Lights Out

Genre: Horror

Director: David F Sandberg Cast: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke

Being screened at QFX Cinemas

Kathmandu

Are you afraid of the dark hours that the never-ending load shedding has given us? Lights Out could give you the chills, at least for a while once you are in the dark. The question, ‘What if there was actually something every time the light is turned off?’ may haunt you for a while. But that is all — the nightmare won’t last long as the film doesn’t leave much of a horrific impression.

Lights Out is scary here and there, but the total package is less effective as a horror flick. The beginning is promising, the ending is unexpected and convincing, but the narrative in between cannot give the real chill.

A monstrous and malevolent woman, who comes out only in the dark, gruesomely kills Paul (Billy Burke) in a warehouse in the film’s beginning. Paul’s stepdaughter Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) lives alone in an apartment, away from her mother Sophie (Mario Bello) and young half-brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman). After their father’s death, Rebecca has to protect Martin from the fearsome figure Diana (Alicia Vela-Bailey), that is connected to her mentally ill mother Sophie.

As the story moves forward, the film delivers scares in different scenes and it does so quite efficiently. But it mostly depends on jump scares and loud noises for that. Most of the time you are kept aware that Diana might be lurking somewhere in the dark.

The film fails to explore its antagonist Diana — there is not much explanation about her only weakness, light, making the film’s story incomplete and vague. Vela-Bailey as the evil Diana, however is athletic and ferocious in whatever space she gets.

Palmer aces in the role of the protagonist Rebecca, who is reluctant yet forced to help her depressed mother and protect younger brother. She is neither the scream queen nor the extraordinary character who just can fight anything — she is just another human being forced to deal with the circumstances that come before her, and Palmer tackles it well.

Bello is convincing as the distracted mother defending her ‘friend’ and she garners sympathy when she is defending her children!

Gabriel Bateman is justified as the concerned son who wants to help his mother.

Alexander DiPersia as Rebecca’s boyfriend Bret is an underdeveloped character — but the actor gives it his best and amuses you especially in one of the escape scenes that is terrifying, and funny at the same time.

In the film, shot mostly in dark hours, cinematographer March Spicer has captured varied degrees of light and shade in diverse places to create that dreadful experience.

David F Sandberg has put together a powerful cast, created some scary scenes here and there, yet the nearly one-and-half hour long film is quite lengthy as it doesn’t scare and impress you much. But darkness rules the film, and you won’t want the power cuts after watching this flick!