Lights Out is a tiny jewel which more horror fans should know about. It's extremely simple and does nothing surprisingly well, but the fact that it's 3 minutes and so simple but still evokes that feel of horror is impressive to say the least. It deals with the "darkness brings evil" aspect many horror movies touch bases with at one point in the film; so there's nothing special about the idea behind Lights Out, it's the execution and cinematography. The cinematography is above average but also nothing incredible, the camera angles work and some are pretty clever and do a damn good job with the suspense, but is it something I've never seen before? No.
Where Lights Out shines is the mood, atmosphere, and emotion, and just how quickly is establishes it all (in under 2 minutes), and how it goes out with a bang. I'm not a fan of jump scares, I think they're typically very cheap ways to get some cheap short-lasting scares out of your audience and I have quite the aversion to their uncreativity. But the couple jump scares Lights Out uses I'm actually okay with because of how well executed they were. And when I say I'm glad a film had a jump scare in it, you know it must be special.
The feeling of dread, familiarity, sympathy, inevitability, and atmosphere was so well established within these 3 minutes, it makes me wish Lights Out was more well known by fellow horror fans.
Where Lights Out shines is the mood, atmosphere, and emotion, and just how quickly is establishes it all (in under 2 minutes), and how it goes out with a bang. I'm not a fan of jump scares, I think they're typically very cheap ways to get some cheap short-lasting scares out of your audience and I have quite the aversion to their uncreativity. But the couple jump scares Lights Out uses I'm actually okay with because of how well executed they were. And when I say I'm glad a film had a jump scare in it, you know it must be special.
The feeling of dread, familiarity, sympathy, inevitability, and atmosphere was so well established within these 3 minutes, it makes me wish Lights Out was more well known by fellow horror fans.