Lights Out (2016)
SPOILER ALERT. ALL THE SPOILERS, ALL THE TIME.
I liked this film, not least for the lighting contrasts. I think that mysterious writing under black light is possibly a bit cliched at this point, but I still like it in horror movies. It does strange things to shadows, and this is a film where shadows matter.
The story revolves around a young adult living away from her mentally ill mother and her still-dependent younger brother. She must return to her home and the trauma there when the dark thing in the family home begins interfering with her brother's ability to function at school.
I wanted the dark thing to be a metaphor, like The Babadook (2014). I think dark things are meaningful. But the backstory was character-based rather than allegorical. Characters are this film's strong point. The boyfriend was not a tool, and not stupid. The female protagonist was in control, decisive and flawed. I think that all the humans were more or less sympathetic. I *spoiler immediately ahead* have come to a very sour taste in my mouth when a plot relies on mortal self-sacrifice or suicide. I think that according to the theoretical framework of the film (such as it was) the mother could have solved her problem alive.
The framing device was a bit too much of too many things, not entirely deciding if it was science, theology, superstition, psychology, or hysteria. The genre often cheats in similar ways, but I am personally more invested in a film that firmly takes a side and draws on the themes of that side - even to come to a less conclusive ending.
The short film this movie is based on is also thoroughly horrifying, and available here and on YouTube.
I liked this film, not least for the lighting contrasts. I think that mysterious writing under black light is possibly a bit cliched at this point, but I still like it in horror movies. It does strange things to shadows, and this is a film where shadows matter.
The story revolves around a young adult living away from her mentally ill mother and her still-dependent younger brother. She must return to her home and the trauma there when the dark thing in the family home begins interfering with her brother's ability to function at school.
I wanted the dark thing to be a metaphor, like The Babadook (2014). I think dark things are meaningful. But the backstory was character-based rather than allegorical. Characters are this film's strong point. The boyfriend was not a tool, and not stupid. The female protagonist was in control, decisive and flawed. I think that all the humans were more or less sympathetic. I *spoiler immediately ahead* have come to a very sour taste in my mouth when a plot relies on mortal self-sacrifice or suicide. I think that according to the theoretical framework of the film (such as it was) the mother could have solved her problem alive.
The framing device was a bit too much of too many things, not entirely deciding if it was science, theology, superstition, psychology, or hysteria. The genre often cheats in similar ways, but I am personally more invested in a film that firmly takes a side and draws on the themes of that side - even to come to a less conclusive ending.
The short film this movie is based on is also thoroughly horrifying, and available here and on YouTube.
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