User blog:AustinDR/Lights Out (Review)

Lights Out is a 2016 horror film that was based on the 2013 short film of the same name. The film in question revolves around Rebecca, a young woman who had had a falling out with her mother. What's eerie about her mother is that there seems to be some dark force plaguing her. It manifests as a monster that is only visible in the absence of light. Upon further investigation, Becca discovers that the monster in question used to be a young girl, named Diana, and that she attended the same mental institution that her mother was attending for her depression. However, Diana is killed when an experiment goes awry, thus causing her to become a vengeful ghost.

What you may not know is I love horror films; horror films provide you with a boost of adrenaline that keeps you on the edge of your seat. As such, I wanted to see this film (coincidentally, I ended up watching this film as well as The Legend of Tarzan, which was good in its own right). So, I did end up seeing it, and I greatly enjoyed it. I felt that the film was trying to do what The Babadook (another horror film I loved) did with its monster. It's not too unreasonable to believe that Diana could be seen as a metaphor for Sophie's (the mother) depression, as Diana began to manifest once Sophie stopped taking her medication. Diana became physically stronger as long as Sophie wasn't taking what was meant to help her. In fact, that's a major plot point of the film - Sophie was Diana's link to the physical world, and if anything were to happen to her, the link would be severed. It's not to say that Diana doesn't exist, but it's an interesting way to look at the movie.

Most of the characters were well-written, namely Sophie and Becca. With Sophie, while you get the feeling that something's off with her, you can also tell that she's a loving mother who's suffering from Diana's influence. Rebecca was a little irritable at first, coming off as cold because of her falling out with Sophie, but as the film went on, she slowly developed as a character. Eventually, it's understandable as to why she's so distant; she believed that her father abandoned her and her mother years ago (actually Diana killed him) and she was being stalked by Diana much like her younger brother was.

One character that surprised me was Bret, Becca's boyfriend. Unlike typical boyfriends in horror films, not only was he not quick to be skeptical, but he came off as very resourceful. He got nearly killed by Diana several times, but he manages to think quickly on his feet. This resourcefulness has apparently led to praise for the character by several audience members. Lastly, Martin was pretty good. He wasn't as annoying like you'd expect for being a child, and you genuinely feel for him whenever he's scared.

As for Diana herself, she came off as a legitimately terrifying force to be reckoned with. By the time that the film's over, you'd want to leave the theaters as fast as you could, fearing that Diana might try to grab you in the pitch darkness. However, the downside to her is that we really don't know too much about her life prior to becoming a ghost. The only thing that we know about her is that she suffered from a skin condition that caused her to burn in the daylight, and that she manipulated Sophie into becoming friends with her, but that's it. An interesting fact that isn't fully explained is her ability to tap into people's minds. We never receive an explanation on whether she was born with that power or if she had somehow acquired it, which is a downer. We might learn more about her in the sequel, but that's an assumption for now.

As typical with most horror films, there are jump scares in this film, but I felt that they were restrained in favor for building up suspense. As for the ending, it was actually rather controversial when it first came out. For those who had already seen the film, Sophie sacrifices herself via shooting herself with a gun, in order to get rid of Diana. Many people took the ending to mean that if you were inflicted with a mental illness, you should kill yourself, as you were a burden to your family. David F. Sandberg, the director of the film, was horrified by the negative connotation, and opted to make a sequel to fix the ending. Incidentally, the original draft of the film had Sophie's suicide be pointless, and the characters had to figure out another way to dispel the vengeful wraith.

Overall, the film was pretty great, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves horror films. For anyone who had seen the film, I'd recommend watching The Babadook or Mama, for a similar premise.

Final score:

4 out of 5 stars