None of them may have been film of the year contenders. But they have all been really interesting to watch, and after seeing the trailer for this latest one, Lights Out is no exception.
I was intrigued by the concept. Not just because being afraid of the dark was a big fear of mine as a kid. But the creature instantly reminded me of a combination of two of my favourite Doctor Who villains, the Weeping Angels and the Vashta Narada. The film originated as a short, and now director David Sandberg has been given the chance to bring his idea to the big screen.
I found it to be what I expect many horror films to be, which is why I avoid them. However, there were some bits that I was surprised to see and ended up having a pretty nice viewing experience. While it does have many scary moments. It has some nice drama to it as we get to know more about are main characters and how dysfunctional they are or have been.
Gabriel Bateman gave the strongest performance. I hope the child actor keeps this going as I am sure many of you know of child actors never seem to make it as an adult. Teresa Palmer was ok as the lead. But I felt her performance felt like anyone could of have done that and I would not have noticed that she had been replaced. Maria Bello had her moments in her supporting role. I was not expecting to see someone like Andi Osho in this. After first seeing her as a stand-up comedian on Mock The Week, it is great to see her have a go at acting and be involved with this particular project. Alexander DiPersia was quite a surprise. Usually his character in a horror film would be useless or in the way. But he managed to be believable, resourceful and one of the more realistic minor characters in a horror film.
While it is nothing worth shouting about, it did not feel generic at all. My biggest positive was the resourcefulness of the characters. You could see that they all had an important job to do rather than just be a throwaway characters that is instantly forgettable or are there for a nice murder scene. That can be mainly thanks to the writing as well as the performances. I hope the writers Eric Heisserer and David Sandberg are given more opportunities with bigger studios that are willing to make the most of their abilities.
Other positives to mention was its cinematography. It was well shot and I noticed there were some nice scene transitions that I would have liked to have seen more of. Its scariness is effective. Its laws within the film are interesting, are put to a fair amount of use and seem to constantly try new things rather than just be a simple gimmick. Another thing that I liked about was the duration. It is nice to see its length be what many movies should really be. It gets straight to its message and gets out while it can.
Without spoiling it, I liked the ending. It felt ballsy and it made the story go full-circle.
While most of the negative relate to the entire film not being strong enough to be one of the more memorable films this year, I was disappointed to see the creature in this film look very generic.
Despite that, I thought it was pretty solid for a horror film that was aiming for a summer release. It has a great mix of both jump-scares and solid story development. But I don't think it will end up being that memorable or scary enough to make you need not sleep for the next few days.
Rating: 7/10
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