Light's Out

Sometimes a vacation can cleanse the pallet. A break from the norm. A means to separate one's self from how awful things are at the moment. On the last leg of our family vacation, we went by Jackson, Tennessee's Hollywood 16. Horror--especially PG-13--in the Summer has become quite an investment. We were in the mood for hopefully a chill or two and checked out Warner Brothers / New Line's new release, Light's Out (2016), a disposable but moderately diverting chiller which is over in a hurry (80 minutes). A ghost (well, I'd say evil entity), that uses the dark to eliminate anyone who threatens her existence, destroys a business owner of a textile company and we soon learn that it is tied to a clinically depressed mother with a history of mental illness. Her estranged daughter is forced to revisit a troubled past which includes a father who seemed to have left her and mom behind.

Teresa Palmer returns to the horror genre after a near three year absence, last seen in Warm Bodies (2013). She's a good one, not only nice to look at but has expressive talent to make things happen with her face and eyes. The complications of a mother deteriorating (Maria Bello, an actress in the chapter of her career where she shows up in supporting parts with some screen time and must work her talent to make damn sure you realize she's lost nothing) certainly show in how Palmer reluctantly returns to her home in order to keep her brother (Gabriel Bateman) safe. Diana, a girl with a skin condition which made sunlight unbearable, met Bello as a child...this relationship and secret hospital experiments which led to a "human stain" on a chair (ashy residue of what was once a person) factor into the night creature with glowing eyes and sharp talons.

How light is used inventively (the use of a neon red tattoo sign and a discovered blacklight, not to mention, a candle and phone light) towards the creature, which vanishes when the dark is interrupted, is an aesthetic knockout. The opening in the textile plant, where lights inside go on when someone claps their hands, featuring Billy Burke (the Twilight movies) and some creepily placed mannequins, is rather impressive. Again, light plays a major role in how effective the night creature is. Palmer is a good anchor for the film...she knows how to give you the appropriate responses when required. You want terror or angst? Palmer gives it to you. Irritation and aggravation...Palmer knows how to provide visual insight into what her character feels and ultimately she rises to the occasion when her little brother needs her. So does nervy, shaky Bello, rattled and nearly defeated by her "friend". Billy Burke was a threat to the "friendship" and was to be removed from the equation.

On a Tuesday afternoon at 1:00, the eighty minutes conclude with a decent amount of suspense, obviously a showdown at the family home where a sacrifice must be made. I felt as I was leaving that the film was missing something. As if the story with the missing father of Palmer needed greater emphasis. The past regarding Diana could have used more of the Japanese onryu style where discoveries are not glossed over but heavily enforced to us so the fury of the entity is greater understandable. It seems, though, that the filmmakers wanted a lean and economical summer spook flick with some raised hairs and goose pimples. There was enough here, I think.

***

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Oh forgot to mention Palmer's character is quite a hellcat when first introduced. She is a tattoo artist with gnarly Gothic art sketched from her talent throughout her apartment. She is bedding Alexander DiPersia, not necessarily committed to anything special or long-term while he is all-in on establishing themselves as a real deal couple. Distance is part of her current situation. A missing father and serially depressed mother, it's no wonder she seems hesitant to commit to anyone...she's been burned.