![]() ![]() The film manages to hit the notes of boilerplate family-in-peril horror while steering well clear of any suggestion that a shred of empathy might help resolve Sophie’s mental illness or Martin’s ongoing trauma. She is a vengeful ghost-like entity that attacks people in the dark. She serves as the antagonist of the films. After early scenes that dwell on her hard-earned fear of commitment and responsibility, Rebecca assumes the role of matriarch, attempting to obtain guardianship of Martin as a harried Sophie becomes increasingly determined to make Diana a member of the family. Diana is a fictional character in the Lights Out series. There’s a lengthy digression about the role of Child Protective Services, and Rebecca does enough crate-digging to determine that the monster haunting her family is Diana (Alicia Vela-Bailey), an old friend of Sophie’s from her days in a psychiatric institution who, even in undead form, still has dangerous attachment issues. The film’s torpid first half is heavy on exposition, but more larded with inchoate motives and emotions. “Remember to take your vitamins, Mommy,” Martin says before he leaves the family home to stay with Rebecca. Though neither child seems to even briefly doubt the existence of a monster in the family home, both know who’s to blame: their mother, Sophie (Maria Bello), who’s clinically depressed and likely off her meds once again. The ultraviolet light not only lights up Dianas disfigured hand in all its glory, but allows Rebecca to slam it between the door and frame, causing Diana to release her. Like all children in producer James Wan’s cinematic universe, the sunset turns Martin’s home into a hothouse of eerie scratching, manic behavior, and doors left forebodingly ajar. But in the movie we see Diana being okay with Blacklight/Pure UV light. She’s drawn back into her dysfunctional family to come to the aid of her young brother, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), who’s suffering in school due to lack of sleep. ![]() Twentysomething goth Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) lives alone in downtown L.A., where she resists committing to her rocker boyfriend, Bret (Alexander DiPersia), in the red glow of a tattoo parlor’s ominously blinking sign. There isnt anything particularly interesting about the Lights Out. After claiming an overworked businessman, Paul (Billy Burke), the ghost lurks around his surviving family, who prove to be a beleaguered and embittered lot. And yet somehow Diana emerges as having the most personality of any character in the movie. Sandberg’s debut feature begins with an extended version of his 2013 viral short film of the same name, establishing a deviously simple premise: An undead demon is on the prowl, its clawed, scraggly form capable of only being seen in the dark, and when the electricity jolts on or a motion sensor deactivates, the monster inches closer to its prey. ![]() Few horror films are as insistent about the trauma mental illness inflicts on families as Lights Out, and still fewer are so insensitive about it. ![]()
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