Horror · Mystery
Lights Out
American
2016 · Directed by David F. Sandberg · 81 min
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Horror · Mystery
American
2016 · Directed by David F. Sandberg · 81 min
Meaning, unpacked
Central idea
The film can be read as a story about inherited mental illness and the family's fear of it. Its monster works as a metaphor for a parent's depression, and for the way children learn to live around a danger that adults will not name.
Its lasting influence
It confirmed the viability of the short-to-feature path in horror, and launched Sandberg's career as a studio director, including Annabelle: Creation (2017) and Shazam! (2019). It also reinforced the 2010s habit of building mainstream horror around one clear, easily summarised rule.
The rest, in short
The turning point is the reveal of Diana's history, when the film shows that the creature and the mother share a past. Then comes Sophie's choice in the final confrontation. The rule becomes the solution, and her decision turns a monster story into a tragedy about love, treating a damaged parent with sympathy, not blame.
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Create your free spaceWhat happens
Trapped in the house at night, Rebecca finally gets her mother to see Diana for what she is. Sophie takes her own life, and Diana vanishes with her. The children survive and are left grieving, in the light.
The last image
Rebecca and Martin are left safe in the daylight, grieving their mother, with Diana gone.
What it says
The ending turns a monster story into a family tragedy. Diana was never separate from Sophie's illness, so only Sophie could end her. Her choice is a last act of love for her children, shown with sympathy, not blame.
Or follow an idea from this film
See what influenced it
Cat People (1942)
Watch the older way of staging a threat through shadow and sound, and compare how little the film shows.
Coming soon
Compare another approach
The Conjuring (2013)
A polished, commercially successful ghost story from the same producing circle, which shows the larger-scale version of the style.
Follow the idea
It Follows (2015)
Another horror film built on one strict rule about its threat, with a more art-house approach to dread.
Explore the era or movement
Paranormal Activity (2009)
An earlier low-budget hit that also relies on the dark, on staging and on timing, and helped make cheap horror a studio strategy.
Jump forward
Hereditary (2018)
A later horror film about a family and inherited illness, treated with more ambition and far greater bleakness.
