How sad is this?

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Hi. I just saw an interesting horror movie called Lights Out. I can honestly say that the story was surprising and scary in the old fashioned boo sense. James Wan produced it and seems to enjoy haunted house movies...without the house being haunted from the start.

Young Martin lives with mum Sophie. Dad was recently brutally murdered, and adult half-sister Rebecca moved out ages ago. Mum (who has struggled with depression since childhood) appears to talk regularly with someone who isn't actually there. But we have seen some sort of creature which dwells only in darkness - put on the light and it is gone.This horror film gives us a new and intriguing monster. Reminiscent of Doctor Who's Weeping Angels, this entity appears to exist only in darkness: flood it with light, and it is gone. Gradually we uncover the backstory between Sophie and childhood friend Diana, and how it impinges on the horror the family is going through.The story is fun, though not wholly convincing (the effect of light is inconsistent: sometimes the entity appears to disappear, sometime it appears to become invisible but it's still there, and sometimes it is visible and the light blisters it. And what exactly happened to Diana to create this entity, and how does the link with Sophie work?). More to the point, I thought the relationships between Sophie (Maria Bello), Martin (Gabriel Bateman), Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) and Rebecca's boyfriend Bret (Alexander DiPersia) were credible, well-written, and very well performed. We were given characters who were real people: we cared, and hoped they could survive their ordeal. It is unusual to find such well-realised characters in a horror film.The film was visually effective, with the lights on/lights off moments being particularly well done. There was an over-reliance on mad-you-jump sound hits - these weren't necessary because the basic set-up was scary enough on its own.I saw the resolution coming slightly ahead of time, but it worked well nevertheless. And I was particularly pleased that the movie didn't have a contrived shock additional ending tacked on at the very end.This is one of the better horror movies of recent years.

Cheap jump scares throughout. There are some genuinely scary moments but it wasn't enough. The acting is decent thankfully, but that couldn't save the film for me. The story in itself while somewhat original was unbelievable and ridiculous. What happened to the horror genre? That's my review in a nutshell. No point in going on for six paragraphs.

When we were young, it was normal that we were afraid of things that go bump in the night, or that monsters were hiding under the bed or in the closet and that going to bed at night seemed labourious not to mention frightful. As we get older we adult up and try to overcome our fears and manifestations and expunge all that nonsense. But in reality, the dark isn't the scary things, but the things that come when only it is dark. The slightest house settling noise can send chills down your spine. And if that doesn't make one hide under the covers, how about a freaky, wiry-haired silhouette gazing down at you from a nearby doorway? And once you turn the lights on, it disappears. This aforementioned spook is the terror is the topic from the directing debut of David F. Sandberg 2016 horror film "Lights Out". The creepy figure fueling nightmares galore is an evil demonic spirit of Diana who was a longtime friend of a mentally unstable mother named Sophie (Maria Bello) who was killed when a medical experiment went awry and that the exposure to the light took her life away. Thirty years later, Sophie has been in contact with her and seems to materialize when it's dark, but once you turn on the lights, the vanishes. Diana was the only childhood friend of Sophie's and Diana will likely attack if her personal existence feels threatened and will dish out destruction with no mercy or remorse. Although she is a powerful force to be reckoned with, she still has a sensitivity towards light and the only way to avoid her vengeance is to stay out of the shadows.Sophie was once wed to someone who left her several years ago and has two off-springs. She has an adult daughter named Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) who has left her troubled way and has moved into a one bedroom apartment with her boyfriend Bret (Alexander DiPersia) and a preteen son named Martin (Gabriel Bateman) who unfortunately has to face the wrath of his mother's insanity. Everything that Rebecca encountered when she was young, Martin is now facing the the same consequences. When Martin tells Rebecca that Sophie is conversing to a spirit, Rebecca send Martin to move into their place to keep him safe from any possible evil lurking in that house. But then social-services chimes in and disapproves of the idea, so then Rebecca returns back to their home and confront this evil presence that's terrorized her when she was small. Originally based off of Sandberg's short film, the material has successfully been expanded to the 81 minute mark. Though considered short by movie standards, it's actually the contrast that leads to the archaic philosophical statement of "less means more" and that saying never comes truer than this movie. It goes straight on with the story and doesn't go back on its delivery and doesn't cut corners in any way possible to expose out all its fear to leave even strong people emotionally scarred. The first scenes are chilling and stays its way throughout and no cliche is padded on, even the flashback of Sophie's childhood memory with Diana has an effective moment where you can feel a bit of sympathy and remorse for both Sophie and Diane. It is also a breath of fresh air to make our leading heroine like Rebecca as a strong, independent character, which happens quite frequently, but Palmer does a serviceable job of indicating what it means to be when dealing with being raised in a broken family. Although a film of this genre and situations has been done to death, "Lights Out" is also guarded with a PG-13 banter which means there will be jump-scares a plenty, but the movie is still a cut above the other horror films with its effective use of lighting and the dankness keeps the story alive while you're heart is palpitating while the scenarios succeeds to make things all the more unsettling.