by: Andres Eloy Sereno Hernandez
edited by: Anthony Zangrillo
Swedish filmmaker, David F. Sandberg, brings his first feature-length film based on a short he did in 2013 that went completely viral. The film has the sign of approval of James Wan, the horror master behind The Conjuring, Saw and Insidious and now, Lights Out producer.
Lights out tells the story of a grieving mother (Maria Bello) with a history of mental health issues that can’t properly deal with her little 10-year-old son (Gabriel Bateman) and her daughter (Teresa Palmer). The center of the movie is the manifestation of Diane, an entity that can only be seen while, you guessed it, the lights are out, and seeks to destroy anything or anyone that interferes with her connection with Sophie, the mother. This connection was developed apparently while they met in a mental health institution that ultimately killed Diane, making her some sort of Sophie’s mental and spiritual attachment.
At the opening scene we see the fantastic sequence of appearance and disappearance of Diane while the lights are turned on and off. This is what made the original short a big internet success. This effect, although well achieved and scary, feels a little bit overused throughout the film, becoming more and more predictable and less surprising.
The performances overall are good. The mother-daughter relationship gone wrong is well represented and Gabriel Bateman does a good enough job with what’s given. The problem with the plot is that the demonic, out-of-this-world and frightening figure is not treated as such. It seems that the characters are more focused on the mother’s mental problems, making Diane and secondary character. That could be good for a soapy family drama but in this genre, when you are dealing with such devilish figure, it is expected to be as scared as possible and focus the movie on that. The scenes with the presence of Diane are great and convincing but then it seems like nothing happened.
Technically the flow of the movie is marvelous, great camera moves, great choreographed sound and music, this makes the film pleasing to watch and enjoy. The main issue relies on the plot. Again, it feels like an overextended version of Sandberg’s previous short which by itself is a masterpiece and completely recommended, but in the feature-length the connection with the characters and the context of the situation is lost.
Lights Out, the short, is amazing. The feature-length in the other hand is a horror film that is technically great but the story needed to be more focused. Definitely Sandberg is a director that we need to watch and probably is going to bring better motion pictures that will scare us all.
Score: 6/10
