Lights Out Review

4 stars for this brilliantly scary and atmospheric film.

Lights Out is written and directed by David F. Sandberg. It’s his feature film directorial debut, and very impressive it is too.

“I think a little personal time is just what we need. All three of us…”

Rebecca (Teresa Palmer – Warm Bodies, Point Break) has moved away from her childhood home after her father left. She now has her own place and is trying to move on.

She suddenly finds herself drawn back home when child services contact her regarding her younger brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman – Annabelle, American Gothic), who has started to fall asleep at school. Unable to contact their mother Sophie (Maria Bello – Prisoners, A History of Violence), Martin begs her to take him home with her.

After the brutal murder of his father Paul (Billy Burke – Twilight, Zoo) in his factory at the hands of an unknown assailant, Sophie has begun to exhibit worrying signs of mental instability, talking to herself and believing she is not alone in the room.

She is convinced that her friend Diana, from the Mulberry Hill Insane Asylum, is still around and living in her house and Martin and Rebecca will soon find out to their peril that she might not be as delusional as they thought.

Diana has a pathological hatred of light of any kind. So much so that she is only visible and corporeal in total darkness and she’s pretty angry, just be sure to sleep with the lights on!

Lights Out is a very well written horror film, with some great acting performances. It is deliciously frightening and certainly gets you looking over your shoulder and into dark corners, just what you want from modern horror. A great directorial debut, looking forward to more work from David F. Sandberg and in the meantime, this one is well worth adding to your collection.

“Sometimes the strongest thing to do is to face your fears.”

Lights Out is available to buy now on DVD and Blu-ray.