Damn, that was slick!
I'm actually quite confused by the low ratings for this movie. What's inherently wrong with it? The biggest complaints I've heard against this was it's repetitive nature and reliance on jumpscares, and I'm going to have to disagree. It may have a little reliance on some horror cliches and the concept of a demonic being only being able to survive in darkness (unable to go into the light), but the way David F. Sandberg executes this concept is what makes this movie stand out. Why is no one talking about the brilliant scene with the cop firing at Diane, and each time the muzzle-flash goes off, Diane disappears for a fraction of a second. That was incredibly creative, and absolute badass film-making. Compared to some other horror films to come out in the past few years, I actually find this one to be more inventive and original than it's counter-parts. You want to talk about cliche? Go look at the incredibly over-praised The Conjuring. That movie has every single horror cliche in the book. You have an exorcism, a house with a demon in it, kids being terrorized, a mother getting possessed, etc. But in Lights Out, while there is a kind of "demon" haunting a family and some standard fare of walking around dark corridors, what transpires in the events are quite awesome. Also, the "demon," Diane, doesn't just lurk in the house, it follows anyone who's attached to the mother. But anyways, in one great scene, the boyfriend, Bret, is running out of the house down to his car at the end of the drive-way, he runs under a dark archway for a second and Diane manages to grab him quickly and lift him up in the air. He then grabs his car keys and unlocks the door, turning the headlights on and vanishing Diane, causing Bret to fall to the ground. Sandberg manages to take a already done idea and make it really fresh and a ton of fun. There is some darker moments in the story, particularly towards the end, and the movie plays out more as a drama, but there's plenty of shit happening to keep it engaging. I'm glad they didn't kill the boyfriend and there was no final scare. That's something I'm getting sick of in newer horror installments. This is easily Sandberg's best movie yet. He managed to take his short film and make it something awesome.
SPOILERS
For those taking this movie incredibly seriously and saying it has a bad message about killing yourself if there's a monster controlling you, let me tell you something:
Fuck off. This is a fucking horror movie. Looking for morals in something like this is legitimately autistic.
Review by David GilleandVIP 7BlockedParent2016-10-03T20:06:01Z
This movie, like many horror films like it, rely heavily on concept rather than writing. It's true, the concept of a spirit that you can only see when you turn off the lights is perfect. We often saw questionable shapes in the night as children, and our mind would then create more disturbing imagery after that. It's only fair that a movie would attempt to do the same thing, but when you rely more heavily on concept, you lose track something important: depth and reason.
Simple scares are easy, but they aren't quite enough anymore. We need a reason to latch onto something in order to understand what we're watching...and to discuss it after viewing as well. To put it lightly - the spirit in this film didn't seem to have a real reason to be as violent as it was. I could probably list off more reasons for it not to be violent. I personally wanted to know why it was so angry at these specific individuals, and I couldn't really find anything. I did understand that it was vengeful for another reason - but without spoiling anything - there is a valid point as to why it shouldn't have ever felt threatened by this family. So I'm a little lost.
All in all, it felt like a movie that drew its strength from the premise and little else. The acting in the film wasn't so bad, in fact the boy's acting was quite impressive for what it's worth...which isn't a whole lot. It's not a terrible movie by any means, in fact I quite enjoyed the premise. I just wish it had a little more backbone and depth when it came to the writing of the characters. That being said, if you are a fan of horror movies - you should check out the movie. You might love it. You might not, but...who am I to judge?