that if not before, totally kick started his future acting career with this movie. Who doesn't love a young prodigy? The plot has some weight and emotion to it, and with a solid ending that wraps things up in a much more satisfying way than most similar movies.

The other small drawback with this movie for me was mostly because of slightly unrealistic behavior from our main characters, occasionally. Like when miss heels from Jurrasic World is worried that when she releases T-Rex it won't be able to follow her if she runs. So, she waits for it to come close, walks for a bit, then runs. Those kinds of unrealistic behaviors. But I've seen much worse, and this movie doesn't take the "unrealistic" very far, or often, so I suggest you just put this on and roll with it!

All in all you get everything you want from a jump scare movie with Lights Out, with a good plot and good actors that deliver, and a scare factor we all can relate to. You might not be so happy with turning of your lights going to bed later that night, so if you have a weak stomach you might wanna sit this one out.

Teasing & Anticipatory but...

[Xstal · 5/10 · 1 August 2020]

... the viewer, having risen to the jump scare challenge, is left unsatisfied with the intensely unoriginal anticlimactic closure - it promises much but leaves you to play on your own.

More funny than scary!

[shivamt25 · 6/10 · 31 July 2016]

I found it funny. I totally agree that some of the scenes were gripping. On on such point, the whole theatre screamed or gasped. Also, the characters in the movie were not at all dumb which is rare. But, there is no denying that this movie is easily forgettable. There was nothing memorable about it. It started off with a pace and managed to maintain that which was impressive but it was not a very fast one to start with.

The climax was funny! Yes, everyone in the theatre was laughing hard. It is not that there were many scenes where they put funny scenes in a horror movie to lighten up the mood, the backdrop was pretty tense, but we were laughing. This is not a good sign for a horror movie because nowadays, people are not scared by ugly scary faces, they are actually scared when the movie has a scary tone throughout. Teresa Palmer and Maria Bello were okay. The ghost, have to say is something I have never seen before. So, I would say that it is entertaining, but do not expect from it that it will scare you much.

Goosebumps - not often raised on me

[mrrcave · 7/10 · 3 August 2019]

A clever, quite scary and we'll acted film. I rate this as in my top 3 scariest films, and I love horror!!!!

Easily enjoyable with many enticing jump scares!

[amyrendell · 7/10 · 12 August 2019]

Expected quite a low budget feel to this movie, and was very pleasantly surprised. Kept us engrossed the whole time, was scary throughout with no boring lulls in the script, and an actual intriguing storyline. I'd definitely recommend a watch, it hits home the fear we all used to have (and still have in my case), of the unknown in the dark.

Lights Out is Great

[bananacupcake-09293 · 7/10 · 12 January 2017]

Lights Out is like all of those childhood nightmares you had in the past, thinking that something is in the dark. This movie is a great horror movie, it has this great creeping factor to it. Every minute watching it I had chills going up my back. It has great jump scares at times; I felt like I was jumping out of my skin. The story of the movie is great too, I won't talk much about the story so I won't have any spoilers.

In the movie there were some down falls to it. Like how at some parts it was to predictable, but I won't tell what parts so I won't spoil it. Also, the acting wasn't the best. I felt like they weren't selling it very much.

Other than that the movie was pretty good. If you ever have a chance to go see the movie I would, it is worth the money.

Very scary and well done

[davispittman · 8/10 · 26 July 2016]

Lights out really is a great modern horror film. It offers great thrills and also offers wonderful acting. Every actor did their job beautifully and the characters they portray are well constructed, they are not just surface level, cardboard cut out characters. The visuals are good, the darkness and the creepy eeriness effect of a lot of scenes work very well. There are some scenes that may even be somewhat hard to watch because of the utter creepiness. Diana and the visuals that make her up are done very well and the horror is real here, it's not cheap or cheesily boring. The opening of the film is also very effective in its attempt to be truly scary. This movie isn't very gory or overly grotesque either, it has a minimal amount of blood/gore, and some violent images, but not a whole whole lot, which it good and a wise decision by the filmmakers, because if a scary movie is too gory or overly disturbing, then it can be distracting from the plot. You want people focused on the plot of the movie and on what's going on, not on the ridiculous amount of gore. Lights out receives an 8/10 on my scale.

thumbs up

[gillt03 · 7/10 · 28 November 2018]

A nicely crafted horror movie. It is super scary and comes up with a good plot. After watching the movie you will be concerned about the characters of the movie. A horror film with a strong story.

Sorry but they milked the concept a bit much.

[Max_bjo · 4/10 · 23 August 2016]

The short is a fantastic example of a clever and well executed idea. It just works, so good, and I was super excited about the feature. So it hurts to say that the feature is far from the clever short.

