Sandberg’s direction is tight and consistent, and he squeezes a lot of juice from the film’s what-stirs-in-the-darkness conceit, specially with strobe-like effects.
By the time the movie’s final act comes around, our empathizing energies have unfortunately been diffused by this constant shuffling around of vantage points. Then we’re given a backstory about Sophie and Diana, and asked to empathize with Sophie’s plight. Then the focus shifts over to Martin and his Elm-Street-stay-awake predicament. After the prologue our attention is drawn to Rebecca we are introduced to her apartment, her boyfriend, their perspectives. Scream (1996)), but here it signals the beginning of a troublesome pattern of switching perspectives. Well, okay, the premise-by-prologue technique can work well in horror movies (e.g. We begin with Paul and one of his employees as our point-of-view characters. The other main problem is the muddled emotional focus. When we do learn more about Diana’s nature, the revelations are mundane rather than provocatively mystifying. Whereas It Follows revealed the “rules of the game,” in other words, the constraints and parameters of the evil force’s operation, artfully, by showing us how the characters’ knowledge gradually expanded with experience, Lights Out prefers to repeatedly scare the viewer with variations of the same montage that do little to deepen our understanding, and then throws flashback explanations at us to make up for it. Unfortunately, that’s where the comparison between these films ends. The idea of a force that only acts in darkness is both economical and scary on a primal level, sort of like the unrelenting pursuit at the heart of the magisterial It Follows (2014). What works best about Lights Out is its premise-potently introduced in the sequence at the mannequin storehouse-and the film’s overall production value. Rebecca and her boyfriend join forces to try and get Sophie back on her medication, and to face off Diana together, before it’s too late for everyone involved. The stalking entity, whom we learn Sophie calls “Diana,” goes after Martin even when Rebecca, his stepsister, intervenes to protect him. Young Martin appears to be haunted by the same tenebrous force that killed Paul, and tries to stay awake all night to keep safe. Meanwhile Paul’s wife, Sophie, who has a history of mental illness, has started acting strangely. Paul, a mannequin storehouse owner, is attacked by a creature that appears to exist only in darkness, moments after speaking with his son, Martin. Sandberg’s first feature, Lights Out (2016).
So darkness and the notion of unfamiliar places are foremost on my mind as I gather my thoughts regarding director David F. First it was “lights out” in my left eye, and then it was “lights out” under anesthesia in the operating room. A feral, scratching thing with glowing eyes, made more sinister by actress Alicia Vela-Bailey’s spider-like physicality, Light’s Out’s “practical” creature is its biggest - and most terrifying - strength.The title of this horror film couldn’t be more apt, as a week ago I suffered a giant retinal tear that caused sudden vision loss in my left eye and required a two-hour emergency surgery to be treated. Bello does an excellent job at dancing between maternal and disassociated, and the barely-heard conversations between her and unseen demon “Diana” tap into early fears of our parents losing control.As Rebecca begins to unravel the truth behind Sophie and her “friend’s” relationship, she too comes face to face with Diana. There’s a great deal of tension born from the strained relationship between mother and son. With her sweet, yearning boyfriend Bret (Alexander DiPersia) in tow, she must cope with the burgeoning fears of 10-year-old step-brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman), who claims that Sophie’s inner demon is, in fact, real. since becoming estranged with her mentally-ill mother Sophie (Maria Bello). Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) lives above a tattoo parlour in downtown L.A. It’s a powerful hook, explored to disquieting effect as Lights Out introduces us to the fractured family the demon seems attached to.
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