I’m not much of a horror movie person even though I'm in the works of making a horror, thriller short film. Why? Because to me they're usually predictable and uninteresting, or they rely on gore and mediocre jump scares to get audiences in the seats and still produce average or less than average results. Last Tuesday, members of my thespian troupe and I went to see the newest horror movie that has been released in theaters called "Lights Out."
This movie was based off of a short film made in 2013 with the same name. It wasn't scary to me personally, but I felt a lot of the tension that was built up throughout the film. It basically plays off of everyone's irrational fear of the dark, giving everyone a reason to be afraid. Basically the film is about an entity named Diana who attaches itself to the mother, Sophie. The entity haunts and attempts to kill Sophie’s husband and kids to make Sophie feel as though she needs Diana, ensuring Diana will stay. Diana can't survive in the light, so in order for her to appear it must be dark. So if the lights are on, you're safe for the time being.
The main character is Sophie’s daughter, Rebecca, who tries to figure out who Diana is and what is going on with her mother. Rebecca’s brother, Martin, sees Sophie talking to a room full of darkness. Martin turns to Rebecca and her boyfriend because he has nowhere else to go. Rebecca believes something is wrong with her mother, and she is trying to get her to take her medicine in order to get better from her depression. If Sophie gets better, then Diana disappears forever. Once Diana figures this out, she goes to kill Sophie's kids. That got the tension really moving for me. Are they going to help their mom get well? How are they going to get rid of Diana? Who's going to die? The tension this movie created is what I like in some horror movies because it lets you feel for the characters and then puts them into a disastrous situation, and you, the audience, hope everyone survives.
As far as horror movies go, I believe it's better than average and more horror movies should take note. I was still a bit in the mindset of the movie and didn't exactly sleep with the lights off that night. If a movie does that, then you know you've seen a good one. It was to the point, and it won't make you regret watching it. It's worth your time to actually experience the fear, unlike some other movies that I've seen like the "Paranormal Activity" series and "Sinister" movies, to name a few. Overall, I thought it was well done. Go out and see the movie for yourself and see what you think.