Why? They milk the concept bone dry in a couple of minutes. You get it all in the intro and everything after the title is just a downward spiral with a bunch of desperate attempts to keep it going. I hoped this could be a great feature version of the weeping angles from Doctor Who. If you haven't seen that you should watch the episode "Blink" right now. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000252/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Some of my favorite horror movies are the original Chainsaw Massacre, Blair witch project and The Evil Dead. What do they have in common? They leave a lot to your own imagination. You get bits and pieces of explanation but they never give too much. They let you fill in most of the blanks. Lights out wants to explain all of it and centers the whole story about that explanation. In that way they miss the thing that made the concept so good. The fear of the dark and the fear of the unknown. When they take that from us we're left with jumpscares and predictable story lines.

Short and sweet

[Brandon_Walker_Robinson · 6/10 · 21 July 2016]

By horror movie's standards, I think that's the best way to sum up my experience with this film.

They really shaved any corners that were needed to beef up the time. Keep in mind that doesn't just make it an extended version of the short; there was an actual story in this, and I think that's what made this movie good. Compared to my favorite PG-13 horror film The Ring, they try to establish a connection between the main characters and the mystery at bay, and for the most part it works very well to mold a relationship that we have with the characters and they have with each other. Though if I were to compare it to The Ring, it doesn't touch it for one big reason, but I won't get into it for spoiler reasons.

It's funny though that most horror movies have their scary parts happen when it's at night or darker... and obviously this movie is the closest to not being an exception that you can get. As you know the one- trick pony that this movie relies on for scare tactics. It is not always jump scares, but they are pretty effective nonetheless. They almost become a bit redundant up until one seemingly very long and drawn out scene where "build-up" is the scare name. This is by far the best scene of the film, as it is about 25 minutes of pure intensity. Before you know it, just when you might feel the movie is only halfway over, it finds a way toward a conclusion, and gets you out of that theater. I think in this case less was more, and it ended at the right time. If they want to do more with it, they can save it for a sequel (though I wouldn't really advocate for one).

I don't normally think we have to qualify actors in horror movies for Oscar awards, but I didn't think the child actor was very good... I don't mean with being scared, I mean when speaking in general. It looked like he was acting, basically. I liked the main actress though (Teresa Palmer). Looks like a pretty version of Kristen Stewart, but seems to limit her range to that stoic kind of low. It seemed to work for this flick. I'll have to see her in more films. At the very least, I cared about them. They all seemed like "smart" characters too, not doing too many stupid things where you have to talk to the screen (outside of the occasional "Why are you going TOWARD the creepy noise??" instances).

This movie is swimming pretty around 80% on RT for a reason: the critics liked it more than they didn't. It was a fun concept, and as I said it took the original short and maintained the brevity for the feature film as well. It's by no means of the scariest movies I have seen, nor will it make me be afraid to turn off my lights at night either. Also, if anything this movie's evil spirit really wanted to spread a message about going green! :p

Anyway, probably more of a rental than shelling out your hard-earned money for, because you're not missing out on anything that you haven't seen from a horror film before, other than doing it right and often during its own run time. Don't expect anything after the credits either.

Last thing to mention: for a PG-13 movie, it was able to get away with a couple of graphic moments. Nothing too unsettling, but I was surprised all the same.

Watched 6 years ago and sometimes I still get the creeps when turning the lights on/off

[katiebugg-49971 · 6/10 · 19 March 2023]

You know a horror movie does something right when one of the scenes scars you and sticks with you for life...even as a full grown adult. The opening scene of this movie does that for me. And when I'm lying in the dark at night, 6 years later, I still see the dark figure standing in the doorway due to this movie! It was a good horror movie in my opinion. Simple, clean, straightforward, creepy, shadow figures. My biggest complaint in regards to this movie would be how short it is. From the time we sat down at the movie theatre to the time we left felt like an hour. My family and I were all confused thinking "what? Is this the end? Already?" Due to how short it is, I wouldn't recommend watching the preview because they put almost all the scary scenes in the trailer.

Often Startling But Never Compelling, Lights Out Is An Orgy Of Horror Clichés

[CinemaClown · 22 October 2016]

Over-reliant on jump scares and thin on character development, Lights Out does make terrific use of all the usual horror clichés to deliver the chills but its lack of both a sturdy plot & interesting set of characters results in a cinematic experience that's often startling but never compelling.

Based on the short film of the same name, the story of Lights Out follows a young woman who attempts to find the root of the evil after her brother is terrorised by similar events that tested her sanity back when she was a kid and eventually uncovers a disturbing truth that concerns their own mother.

Directed by David F. Sandberg in what's his feature film debut, Lights Out is actually his short film stretched to 81 minutes but it is swiftly paced. The concept is commendable and Sandberg does a fine job behind the camera to deliver the scares but it is so dependent on those loud, frightening sound effects that it eventually gets tiring.

The characters are dull & weakly scripted, the dialogues are cringeworthy at times, and the performances aren't that good either, for the actors fail to make their renditions believable. Camera-work is smooth, its 81 minutes runtime is a plus, Sound is overbearing at times and that shadowy figure is effectively handled as many moments involving her are genuinely chilling.

