‘Lights Out’ Tries too Hard to be Scary

Lights Out wants to scare audiences yet honestly only some people will be afraid of the dark after watching this movie

(c) Warner Bros Pictures

Horror movies have lost their way in the last number of years. Only some horror films end up being scary like Insidious 3. Films like The Gallows, The Conjuring 2 and Poltergeist ( the recent remake, not the original) wanted to be scary but for some reason they just weren’t. Lights Out is a new horror movie that wants nothing more than to make people afraid of the dark again. I was able to see this supernatural horror earlier this week and here is what I thought of it.

(c) Warner Bros Pictures

You can read the plot for Lights Out here:

When Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) left home, she thought that her childhood fears were behind her. As a young girl growing up, she was never really sure of what was real when the lights went out at night. Now, her little brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that jeopardized her safety and sanity. Holding a mysterious attachment to their mother (Maria Bello), the supernatural entity has returned with a vengeance to torment the entire family.

(c) Warner Bros Pictures

I didn’t hate Lights Out, but it just wasn’t scary to me. The film has a clever concept and an evil entity that is more than it seems. The special effects are good but not so overdone to make this film disappear from the realm of reality. There is a good back story for this entity that I won’t spoil for you here but it is one of the better parts of the whole film. I think what hurts Lights Out the most is that the final scenes come off as rushed. Doing this came off an ill attempt to bring the story to an end that is not bad but it could have been much better. The ending seemed unnecessary to me, like there had to be a better way to end Lights Out than the way they did. Overall it is not the worst horror film I have seen but it is certainly not the best either. Some people will be scared watching this movie but others may find it familiar and kind of ridiculous at times. If you want to learn more about Lights Out check out this website.

(c) Warner Bros Pictures

Lights Out gets 5/10. This is an original horror film that really wants to be wonderful but sadly this just doesn’t happen. Somewhere in the making of this movie they forgot some things that surely everyone watching would have found to be scary. Maybe if they had added others elements to this evil spirit this could have made it a better movie. Lights Out will not be a film for kids because it could give them nightmares, especially if they are not used to seeing movies like this.

Some people who scare easy are sure to scream a ton watching to this film. Viewers who want to see a different kind of horror film need to see this movie. Lights Out comes out this Friday. You can follow Lights Out on Facebook and Twitter.

Fear the dark after watching this Lights out trailer: