VOD Review: Lights Out (2016)

"Not as good as the short, but an admirable full-length effort."

*SUBMITTED BY: MastorParty, because he liked it, and wanted to know if we did too. 

Back in 2013, a Swedish dude named David F. Sandberg came up with a simple, yet crazy effective idea for a short Horror film: A woman's house is haunted by a shadowy figure that moves closer and closer to her every time she turns off the lights.

Sounds like a simple idea, and it is, but man did that short send a chill down our spines when we first saw it.

You can check out the short HERE.

Three years later, James Wan decided that the short was so good that it needed to be a full-length movie, and so he made it happen. He even let Sandberg direct it. We think that's kinda cool.

We think the final product is kinda cool too. 

After spending her childhood dealing with a mentally ill mother, and a father who just up and left her when she needed him most, it's safe to say that Rebecca has intimacy issues. And trust issues. And Daddy issues. She refuses to have anything to do with her nutcase mother; she pushes the "guy she's seeing" who she refuses to call her boyfriend away every time he gets too close; and she doesn't even make time to see her little brother, whom she loves dearly.

SHE'S HOT THOUGH, SO ALL OF THAT CAN BE FORGIVEN.

After her Stepfather is murdered by a creepy ghost, Rebecca is forced to go back home to take care of her little brother, because her mom is a nutcase who talks to a shadowy figure named Diana in her closet, and just isn't up to the task. Diana has been haunting the family since Rebecca was a little girl, and though she's been gone for years, she's come back for some reason. She only shows up in the dark though; if the lights are on, she can't appear, because lights hurt ghosts or something.

DIRTY DIANA.

As Rebecca begins to uncover the mystery of Diana, and why her family is plagued by such a mean-spirited spirit, things get pretty dire for everyone around her... but not too dire, because this is a PG-13 affair.

Bloodless jump-scares and low-light set pieces ensue.

HOW MUCH LIGHT DO YOU NEED TO FIGHT ONE GHOST?

Not only was Lights Out not as bad as some critics made it out to be when it hit theaters back in July, but it's actually quite good. Really good, even.

I truly expected this one to be another dull, flat, predictable PG-13 Horror flick that Hollywood is so fond of churning out on the reg, but was surprised to find that it was smart, creepy as hell, and that it actually had something serious to say about mental health. Now, it wasn't perfect. It really could have run a bit longer to flesh the characters out a bit, but then again its pace was maybe its greatest virtue; things happen quick in this movie, and there's not much of its runtime that is dedicated to slow, boring exposition.

Oh yeah, and it was pretty creepy too. Intense at times, even. 

I was wondering how they were going to take an effective short film and stretch it into a 90-minute movie, but they came up with a really great backstory to go along with the already great hook, and it melded together better than we had hoped. Diana was a terrifying monster, and the fact that she was borne of, or allowed to carry on because of, Sophie's mental illness was an interesting way to give her character some weight.

This movie was Teresa Palmer's show. It took me a minute to warm up to her character, but once I did, I found myself really liking her. The girl makes a good Scream Queen.

WHY IS HE STARING AT HER NECK?

Everybody in the movie trying to keep the lights on at all times got a little gimmicky. Flashlights, candles, cellphones; there was even a scene where they luckily found a large blacklight in a trunk in the basement that somehow "still had some juice."

I get that the movie doesn't exist without the whole "lights on, lights off" thing, but it felt like a cheap ploy at times.

SHE LOOKS GOOD IN RED.

As with most PG-13 Horror flicks that come out of Hollywood, Lights Out is a bit too safe and familiar. That's by design, of course, but man, push the damn envelope a little bit!

YES, TERESA, THAT MEANS GORE AND NUDITY!

It's about as gory as you'd expect a PG-13 movie to be: not very.

THERE WAS A LITTLE BIT OF BLOOD THOUGH...

Again, this movie is PG-13, so no such luck.

THIS IS AS RACY AS THINGS GET IN LIGHTS OUT.

We're giving Lights Out a B because it deserves it. It was not only better than we thought it would be, but aside from being a bit tame, and "feeling" like a PG-13 Horror flick, it was pretty damned effective in its mechanics.

Rent this spooky treat this Halloween Season, and watch it with the lights out. Heh.

B

Lights Out is available now on VOD, with a Blu-ray & DVD release to follow on October 25th.

Teresa Palmer is one saucy Aussie, mate. G'day.