Lights Out | Supernatural horror thriller taps into a primal fear - and gets us jumping
By Jason Best published

You were right to be afraid of the dark.
Successfully tapping into the most primal of fears, supernatural horror thriller Lights Out has a very simple but amply effective premise. A malevolent ghost that is only visible – and dangerous - in the dark.
Which means Teresa Palmer’s spunky heroine, Rebecca, needs some reliable light sources to hand if she is to keep her young half-brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) out of harm’s way. So brace yourself for some frantic sequences in which a wind-up torch, candles, a mobile phone and even a tattoo parlour’s neon sign get pressed into service.
Once or twice, the film’s pace slackens for a batch of clumsy exposition, filling us in on the scarily clingy ghost’s back-story as the former childhood friend of Rebecca’s mentally unstable mother, Sophie (Maria Bello). But for the most part, Swedish director David F Sandberg, adapting and expanding his 2013 short film, keeps us jumping as the lights go on and off. And unlike the ghost, at a brisk 80 minutes, his movie doesn’t outstay its welcome.
Certificate 15. Runtime 79 mins. Director David F Sandberg
Lights Out debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Saturday 3 June and is available on Blu-ray & DVD from Warner Home Video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LiKKFZyhRU
A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.
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