Lights Out: Horror Flick Puts Fear of the Dark in a New Light

I don't think there's a fear that's more universal than being scared of the dark. If you have a wild imagination, there's no end to the possibility of the variety of things that might be lurking in it. And while this has been a staple in scary movies for a while, Lights Out lets this theme take the lead in a creative plot that'll have you sleeping with the lights on, just in case.

Hey, you never know.

The story revolves around a mother (Maria Bello), her son Martin (Gabriel Bateman), and his half sister, Rebecca (Teresa Palmer). After the mysterious death of her husband, the mom is kind of losing it, and with a history of mental illness things aren't looking so healthy for Martin's wellbeing. But as the story progresses we soon learn that maybe it's not mental illness alone that's driving her so crazy. A thing known as Diana seems to be affecting her. Only existing in darkness, Diana tries her damnedest to monopolize the mom's time and energy, lashing out violently when she's told to share her. As Rebecca and Martin uncover more about Diana's past and try to help their mom, it's a race against time to see whether their mission will cost them their lives.

"The mom's all yours! Anyway bye!"

Other than the fantastically scary trailer (scroll to the bottom if you haven't seen it), I was drawn in by James Wan's producer credit on this movie. If you've read any of my horror reviews before, James Wan is basically my favorite scary guy of all time and his name on anything is almost a stamp of certainty that I'll see it.

I was not let down.

The movie is original, simple, and damn scary. Director David Sandberg takes something so universal and turns it into a real scare-fest. Diana is scary, and while she's lurking in the shadows, the evidence that we see of her will scare the pants off you. Lots of jumps in this, and lots of old-school horror.

The movie is very self-aware of bringing classic horror to a new front, but does so with themes rather than messing with classic horror plot formulae. Rebecca is a strong independent female character, the story highlights mental illness, and the kid is smart as a whip. We're not feeding into character stereotypes, and that's super refreshing. Teresa Palmer is (fucking gorgeous and) powerful as Rebecca, who can't get over the early loss of her dad but steps up to plate when it comes down to protecting her family, and Maria Bello is convincing as the exhausted mother.

Like why are her eyes so giant and beautiful?? Anyway, I digress...

I can't really expand on the movie too much without giving a bunch away, but suffice it to say that this one puts a new spin on classic horror, and it's definitely a fun watch. Looking forward to where this franchise goes.

8 outa 10. Winner, winner.

(Like, seriously, how scary is this trailer though!?)

Warm Bodies: HorRomCom?

Got a sneak peak of the latest genre hybrid out there: Warm Bodies. I was actually pretty interested to see how this HorRomCom (horror/romantic comedy, copyright Nick Grajewski) sized up to some of the other ones of its kind.

For those of you who haven't seen the preview, this movie is about a guy named R (Nicholas Hoult), a guy in his early 20s (presumably) who is having trouble connecting with people. No wonder, seeing as how R is a zombie. But he's special. R seems to have a mental capacity that excedes those around him. Instead of roaming around without any thoughts of his own, we (the audience) get to hear his inner monologue and thus discover the depths of his personality. His whole life (life?) changes, though, when he bumps into his true love while he is eating her boyfriend's brains (awkward).

Just go with it...

Taking her back to his home at the airport, R bonds with Julie (Teresa Palmer). She begins to see (and he begins to experience) that the zombies are capable of changing back into humans once they remember how to love. R and Julie's now-romance becomes a race against time as they strive to unite humans and zombies against the "bonies" who have sworn a vendetta against them all.

No thank you. Please get off.

Hmmm, so at first glance, it's not bad. I'm gonna talk about the things that I like about this movie. First of all, I loved the soundtrack. It very gracefully unites classic pop and old rock with the latest electro-pop, grouping together the nostalgia that R has for the past and the promises for the future. I also really liked that they add humor into the plot, despite the intense themes. R's friend Marcus (Rob Corddry) carries about half of the humor of the whole movie and he's hilarious. Also, the plot has you rooting for R and Julie to get through everything that they have to get through and really tries to portray that whole "love against all odds" thing.

Are you Team R?

And now, les problems.

The main issue that I had with this film is the chemistry between R and Julie. I totally get him falling head over heels for her (she's beautiful and seems pretty cool), but I didn't so much get that vibe from her. She is constantly running away from him, which probably is trying to elude to her vivacity but really just makes you kind of think she's a little put off by him. Also he comes across as this soulful kind of dreamer and, while she never seems like a ditz, I just couldn't really see them together. She exudes this sort of popular girl vibe and he seems more like the class poet (when will Hollywood stop putting these two types of people together?). That kind of stood in the way of me being 100% in favor of their supposed "written in the stars" romance.

Ok, seriously? We know you have boobs, come on...

I think part of the movie's problem is that it tries to do too much and satisfy too many people. Had this not been a Hollywood production I think it would've done much better. I could've seen Julie as a more artsy lost type and then she and R would've had a little bit more in common. As opposed to Julie the poor little rich girl who has been tolerating this zombie who took her hostage and then doesn't see anyone else around so she falls in love with him. With a more artsy character for Julie, the movie would've read more like Wristcutters: A Love Story and other bleak films that carry a central theme of love as hope. As is, though, I just didn't fall for it.

As an aside, Nick and a few other of the theater patrons also seemed to be annoyed at the low-budget CGI "bonies". I didn't really mind it that much since I think if they were overly scary it woud've put the movie more in the horror category, but if you're a sucker for graphics, that might getcha down.

6 out 10.