FilmSnobReviews

Title: Lights Out
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: David Sandberg
Starring: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello
Runtime: 1 hr 21 mins

What It Is: When Rebecca (Palmer) begins to notice her brother having to deal with the same sort of anxiety that plagued her during childhood she becomes concerned. Wondering what the possible cause for this could be Rebecca decides to try and find out. As she examines this it turns out to be a supernatural entity. This entity named Diana (Alicia Vela-Bailey) seems to have attached itself to Rebecca’s mother Sophie (Bello) and has a death grip on her.

What We Think: Sandberg’s short (which the film is based on) was revelatory. Stretching this concept to fit within the confines of a feature length film may not have been a good idea. There are certain concepts that can go from the short form to the big screen (Whiplash) and others that cannot. From a performance standpoint Teresa Palmer is okay and Maria Bello also brings some good stuff to this. I do think that Sandberg has a future as a horror director. He is, in fact, going to be directing a film in The Conjuring universe in the sequel Annabelle 2 due out next year.

Our Grade: C, There’s an inherent issue with the film that mainly stems from the script which is not all that good. I’d recommend you check this out if you’re a horror fan. Outside of that, there are much better horror films that have come out this year. Perhaps try The VVitch or Don’t Breath if you want an awesome horror scare in the burning embers of Halloweens shadow. Outside of you horror movie freaks Lights Out turns out the lights on itself. Just make sure that you leave those suckers off because this isn’t very interesting.