On an overall scale, Lights Out accomplishes what it set out to do with surprising effectiveness but it is highly deficient in other storytelling aspects which ultimately prevents it from attaining a better status. Majority of viewers will be more or less satisfied with what it has in store for them but if you are looking for something more, then it would be wise to steer in a different direction.

very good B-level horror

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 10 August 2016]

Lights Out benefits from being two things primarily: a) it's a streamlined narrative focusing on only a small group of characters (a little boy, his sister, their depressed/crazed mother, and the sister's boyfriend, and at the start of the film the boy's father is there but dispatched pretty quickly), and so the filmmakers have as their task to get us to care about these characters only, and they do that through some tight writing that doesn't waste time and Maria Bello in a strong performance as the mother (Theresa Palmer is also quite good as the sister, showing some surprising range, and Gabriel Bateman as Martin the little boy shows some restraint - refreshing after seeing something like The Darkness earlier this summer).

And b) the scares, while occasionally of the 'Jump' variety, are well parsed out and there's a conceit here that has a whiff of Nightmare on Elm Street in a good way: you see the characters, mostly the boy, being worn down psychologically and physically (i.e. lack of sleep from not being able to close ones eyes when it goes dark since that's where the ghost-demon whatever resides). This comes from a short film of the same name and I'm pretty sure the filmmakers just translated that to a larger canvas. And they take their time with their set pieces despite a short run-time (it's right under 80 minutes, if anything it could've used a couple extra scenes).

Along with the Elm Street comparison (the older generation brings its demonic BS to the younger generation, though at least here the adult has to reckon with this being, I won't get into plot details here but it suffices for a set-up for this "Diana" ghost being), if anything at its strongest this could serve as a B-side to The Babadook. It's never as impactful as that as far as the psychology of the characters goes and it starts to rush into certain things that are revealed that can combat the ghost in the last act, but there is that feeling of it being more personally related, that because it boils down to how terrifying a parent being a menace to their child is you can feel the dread whenever the children step into the house that is constantly in darkness (when they walk in during the day I mean, part of the subtle cinematography that builds to the last act).

So among the crop of mainstream horror this year it's in terms of craft and intention a cut above some of the others (Darkness, The Forest) and has some work put in to the script. Where it lets down a bit is that it sets up something key in the final minutes about how the characters can combat the ghost and then it ends in a... surprisingly dour and melodramatic fashion. Perhaps it makes sense far as a character arc goes (or maybe not, I may need to process it more later on), but it feels as though the filmmakers are just leaving things open for a sequel, and not in a subtle way - it's like, 'well, that happened, and the ghost of Diana is gone... for now... wooo'. So it's not satisfying entirely as an ending, but thankfully what precedes it is chilling and exciting as a modern horror with very minor Dumb Character Moments (in capital letters).

Creepy and satisfying

[CSHaviland · 8/10 · 13 July 2016]

Lights Out takes some queues from Japanese-styled ghost stories, so it will be attractive to that audience. It has a strong chill-factor but a somewhat average formula, and it could have used fewer back-story explanations to make it more mysterious, especially since those elements did not feel original.

Based on chill factor alone, it ranks higher than Dark Water, The Forest, Paranormal Activity, The Others, The Babadook, and The Boy, and lower than The Ring, Ju-On / The Grudge, and other Japanese-styled ghost stories, as well as any horror James Wan himself directs. Comparing it to masterpieces like The Exorcist and Poltergeist has no value.

I would say its chills rank somewhat evenly with The Woman in Black and It Follows, without being as original as the latter.

The ghost itself is creepy enough, but the overall movie didn't have the creative twists that we enjoyed from movies like The Boy, The Others, The Sixth Sense, and 10 Cloverfield Lane. It also didn't have the storytelling chemistry of James Wan's own Insideous or The Conjuring movies.

I am a fairly difficult person to frighten. I have been seeing horror movies at the theater since the 70's, and I am usually only interested in the ones that have a supernatural or fantastical element to them. So I am very critical of them, and the only ones I collect on disc are either fun (Tremors), scary (the Grudge), or both (An American Werewolf in London). I will collect this one.

Ghost stories are done to death. It is very difficult to come out with anything scary that is original. I think Lights Out could have used the guided hand of a third-party master horror writer, mostly revising the back-story revelations and using the character relationships to build suspense and mystery surrounding what is going on. Then, perhaps working up to a punch line at the end so that suddenly the back- story rushes in on the audience in one moment, with one simple revelation. It is very difficult to think of how that can be done, but other movies have done it, and the payoff is huge.

I think Lights Out tried to do that a little but got confusing in the attempt.

But all-in-all it's a nice little scary movie with a smaller production value but a satisfying ghost.

In the shadows

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 18 December 2016]

Some things play out inside your head. Those things can get very scary, especially when they move in the shadows ... wait, move in the shadows? But can they also teleport? You better not start using you head with this because it will confuse you, not to mention that it will spoil the movie for you too.

But that's not all that is wrong here. Characters seem to change their conviction and beliefs during the running time. At one moment it's like "I don't care", at the next it's like "save that person now!". Not to mention that the intentions of the evil individual is somehow foggy at best (no pun intended). Kind of decent, if you like the genre