LIGHTS OUT – Review

By Jose Jara

LIGHTS OUT
Review by: Emmanuel Noisette

The Good:

Well this movie wasted no time at all to get the ball rolling with the horror. Rather than build up the creepiness and anticipation of the scary moments, it’s simply thrown right at you from the very beginning. The ghost/monster thing (who I like to call “Dirty Diana”) was pretty terrifying even though all you could primarily see is a dark figure. As usual, I will give this some points because it is pretty original in the sense that this is a fresh, new angle to approach horror characters. The concept of playing on the fears of darkness while being crippled to the safety of light is one we all can relate to from our youngest childhood fears.

My favorite character has to be “Bret” played by Alexander DiPersia. I can’t go into detail about what he does or doesn’t do, but I will say that got a round of applause during my screening of the film. His character possessed a much needed element that a lot of horror movies tend to lack.

The Bad:

Almost all of the characters, except for Bret, are pretty annoying. Their naivete and incompetence invoke instant eye rolls. I mean they go beyond just the “Oh what’s that? Let me go investigate” level of stupidity. Many of the of the main characters KNOW what they’re dealing with (or just that it exists) and still act clueless about handling the situation. When characters get that dumb, it completely distracts the audience from taking this film seriously. Matter of fact, the idiotic actions of the characters make this movie more comical than scary.

Speaking of which, for a horror, this was a pretty lackluster. Yes, there were plenty of jump-scares. However, the setup for them felt so rushed and, even worse, predictable. Despite having James Wan (Insidious, The Conjuring) as a producer, very little use of his style of setup and delivery were utilized. The film could’ve easily borrowed aspects of the first Insidious film which created an atmosphere in which you had no idea when something scary was going to happen, or if it was sitting right in front of your face the entire time.

The Reason:

This movie is what it is. It’s a basic horror film, that was inspired by a really good, award winning horror short movie. (Watch the original short here.) This was a pretty forgettable film that sadly won’t have you taping your light switches on at night. If you did decide to see this, this would probably be a good date movie or something to see with a group of friends. You’ll probably get a bigger kick out of laughing at the movie rather than going to get some real terrors. Feel free to see this as a matinee or wait to watch at home. Maybe if you watch it at home with the lights off it may make the movie just a little bit scarier.

The Rating: 6/10

My [Loosely based] Ratings scale
10-9 = A Must watch at any cost.
8.5- 7.5 = Theater worthy
7-6.5 = Matinee/rental worthy at best
6 = Watchable (If it’s free)
5 – below = Avoid at all costs