by Frank Calvillo
How many children have begged their parents to keep the lights on at night so that they can fall asleep with the safe knowledge that they aren’t totally shrouded in darkness? Countless numbers, no doubt. For some, the longtime fear extends beyond childhood, with even adults being prone to the uneasiness that still exists when the lights go out. However, as the new horror film Lights Out shows, it’s not the menace of whatever may be hiding that has changed, but rather the power of the darkness itself.
Directed by David F. Sandberg (based on his short film), Lights Out opens on businessman Paul (Billy Burke) who is working late, but is desperate to get home to his family. As he is closing up shop, he notices a mysterious figure standing in the darkness which seems to be stalking him. Once he discovers that whatever the creature may be disappears when light is around, he tries to make a break for it. However he is unable to escape and the creature hunts him down, killing him. Years later, Paul’s stepdaughter Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) is summoned to the side of her younger half-brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) when he reveals that their mother Sophie (Maria Bello) has been acting strange as a result of not taking her medication. When Rebecca goes back to investigate, she discovers her mother’s long-time friend Diana, who only comes out when the lights go off.
On the horror front, Lights Out is a more than effective genre entry. There are enough jumps and scares that will please the majority of the genre’s audiences, with music, lighting (and in this case, darkness) and effects, all working together harmoniously. It’s a pleasure to report that the film doesn’t rely too heavily on CGI, preferring instead to rely on practical effects in an effort to create the majority of the film’s various scares. Additionally, there are a number of good-natured laughs encouraged at seeing the different ways the characters struggle to keep themselves in some sort of light, from the glow of a cell phone, to a pair of headlights. Producer James Wan (of Saw and Insidious fame) has had his finger on the horror pulse for over a decade now, and Lights Out should certainly be another victory for him.
As any movie lover will tell you, most horror films are really about something else. Their ideologies can either be front and center or so subtle, that they don’t hit you until long after the film is over. It’s certainly the former in the case of Lights Out, which proves itself to be a surprisingly sensitive tale about depression. While Diana is a monster, (and an impressively horrific one at that), it’s clear that not only does she create depression, she personifies it. Sophie’s clinging to Diana as a “friend” is equal to that of many people finding a sort of toxic comfort in the dark nature of their tortuous misery. Diana’s killing of Paul, as well as the driving away of Sophie’s first husband, not to mention the estrangement of Rebecca, shows not only the power of the monstrous creature, but of depression itself and its ability to destroy relationships, love and lives. It’s no surprise that Diana can only come out when there is no light. In the pitch black is where she is safe because that is where dark thoughts and feelings live and thrive. Lights Out shows that the ultimate reason to fear the darkness is due to the way it feeds off of the individuals (and their loved ones, who run the risk of getting pulled in as well) who have managed to get lost in its life-altering clutches.
The entire cast of Lights Off deserves praise for treating the film as both a horror tale and a story about the effects of depression. Bateman proves the perfect child actor for this kind of film, never once coming off as annoying, but instead frightened as well as a bit wise. Palmer shines as she makes Rebecca damaged, yet strong and human, turning her a great horror movie heroine. Burke does well with his limited screen time by showing all the struggles Paul is currently coping with, while Alexander DiPersia as Bret, Rebecca’s love interest, elevates the stock character into one of the film’s most endearing individuals. Finally, Bello delves into her best screen role in years, playing Sophie as if she wasn’t in a horror film, but as a genuinely sick, trapped woman struggling to break free.
Major Spoiler Alert (Open to Read)
I was right there with Lights Out for the majority of the ride. The fact that it managed to deliver on the chills and jumps while also offering up a comment on a real problem which wasn’t half-baked, had more than ensured its status as a horror classic in my books. However all of that was thrown into question when the film’s ending was revealed in which a desperate Sophie, determined to be free of Diana once and for all, shoots herself in front of her and Rebecca. Needless to say, I became somewhat disturbed by this move. Do the filmmakers feel that the sole way out of depression is to off yourself? Is that the only way to climb out of the darkness forever and ensure your grief isn’t passed onto loved ones? At one point Sophie is seen reaching for her pills before Diana flings them out of her hand. Is the film saying that pills, and other efforts to get better don’t work, and that suicide is the only way out? Does everyone associated with Lights Out feel this way, or was this just seen as a dynamic way to end the movie? For a film with such a deeply-felt and somewhat intelligent comment on depression, I sincerely hope not.
Lights Out opens today in the US.
