Lights Out

A horror that doesn't waste time exposing and building tension, which works quite well in the straightforward first third. The idea works, Sandberg tested it in a short, but here he exploits it beyond his means. In the second half you can feel it. Lights Out is unable to tighten, surprise or unfortunately really scare anyone. Formally solid work, but overall dim. (2016-12-31)

A mediocre horror film that doesn't come up with anything new. All the scenes felt vaguely familiar. The one that irritated me the most was the scene where Diana first appeared. If the woman who saw her had flicked the switch a few more times, I would have gladly disposed of her myself. Diana seemed like a fusion of the creature from The Ring, Freddie Krueger, and Edward Scissorhands. The plot was predictable. Instead of building up an atmosphere, the filmmakers concentrated on a constant supply of scares, but at least I got to wrap my Christmas presents in advance. I’m afraid I’ve seen far worse horror movies. What I consider a plus is that it managed to go without brutally murdering 6 to 8 high school/college students. (2016-11-17)

It seems that simplicity holds power, and that's why the creators of the film chose to take the straightforward path. The story about something lurking in the darkness, whether seen or unseen in the first scene, is harsh, eerie, and unsettling. Yes, it truly seems deceptively simple at first glance, but the creators managed to frighten the audience, and I commend them for that. (2017-01-26)

One of the most anticipated horror films of last year has finally made it onto my "Watched Movies" list. I hate to say it, but I expected much better. The director can be excused somewhat by the fact that this is his debut, aside from a short film. The concept has something to it, and in this regard, the film scores points. However, the execution lagged quite a bit. The story felt rather bland, nothing that stands out, and it's something that has already been filmed by others at least a thousand times. The cast wasn’t that bad, definitely not, but was I thrilled by them? Definitely not. There were plenty of jump scares, which is a plus in one sense, but in some moments, they felt forced, which is a problem. If everything surrounding the entity of Diana had been better explained, I would have considered giving a higher rating. The last 10 minutes or so in the house were probably the best; it had the right intensity, the arrival of the police and their subsequent erasure from the face of the earth lifted the film out of mediocrity. But the ending felt like they really didn’t know how to wrap it up. I definitely won’t be watching this again, and I give it 62%. (2017-04-15)

You can't shine a light. We’ve probably never had a similarly intense and original scare in cinemas, and in today's horror competition, it's hard to imagine a more effective way to make the audience's return home through darkened streets as unpleasant as possible. It goes full speed ahead from the start and, without any unnecessary talk, we are served an intelligent horror plot spiced up with such a thick atmosphere and such a scary monster that I would grunt with joy if I didn't have my vocal cords clenched with nervousness. Plus the flawless escalation, thanks to which the evil doesn't stop scaring even towards the end, the reasonable runtime and of course the absolutely disarming beauty of Terasa Palmer, thanks to whom I didn't breathe even in the less tense scenes. Pointless to complain and whine, that's all we can ask for. (2016-07-26)