Lights Out
Warner Bros. | Release Date: July 22, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 21, 2016
For a movie that relies so heavily on a single, not especially groundbreaking visual effect — now you see the bogeyman, now you don’t — Lights Out is crazy scary. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJordan RuimyJul 21, 2016
The difference between Lights Out and any other mainstream horror movie is that it actually uses the dark as the center of its plot, organically drawing out the majority of its jump scares in the process. Read full review
80
Total FilmJosh WinningDec 20, 2016
With characters you care about – principally Teresa Palmer’s appealingly edgy, cliché-bucking Rebecca – and a poignant denouement, this is horror with guts as well as gore. Read full review
80
EmpireSimon CrookAug 15, 2016
A lean, mean scare-machine, and a surprise contender for horror of the year. Seek it out. Then, for God’s sake, buy a bedside lamp. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasJul 19, 2016
While the central visual of the figure in the dark goes a long way to provide the essential scares, the success of the film is just as much about what the filmmakers do to develop the characters that the audience cares about. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJul 21, 2016
A well-shot, gore-free psychological thriller about our elemental fear of darkness, Lights Out has a good deal in common with "The Babadook." While it can't touch Jennifer Kent's masterpiece, it does mark the arrival of a major new talent. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJul 21, 2016
Best of all, it’s tight at 81 minutes, which means a 7 p.m. screening gets you out of the theatre while it’s still light out, thank God. Read full review
75
The Film StageBill GrahamJul 21, 2016
Bolstered by the mythology it builds and scares that rarely feel cheap, it shows even wide-release horror doesn’t have to be a groan-inducing slog — and you’ll definitely think twice about turning the lights out. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 21, 2016
Lights Out presents actual characters that are interesting, that have rough edges, that act like real people, not victims in waiting. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 20, 2016
Palmer and Bello really do seem like world-weary, spook-addled daughter and mother, and they play the stakes just so, favoring neither blase understatement nor yellow-highlighter melodrama. They're strong enough to take your mind off some lapses in narrative judgment. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJul 21, 2016
Spackling over any copycat cracks with strong acting and fleet editing, Lights Out delivers minimalist frights in old-school ways. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJul 21, 2016
Bello gives a tremulous wacko-mom performance from which she has eliminated every whisper of camp. She’s both sympathetic and infuriating, and her scenes with her daughter hint at a more painful, complicated emotional history than the movie has time to explore, though it’s nice that it bothers to explore it at all. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 21, 2016
The scares here are in the execution, aided by the acting. Bello is, like always, terrific, adding layers to what seems at first like the stereotypical mentally-ill movie character. She's fighting for something. Palmer, too, adds grit to her would-be iconoclast. Read full review
70
Village VoiceApril WolfeJul 19, 2016
When Sandberg isn’t spinning his wheels in the why, he’s capable of doling out a steady diet of scares. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChristian HolubJul 21, 2016
This movie purposely inspires viewers to think about serious topics, and then disregards the consequences of doing so, undermining the whole enterprise. The final physical sensation is not terror or relief, but disgust. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 22, 2016
Predictable stuff, energized by some spiffy scare effects from cinematographer Marc Spicer who works wonders with underlighting. But the on/off tricks would grow tiring without actors who perform well beyond the call of fright-house duty. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickJul 21, 2016
The simple, highly effective gimmick of this straightforward shocker is a malevolent clawed spectre named Diana (Alicia Vela-Bailey), who only appears in the dark. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJul 21, 2016
Lights Out is an effective, tidy little chiller; basically the same sneak-up-in-the-dark scare over and over. But hey, as we’ve learned through decades of horror movies, that stuff works. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 18, 2016
You don’t realize how much a good horror movie depends on acting until you stumble in that rare one whose cast actually gets it right. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 23, 2016
Bello is an excellent actress and makes Sophie’s anguish credible, although she can’t rise above the material. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 20, 2016
The central idea here is as durable and effective as a well-told fireside ghost story, but in the cold light of day, the film fades. Read full review
60
VarietyAndrew BarkerJun 14, 2016
Very obviously a first feature, Lights Out is full of camp (most of it clearly intentional, some perhaps not), and its underlying mythology is confused and often ridiculous. But there’s an invigorating leanness — and a giddy, almost innocent energy — to the filmmaking. Read full review
60
TheWrapRobert AbeleJun 9, 2016
That the film occasionally succumbs to certain rudimentary hallmarks of industrial studio horror is regrettable, but for the most part it’s agreeably suspenseful, date-night arm-squeezing genre fare. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweJun 9, 2016
Coming in a few notches below the terror factor of Wan’s most exemplary material, this somewhat less-satisfying variation of an ill-fated haunting nonetheless represents a solid debut for Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiJul 22, 2016
Lights Out has been made with a certain degree of style—enough to make you want to see what Sandberg might be capable of with a better screenplay—and it does contain one great moment that pays sly homage to the most famous moment from the classic thriller “Wait Until Dark.” Read full review
50
IndieWireKate ErblandJul 21, 2016
Sandberg unquestionably has an eye for a great horror motif — and, given the frequent use of absolutely gut-churning ambient sounds and hair-raising scratching noises, an ear for it, too — and he’s assembled a strong cast to tell Heisserer’s expanded story, but even those smart decisions and clear talents can’t push Lights Out to brighter heights. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 21, 2016
Unfortunately, the film stumbles, offering too few legitimate scares and displaying an overreliance on traditional horror movie clichés. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayJul 21, 2016
Few horror films are as insistent about the trauma mental illness inflicts on families as Lights Out, and still fewer are so insensitive about it. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 20, 2016
The film is blatantly, unmistakably about mental illness, and that makes it hard to ignore or forgive what it ends up saying (hopefully by accident) on the subject. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJul 20, 2016
It’s the cinematic equivalent to a carnival funhouse: a bit scary when you’re traversing it, but utterly forgettable (and mildly regrettable) once it’s over. Read full review
40
The GuardianJordan HoffmanJul 20, 2016
Lights Out is yet another half-baked, PG-13 scare-em snoozer centered on an underdeveloped supernatural concept that won’t even give kids a good nightmare. Read full review
33
ConsequenceRandall ColburnJul 21, 2016
Jump scares are all Sandberg seems to have in his bag of tricks, and each is clunkily executed and met with an agonizing, ear-piercing shriek. Watching Lights Out is like standing next to an idiot with an air horn, never quite knowing when it’s about to blow in your ear. It’s a far cry from the freaky grace of his short. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJul 20, 2016
The fun wears out fast and so does the “gotcha” factor. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 21, 2016
This one, a debut feature, is awfully inept, whereas the short isn’t long enough for ineptitude to take hold, or for a story to develop. Read full review
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