SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
After years of making short horror films, David F. Sandberg has been given the chance to direct a feature length based on one of his earlier mini projects, Lights Out. And as usual, you could see his wife's appearance here too, just like in his mini projects!
While the concept of a dead spirit named Diana (Alicia Vela-Bailey) who repels lights and haunts an already broken family was decent, the story was weak and appeared very made up. It was as if a quick storyline was thought of and pulled together to form a horror movie for the sake of instant big bucks. Tape recorder and photo exposition felt too convenient, and repetition of the same set of information 3 times can tell you how flimsy the writing and plot was. There's definitely a sense of curiosity about Diana in the beginning though.
Also, the movie lacked any emotional weight. Sure, Martin's (Gabriel Bateman) fear of his mum was pitiful to watch, but beyond that, the sentimental core was pretty much hollow. Hey, at least the characters were acting like real people, making smart decisions most of the time!
Undeniably, most of the scares can be foreseen from miles away, although Diana scratching on the floor with red light going on and off plus the black light sequences were amazing.