Susan Granger’s review of “Lights Out” (Warner Bros./New Line Cinema)
The most important question about a horror film is: does it scare you?
That’s what propels this terror tale about a demonic ghoul that lurks in the dark, triggering a common phobia about things that go bump in the night.
In downtown Los Angeles, rebellious twentysomething Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) dwells in a dingy apartment above a tattoo parlor with a red neon light blinking all night.
She has commitment issues with her boyfriend, Bret (Alexander DiPersia), but she’s devoted to her 10 year-old stepbrother, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), who, traumatized after the violent death of his father (Billy Burke), has been left to contend with their edgy, tormented mother, Sophie (Maria Bello).
It seems Mom has a very jealous, ghostly companion, Diana (stunt specialist Alicia Vela-Bailey), a deceased frenemy from her teenage stay in a mental institution.
When she was alive, Diana suffered from a rare skin condition that made her hyper-sensitive to light; as a result, this hideous, malevolent spirit with long, sharp fingernails only appears in the dark.
Working from Eric Heisserer’s expanded screenplay and confined to a budget of just $5 million, Swedish director David F. Sandberg never explains too much, while cinematographer Marc Spicer’s dim, blue-black lighting heightens the inherent tension.
There are eerie, flickering lamps, remote-controlled car headlights, unexpectedly loud noises and jump-scares galore but, in the hands of credibly competent actors, sometimes the simplest concepts resonate the strongest, like in “The Babadook.”
Previous to this feature film, Sandberg made two-and-a-half-minute YouTube video, utilizing the same netherworld gimmick. When the video went viral in 2013, it attracted the attention of producer James Wan (“Saw,” “Insidious,” “The Conjuring”), who has now assigned Sandberg to direct “Annabelle 2.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Lights Out” is a shady, sinister 6, a spooky, supernatural story.
