Lights Out

A woman is going to bed. She turns off the light in the hallway but then sees a silhouette of...something in the dark. She turns back on the light but there's nothing there. She turns it off again and it appears again. Again on and off...but now it's closer.

No dialogue in this one. Just VERY effective sound effects and some eerie music. The acting by the one person in the film is effective and it's very well-directed. All kidding aside--I slept with my bedside lamp on all night after watching this and I'm a huge horror fan that has seen hundreds of horror films! Quick, effective and very very scary.

Lights Out is a tiny jewel which more horror fans should know about. It's extremely simple and does nothing surprisingly well, but the fact that it's 3 minutes and so simple but still evokes that feel of horror is impressive to say the least. It deals with the "darkness brings evil" aspect many horror movies touch bases with at one point in the film; so there's nothing special about the idea behind Lights Out, it's the execution and cinematography. The cinematography is above average but also nothing incredible, the camera angles work and some are pretty clever and do a damn good job with the suspense, but is it something I've never seen before? No.

Where Lights Out shines is the mood, atmosphere, and emotion, and just how quickly is establishes it all (in under 2 minutes), and how it goes out with a bang. I'm not a fan of jump scares, I think they're typically very cheap ways to get some cheap short-lasting scares out of your audience and I have quite the aversion to their uncreativity. But the couple jump scares Lights Out uses I'm actually okay with because of how well executed they were. And when I say I'm glad a film had a jump scare in it, you know it must be special.

The feeling of dread, familiarity, sympathy, inevitability, and atmosphere was so well established within these 3 minutes, it makes me wish Lights Out was more well known by fellow horror fans.

His favorite fear to develop is by far that of the dark. Most of Sandberg's work revolve around light, the absence of it, the way fear slithers through your bones when the bulb starts flickering.

When you lose your most important sense, in a already unfriendly territory, how will you react? What will you do? Putting a woman as the lead character (not just because she is his wife) makes for a deeper, more emotional impact.

A contrast between whats real and what's not, with a short fight for the light to stay on and then acceptance.

Cheers!

Lights Out (2013)

*** (out of 4)

Effective horror short from David F. Sandberg would be the bases for his feature length version from 2016. Basically a woman walks into her apartment and when she turns the lights off she sees a figure. When she turns the lights back on it's gone. Each time she turns the lights off the figure reappears. Obviously the suspense comes from the director building up how much closer the figure gets to the woman and for the most part this worked quite well. It clocks in at less than three minutes so the film obviously doesn't run along too long but it certainly makes an impression and especially the ending. Horror fans should enjoy this.

'Lights Out (2013)' is the film that kicked off David F. Sandberg's Hollywood career, as it gained enough acclaim to warrant studio interest in a feature film adaptation. Sandberg's transition from making short horror films on YouTube to making increasingly high-profile features in the USA is inspiring. From what I've seen in interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and his own YouTube videos (which he still uploads semi-regularly despite his fame), he really seems like a genuine, down-to-earth and downright decent guy who deserves the success that he worked hard to achieve (please don't turn out to be a creep, David, I beg of you). This short horror is efficient and effective, making use of simple visual effects and confident pacing to deliver its scares. It has a strong sense of atmosphere and escalates in a somewhat expected yet satisfying way. It really does have a killer concept, too; it's easy to see why this gained the attention it did. Overall, this is a simple yet solid ultra-low-budget experience that makes the most of its concept and is enjoyable throughout. 8/10.