FILM REVIEW: LIGHTS OUT (15)

Are you afraid of the dark? You will be!

David F. Sandberg took the internet by storm in 2013 with his no-budget short film Lights Out, which featured a simple yet affective premise – a woman alone in her apartment sees an eerie figure appear whenever she turns out the lights, with it disappearing again the moment the lights come back on.

This three-minute short was good enough to grab the attention and support of popular horror filmmaker James Wan (the director of Saw and The Conjuring), who serves as a producer – helping to make the feature length adaptation happen.

This horror stars Teresa Palmer as Rebecca, who moves miles away to downtown Los Angeles, assuming that her childhood fears are also far behind her.

As a young girl, she was never entirely sure if the supernatural being she saw when the lights went out was real or not. Now, her 10-year-old stepbrother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) is experiencing the same horror– starting after his father Paul (Billy Burke) mysteriously died.

Holding a mysterious attachment to their mother (Maria Bello), this ‘thing’ has returned with a vengeance to terrorise the entire family when the lights go out.

Before stepping into my screening, I had concerns as to whether the concept that started as a 3 minute short could be stretched out to a full 81 minutes and whether Sanberg would deliver the goods with this being his first feature project.

I needn’t have worried as the filmmaker did an incredible job – using sound, lighting, camera movements, pacing and framing like a pro, creating a surprisingly well made movie.

OK, so Lights Out is not the best horror film of the year, nor is it the most original. But, it delivers the thrills, scares, and jumps quickly and effectively throughout – and for me, that’s the most important thing when it comes to this genre.

Mikey Clarke [youtube id=”PpZYjkmg_9I” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Genre: Horror

Cast: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Maria Bello, Billy Burke, Alicia Vela-Bailey &LottaLosten

Running Time: 81mins

Directed by:David F. Sandberg

See Lights Outand much more at Showcase Cinema, Peterborough. Visit www.showcasecinemas.co.uk for the latest up-to-date show times. You can also join the chat on Twitter @showcasecinemas or on Facebook by searching for ‘Showcase Cinemas’.