October means horror to me and therefore plenty of horror films, the one I’m looking at today is the 2016 film Lights Out which is available now on Blu-ray. So without further ado here’s my Lights Out Blu-ray Review.
- Lights Out (2016)
- UK Rating 15
- Discs: 1
- Released By Warner Bros
- Blu-ray Released: 12th December 2016
Plot
As Paul, the owner of a textile warehouse prepares to leave for the evening, he sees a figure of a woman in the dark. As the lights go out he is attacked, he manages to make it to the office which is fully lit. However as the lights begin to go out he realises that figure is also in the office.
Paul’s stepdaughter Rebecca has long since left the family home owing to her mother’s mental illness. However with Paul now gone her younger brother now lives alone with their mother.
Clearly still struggling to cope with the loss of Paul her depression seems to becoming more of a problem which scares her young son Martin, so much so he runs away to stay with his sister Rebecca.
What at first glance appears to show the deteriorating mental health of their mother soon becomes a truly terrifying nightmare scenario with both brother and sister witnessing a strange female figure when the lights are turned off.
Who is she and what does she want?
Style / Direction
Lights Out relies heavily on the horror sting to make you jump out of your skin. In fact I would have to say it began to annoy me rather than scare. I simply ended up waiting for the next one and guessing when they would come. The film already has a spooky visual effect of the zombie creepy woman so the sound design could have been a bit more intelligently designed in my opinion.
Overall Lights Out is pretty well shot creating some genuine moments of unease followed by the musical stings.
Directed by David F. Sandberg, with the cinematography is handled by Marc Spicer.
Music / Audio Effects
Maybe it had to be done this way to make the film scare, it does feel a little of the top at times but does make you jump if you’re not paying attention.
The music is provided by Benjamin Wallfisch.
Acting / Characters
Adequate performances in the main, with the young kid brother Martin putting probably the best of the lot.
Conclusion: Lights Out (2016) Film Review
Lights out ticks the boxes as an entertaining enough horror film, with plenty of jump scares put in for good measure. If you like that type of horror then you will enjoy this one.
In the end I would say I it’s not a bad effort and it does deliver visually as well as well as the sound design in those key moments of pure terror. Ultimately Lights Out plays on that old fear of the dark or fear or what we can’t see in the dark!
As I mentioned earlier maybe there was one too many of those horror stings either way there is no doubting they have the desired effect on the viewer. It’s definitely one film you don’t want to be sat next to someone with a large drink of Coca Cola!
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Conclusion: Lights Out Blu-ray Review
Clearly the picture quality is not an issue being a 2016 released film so I’ll move on to the extras.
The only extras are 14 minutes of deleted scenes. One of which adds some background into the police investigation into Paul’s murder and another which changes the relationship between brother and sister and extends the films ending by adding another ending on top of the original ending that really doesn’t work or make sense.
Ultimately the filmmakers choose the best way to conclude the film.
Extras
Deleted Scenes (14 mins)
Popcorn Cinema Rating: Lights Out (2016)
MOVIE RATING: WELL WORTH WATCHING
BLU-RAY RATING: EXCELLENT
EXTRAS: DECENT
POPCORN CINEMA: RECOMMENDED
Amazon UK Links
Lights Out (2016) blu-ray is out now.
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Lights Out (2016) Film Trailer
For those of you yet to see the film I’ll leave you with a little taster…
Clip may not be representative of the Blu-ray version
That’s Lights Out blu-ray review, if you have any thoughts on this film you can leave them in the comment section below:
Summary: Lights Out (2016) Blu-ray Review
Movie title: Lights Out (2016)
Duration: 81 mins
Director(s): David F. Sandberg
Actor(s): Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Maria Bello
Genre: Horror
- Movie Rating
- Blu-ray Picture Rating
- Extras
Summary
A horror that will literally have you jumping out of your seat!
