Everyone knows I love a good horror film, but what only a few people know about me is that at the age of 34, I am still shit scared of the dark - its ridiculous.
Being that I am petrified of the dark it was probably a stupid idea to even think about watching this, especially when my housemate works nights and I knew he would be leaving me that night! I will freely admit that I slept with the lights on for at least 3 days after watching it.
Lights Out originated as a short film by David Sandberg starring his wife Lotta Losten, which went viral in 2013 - the basic premise is that when the lights are turned off a dark figure appears but disappears when the lights come back on and gets closer with each flick of the switch.
James Wan (Uber psycho creator of the Saw franchise and producer of pretty much everything that's made you shit your pants since Insidious) got wind of this short film and liked what he saw, although he quite rightly hesitated as he couldn't really see how this 3 minute snippet could be stretched to a feature - so Sandberg promised him a treatment that would change his mind. It worked and Eric Heisserer (Nightmare on Elm Street 2010) was brought onto the project to write the screenplay.
The resulting product is a hugely scary, well made film, that under the surface is actually a story of a family gripped by their mothers depression and not some run of the mill demonic possession or haunting.
There weren't a huge number of jump scares which shows actual effort was made here, it was more of a tension and threat based scare if you know what I mean - I was exhausted by the time it finished!
The film shows, what an after school special or a lifetime movie usually handles so badly, in a new and fresh way - the figure that appears when the lights go out is a figment of their mothers imagination, who only manifests when she stops taking her medication, therefore her depression is taking a solid form and terrorising her whole family, just as depression sadly does outside of the movies.
Its an imaginative and well thought out premise - the back story is something that I wasn't expecting at all and was original to say the least. I wont say anymore as I don't want to ruin it.
Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies) and Gabriel Bateman (Annabelle) play the brother and sister central to the story and both do a sterling job, especially Gabriel Bateman, he played a character wise beyond his years and convincingly so.
The effects were outstanding - not at any point did I cringe at anything (unlike the crooked man in The Conjuing 2 - so stupid) and the original score served its purpose in bringing home the scare but wasn't remarkable enough for me to remember much of it.
One thing that stood out to me was how the boyfriend character was written; usually they are just eye candy, cowards that run away at the first sign of trouble, leaving our heroine to save the day on her own. Not this one - he was integral to the story and in saving the day, which was a nice change!
Actually two things stand out - the fact that the 'monster' had such a mundane, every day name - Diana. Freaks me right out.
Safe to say that if you scare easily don't watch this, but if you love a horror you wont be disappointed!
Being that I am petrified of the dark it was probably a stupid idea to even think about watching this, especially when my housemate works nights and I knew he would be leaving me that night! I will freely admit that I slept with the lights on for at least 3 days after watching it.
Lights Out originated as a short film by David Sandberg starring his wife Lotta Losten, which went viral in 2013 - the basic premise is that when the lights are turned off a dark figure appears but disappears when the lights come back on and gets closer with each flick of the switch.
James Wan (Uber psycho creator of the Saw franchise and producer of pretty much everything that's made you shit your pants since Insidious) got wind of this short film and liked what he saw, although he quite rightly hesitated as he couldn't really see how this 3 minute snippet could be stretched to a feature - so Sandberg promised him a treatment that would change his mind. It worked and Eric Heisserer (Nightmare on Elm Street 2010) was brought onto the project to write the screenplay.
The resulting product is a hugely scary, well made film, that under the surface is actually a story of a family gripped by their mothers depression and not some run of the mill demonic possession or haunting.
There weren't a huge number of jump scares which shows actual effort was made here, it was more of a tension and threat based scare if you know what I mean - I was exhausted by the time it finished!
The film shows, what an after school special or a lifetime movie usually handles so badly, in a new and fresh way - the figure that appears when the lights go out is a figment of their mothers imagination, who only manifests when she stops taking her medication, therefore her depression is taking a solid form and terrorising her whole family, just as depression sadly does outside of the movies.
Its an imaginative and well thought out premise - the back story is something that I wasn't expecting at all and was original to say the least. I wont say anymore as I don't want to ruin it.
Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies) and Gabriel Bateman (Annabelle) play the brother and sister central to the story and both do a sterling job, especially Gabriel Bateman, he played a character wise beyond his years and convincingly so.
The effects were outstanding - not at any point did I cringe at anything (unlike the crooked man in The Conjuing 2 - so stupid) and the original score served its purpose in bringing home the scare but wasn't remarkable enough for me to remember much of it.
One thing that stood out to me was how the boyfriend character was written; usually they are just eye candy, cowards that run away at the first sign of trouble, leaving our heroine to save the day on her own. Not this one - he was integral to the story and in saving the day, which was a nice change!
Actually two things stand out - the fact that the 'monster' had such a mundane, every day name - Diana. Freaks me right out.
Safe to say that if you scare easily don't watch this, but if you love a horror you wont be disappointed!