Dans le noir

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.