Directed
by David F. Sandberg, Starring: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello.
Horror, US, 2016, 78mins, Cert 15.
“Ghosts
aren’t real”- “Then what is she?”
When
the lights are on, there’s nobody home...
David
F. Sandberg’s 2013 short film competition entry went (deservedly) viral on YouTube.
Within its 2 ½ minute running time it succinctly encapsulated and distilled the
very essence of being afraid of the dark. A supernatural silhouette appears at
the end of a hallway every time the occupant switches off the hallway light.
There’s two punchily effective jump scares and it’s over: job (well) done.
Having
been invited by producer James (all things that go bump in the night) Wan to
direct an expanded feature based on his short, Sandberg delivers a visually
slick piece of lightweight multiplex spookery, but fails to conjure up anything
more than run of the mill chills from a script that combines THE BABADOOK with
DARKNESS FALLS with incrementally diminishing returns.
In
this unsuccessful endeavour Sandberg is hampered by a script which on the one
hand seems obliged to crank out expositional ingredients by the numbers yet never
satisfactorily explains away how the entity, known as ‘Diana’, haunts the
shadowy recesses of creaking cupboards and under lit interiors.
Teresa
Palmer (Rebecca) older sister of Martin (Gabriel Bateman) generate some
sympathy when they’re lured into a trap in the basement with only a UV glow
stick and a torch to defend themselves. Maria Bello as their manically
depressed and under-medicated mother spends most of the running time either
unconscious or oblivious to the harm she’s exposing her (remaining) family to
by entertaining her ‘friend’.
Despite
it’s relatively short running time, you do get a decent ration of scare set-ups
for your buck - rarely do you have to wait more than a couple of minutes for
the next ‘BOO!’ moment – even if they’re only occasionally effective (the use
of a flashing neon sign outside Rebecca’s apartment being a rare moment of
inspiration).
But
ultimately the more contrived instances of lights out in LIGHTS OUT, the less
the scares register, and the fade out to credits is decidedly underwhelming.
Watching the deleted scenes on the disc, there’s an alternate coda sequence
which concludes proceedings far more satisfactorily – and I can only assume it
was dropped in order to implausibly green-light LIGHTS OUT 2 (although where
the filmmakers go from here is something I can’t shine any illumination
on).
**(out
of 5*)
Paul
Worts
