Lights Out (2016)

***Lights Out*** is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed by David F. Sandberg in his directorial debut, produced by Lawrence Grey, James Wan, and Eric Heisserer and written by Heisserer. It stars Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, and Maria Bello. It is based on Sandberg's 2013 short film of the same name and features Lotta Losten, who also starred in the short.

The film had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 8, 2016, and was released in the United States and Canada on July 22, 2016, by Warner Bros.

## Plot

When Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) left home, she thought that her childhood fears were behind her. As a young girl growing up, she was never really sure of what was real when the lights went out at night. Now, her little brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that jeopardized her safety and sanity. Holding a mysterious attachment to their mother (Maria Bello), a supernatural entity has returned with a vengeance to torment the entire family.

## Why It Rocks

1. Teresa Palmer and Gabriel Bateman do well in the lead roles as the unfortunate kids with a crazy mother, played by Maria Bello.
2. 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.
3. It is faithful to the short film of the same name by David F. Sandberg.
4. Naturally, the movie spends a good amount in the dark, using the unsettling and tone to its advantage.
5. 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.
6. The supernatural horror is effective and does elicit a genuine threat to the characters.
7. Maria Bello, in particular, does well to ramp up the threat levels and makes you wonder who is going to make it out alive.
8. The backstory of Diane, the central spirtual antagonist of the film, is emotional yet interesting.
9. Benjamin Wallfisch's music has enough to fit in their film.
10. Good direction of David F. Sandberg.

## Bad Qualities

1. A problem with the movie is that apart from its main concept, it doesn't add much else with clichés like the mandatory dark basement.

## Reception

*Lights Out* received positive reviews, with many praising the direction, screenplay, acting, photography and musical score. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 76% based on 177 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 6.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "*Lights Out* makes skillful use of sturdy genre tropes—and some terrific performances—for an unsettling, fright-filled experience that delivers superior chills without skimping on story.". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

## Trivia

* David F. Sandberg, director of this film and its original short, would later direct *Shazam!*. In fact, Sandberg has stated that *Shazam!* takes place in the same universe as *Lights Out*, meaning it is apart of the DCEU. That said, Andi Osho reprised her role as Emma Glover in that film.