Lights Out
Director: David F. Sandberg
Stars: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello
Duration: 81 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Lights Out will strike a nerve for anyone who’s ever been afraid of the dark. That would make most of us, I suspect, for at some point we must all have had our night-time jitters, lying in bed wondering fearfully what lay underneath it or behind the curtains. And kudos to its makers for tapping so well into that primal fear and creating an excellent little chiller, that even horror-phobes like me can experience with much enjoyment.

Teresa Palmer stars as Rebecca, a young woman living away from her estranged mother Sophie (Maria Bello), following a troubled childhood.

When Rebecca’s young step-brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) claims he has seen the same shadowy and sinister woman that Rebecca herself often thought she imagined as a child, she decides to investigate. She discovers a terrible secret from Sophie’s past, involving a mysterious woman called Diana, who clearly has some hold on her.

Lights Out is lean and mean, running at an economical 80 minutes and packing solid storytelling and well-drawn characters into that time with effortless ease – not to mention quite a few effective, jump-out-of-your-seat moments.

It is based on the 2013 short horror film of the same name, directed and written by Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg, who, on the back of the short’s success was given the reins to direct this full-length Hollywood remake, with a screenplay by Eric Heisserer.

The narrative respectfully delves into the issues of mental illness and the often times barbaric treatments that used to be applied

The tone is set from the get-go as a woman in a textile warehouse is closing for the day. She switches the lights off at one point, and notices the shadow of a woman in the doorway… which disappears once she switches the lights back on. Never has the simple act of switching a light on and off held so much foreboding.

Her boss investigates. One brutal killing later and the tension is effectively ratcheted up and held once the story begins to unfold and we are introduced to the film’s three main protagonists – the wayward Rebecca, living above a tattoo parlour and giving her boyfriend a hard time; the young, troubled and sympathetic Martin; and their clearly disturbed mother whose link to Diana is seemingly unbreakable.

Heisserer’s script gives the story, characters  and scares equal importance. That the narrative respectfully delves into the issues of mental illness and the oftentimes barbaric treatments that used to be applied give it some heft. Rebecca’s painstaking investigation into the history of this woman and her mother draws the audience in.

Add to that the sympathetic performances – Palmer, Bateman and Bello are thoroughly convincing as the members of this fractured family having to come together to fight off a particularly pernicious being. Bello gives a career-best performance as a woman slowly fraying at the edges while trying to protect her family.

Sandberg, whose experience until now was making short films on no budget, keeps you on edge and mines the most nerve-jangling moments from the character of Diana, she who casts such a malevolent shadow in the dark and who signals her presence with ominous scratching sounds.

He also works exceptionally well with his cinematographer Marc Spicer, who contributes no end to the atmosphere and plays well with the premise that we see Diana only in the dark, leading the characters to use all sorts of lights – candles, torches and ultraviolet light – to keep her at bay, while maintaining the atmosphere.

It must be said that that last one adds a touch of much needed lightness at some point, given its resemblance to a Jedi lightsaber.

Add to all that a build-up to a climax that is as dramatic and tragic as it is unexpected for a horror film that is complex, fresh, exciting… and completely switched on.

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