Until now director David F. Sandberg has mostly done fairly successful horror shorts, specifically the similarly titled one that this movie is based on from 2013. It was only a few minutes long, but it managed to be interesting and creepy enough to put a lot of these modern feature length movies to shame. It was only a matter of time before they adapted it into a full length pic and to my surprise (and I'm sure many others) it actually turned out pretty good.

While the short didn't have much of a story (aside from the fact that something appeared when the lights went out) the filmmakers managed to stretch things out into a 80-minute feature while still keeping things simple and not bog it down with a convoluted storyline. We follow Teresa Palmer's character "Rebecca" who gets pulled into some family drama when she discovers that her younger half brother hasn't been sleeping well at home ever since the kid's father died. This is accompanied with the fact that the mother appears to be losing her mind because she keeps talking in the dark to someone (or something) named Diana.

Well it's not long before we discover that this "Diana" is real and isn't too fond of the light (only appearing in the dark) and seems to have some kind of mental hold on the mother, leaving Rebecca, her kid bro, and the wannabe boyfriend to try and find a way to stop the sinister Diana before it tears the family apart. That's essentially the movie right there and it's something I really admire about it--it knows what it is (a simple, straightforward horror film) and doesn't try to overcomplicate things. The film's simplicity and somewhat short running time meant the pace was always steady and continuously moving things along, giving us a little story/character development as it went on, followed by a creepy scene or two, or three!

Speaking of creepy scenes, the flick had a good amount of them, especially since the director apparently used as much practical effects  and natural lighting as possible. This definitely shows, as a lot these scenes have a natural dark look and feel to them. Diana herself was also very creepy as long as she remained in the dark (which she does for the most part), with only a couple quick glimpses of what she actually looked like towards the end. Though still creepy looking, I wish they would've kept her appearance a little more in the same vein of the original short. Luckily we never really get a good look at her anyway, because this is a prime example of less being more.

Another aspect we don't see a lot in the genre are characters that actually make somewhat logical decisions. In this movie if something scary occurs they'll straight run outta there, as opposed to many other flicks that'll have'em investigate a strange noise or something else stupid (completely ignoring the audience yelling at the screen, by the way) and get themselves killed or mixed into some clichéd jump scare. There's even a cool scene involving the police at one point, which is another element you rarely see in these types of flicks.

Next to all that I think the movie could've benefited with a little more character development. I liked the simplicity of the story, but the characters themselves could've used a bit more depth. Though, they were at least likable and logical enough (to an extent), so it wasn't a complete loss. The ending also felt a little abrupt and left some things unanswered, which some viewers may not like, but I personally didn't mind it.

Lights Out is a horror film that knows exactly what it is (a simple horror tale) and where it came from (a short film), so it doesn't try to overcomplicate its story or overstay its welcome. It's short, interesting, and straightforward, with some solid pacing and solid scares. Definitely worth a look.