A look back : Lights Out

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                                Film Review: Lights Out | Consequence of Sound

        Before we get started I'm going to address a few things. First, obviously, I do not own this picture, it belongs to Warner Brothers. Second of all, this is my first review in a couple years, so we are going to have shake off the cob webs.

   The film premiered in July of 2016 made a total of 148 million. This was considered a big hit because it had a budget of 4.9 million. Another point of interest is that "Lights Out" was the directorial debut of David F. Sandberg. The man has gone on to have a pretty successful career. He went on to direct things like "Annabelle: Creation" and "Shazam". So the question is, how was his first time out?

  The story centers around Rebecca (Theresa Palmer) and her family figuring out what has attached it self to the family.   First, it seems to be in the head of the mom (Maria Bello) , but things do start to unravel fairly quickly,

  I had not seen this film in four years. I saw it the weekend it premiered in theaters. I remember actually really liking this. Now looking back, I know that my taste in film was going through a big change. As of this morning, I had not seen this in more than four years.

   One thing that really works in this film is its lighting. With a title like "Lights Out" one would expect that to stand out. There is a scene towards the end with a black light is something truly exceptional. Billy Burke's scene in the beginning is one that stands out as well.

  The performance that highlighted the movie for me comes from Maria Bello. Her character has been rocked by pain and suffering her entire life. Multiple deaths have thrown her into a depressive state, and she plays it perfectly.

  What I noticed had changed in my opinion was how the scares were handled. When it comes to the story I like that it is a metaphor for depression. I love love how the story has Rebecca and her brother trying to deal with their mothers depression. Where I think this film goes wrong is its scares. This movie relies heavily on the jump scares. Anytime a scary moment is coming the music gives it away. PG13 heavily relies on jump scares in general, this one follows this trend.

  In the end, I do think the story does enough to get me through the jump scares.

GRADE: B 

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