Movie Review
Siddharth Martis
4.5 / 5
Lights Out is a film directed by David Sandberg and is written by Eric Heisserer (Hours). It stars Maria Bello (Closer, History of Violence), Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies), Gabriel Bateman, and Alexander DiPersia along with Billy Burk and Andi Osho.
For any film to transcend its inbuilt genre, it must first master it. Lights Out did so with remarkable élan and stands out as a genuinely frightening horror film. This is especially surprising since its premise should’ve worn out around the 3rd or 4th jump scare.
This proved to be far from the case as first time director, David Sandberg uses an array of robust techniques, ranging from seamless Dolly shots to intricate shadow puppetry, to keep the film feeling fresh. His taut direction resulted in a film that never truly provided a cathartic release for the audience, instead opting to raise both anxiety and paranoia.
The sense of dread established by Sandberg is furthered maintained by a script that has more on its mind than delivering chills. Painting a unique picture of mental illness as a way fleshing out its characters much like 2014’s The Babadook, Lights Out is clever and thought-provoking, all the while being a straightforward and lean film populated with nuanced characters as realistic as they are sympathetic. The result is a deeply affecting family drama that is surprisingly honest and immensely tragic.
With that said, the film’s intellectual elevation can at times backfire. It is established that both the character and the antagonist are rather smart, resulting in a pulse-pounding cat and mouse game that subverts its genre clichés. This makes it all the more apparent when characters split up or fall back on standard horror tropes, effectively pulling me out of the film.
Although this may be true, the film’s dedicated cast manage to make even the most questionable turns feel seamless. At its helm lies the vulnerable and marvelously raw Maria Bello who is accompanied by the fantastic Teresa Palmer and Gabriel Bateman who both give their career’s best.
A tale of an unknown terror that lurks in the dark. When Rebecca left home, she thought she left her childhood fears behind. Growing up, she was never really sure of what was and wasn’t real when the lights went out…and now her little brother, Martin, is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that had once tested her sanity and threatened her safety. A frightening entity with a mysterious attachment to their mother, Sophie, has reemerged. But this time, as Rebecca gets closer to unlocking the truth, there is no denying that all their lives are in danger…once the lights go out.Well, the lights are staying on in my house for the next few days. Who needs sleep anyway? And with that, I think I can state that Lights Out is, without a doubt, the scariest film of the year. It is also one of the best of the year as it skillfully transcended the horror genre and transformed into a deeply unsettling family drama that is grounded in reality.
For any film to transcend its inbuilt genre, it must first master it. Lights Out did so with remarkable élan and stands out as a genuinely frightening horror film. This is especially surprising since its premise should’ve worn out around the 3rd or 4th jump scare.
This proved to be far from the case as first time director, David Sandberg uses an array of robust techniques, ranging from seamless Dolly shots to intricate shadow puppetry, to keep the film feeling fresh. His taut direction resulted in a film that never truly provided a cathartic release for the audience, instead opting to raise both anxiety and paranoia.
The sense of dread established by Sandberg is furthered maintained by a script that has more on its mind than delivering chills. Painting a unique picture of mental illness as a way fleshing out its characters much like 2014’s The Babadook, Lights Out is clever and thought-provoking, all the while being a straightforward and lean film populated with nuanced characters as realistic as they are sympathetic. The result is a deeply affecting family drama that is surprisingly honest and immensely tragic.
With that said, the film’s intellectual elevation can at times backfire. It is established that both the character and the antagonist are rather smart, resulting in a pulse-pounding cat and mouse game that subverts its genre clichés. This makes it all the more apparent when characters split up or fall back on standard horror tropes, effectively pulling me out of the film.
Although this may be true, the film’s dedicated cast manage to make even the most questionable turns feel seamless. At its helm lies the vulnerable and marvelously raw Maria Bello who is accompanied by the fantastic Teresa Palmer and Gabriel Bateman who both give their career’s best.