Review

It's 1974 and the Maynard family are moving into their new Yorkshire Council semi-detached house. Well okay the house is new for the Maynards but it has been lived in before. Len and Jenny are in a rocky place with their relationship while daughter Sally is a typical moody teen with no friends. Almost immediately strange things are happening, centered on Sally's room but gradually expanding to other parts of the house. Sally wants to leave as she senses there's something wrong, Jenny becomes a believer as the activity escalates, while Len initially tries to provide logical reasons for the things going bump in the night.

After attempting to earn a few quid via running ghost tours through the house, Jenny puts a stop to Len's entrepreneurial exploits, the family decide they need some expert advice and help. Who are you going to call? Well apparently not the local Ghost busters as the séance held in the house turns almost fatal. We do discover however that there are two entities calling Chaz Maynard home, and one of them is a bit of a dirty old ghost. The local Priest is called in and after a particular gruelling exorcism the house appears to be cleansed. Or is it?

Gosh another of those "based on a true story" promotions that have pretty much had their day but which cause no end of grief for your average Reviewer. A bit of research uncovers the original story was centered around the Black Monk of Pontefract aka the Pontefract Poltergeist, a particularly robust and aggressive spirit that allegedly haunted the Prichard family of 30 East Drive Pontefract. The case was dubbed the "most violent Poltergeist in European history". Further research, and no prizes for guessing the outcome, conclusively demonstrates that as ever there is no proof of any paranormal activity at 30 East Drive. Once again I'm calling hoax, I really wish unscrupulous or at the very least very suggestive people would stop making these outlandish claims, there are enough gullible people on the planet without playing up to their wish list of supernatural occurrences.

To the movie itself, and right here we have a film maker following the blue print laid down by The Amityville Horror, i.e. there's a number of big scenes, read big scares, and a whole lot of interlude joining those scenes. While The Lights is far superior in about every facet to that Amityville movie there's still that counting down the beat till the next scare goes down. Not surprisingly the big brass band that George Lutz experienced is here replaced by incarnate horse noises for no apparent reason, but we pretty much have very similar ideas being tossed onto the table to either work or not, depending on your acceptance of this sort of stuff. Hell it was a ghost story, love a good ghost story myself, so pretty much The Lights worked for me as an engrossing tale of fiction.

While the movie follows a well beaten path it remains entertaining and kept my attention

The movie, as stated, is set in 1974 in a Britain suffering from energy shortages, rampant inflation, high unemployment, and social decay. Director Pat Holden nails all this in news paper headlines, locations, and even takes time out of his busy scheduled to ensure glam rockers The Sweet are featured. It all adds up to an authentic looking movie set in the time through the furnishing, hair styles, and clothes. The immediate phrase that came to my mind was 1970s kitsch, the prop department for this movie must have been scouring the local bric a brac stores to stock up on the ornaments and house hold do dads required to nail the period. Particularly liked the "Buck-a-roo" game Sally had, which is in stark contrast to the Probe game featured in ANOES Part 2. This aspect of the movie is nailed to the barn door; Holden has his sets and actors dressed perfectly.

So I guess we all want to know about the chills and thrills, well there's a reasonably dark atmosphere rocking along, and you do regularly get some shock scenes but gorehounds will have to be kept to heel as there's no blood and guts. Director Holden clearly adheres to the Paranormal Activity school of thought and keeps things simple. We're talking a swinging light fitting, strong breezes, shadows, etc. Don't expect the house to explode or anything of that magnitude, Holden realises that simple scares are sometimes the most effective. I was rocking along with this aspect of the movie and grooving to the gradual escalation of hostilities till the final scene, really! - Supernatural did that better in their very first episode. I was so very disappointed in the resolution, it's like Holden just threw his hands in the air like he didn't really care. But apart from that we're getting some good scares going down as the movie keeps a few trumps up its sleeves till the final block.

Like all good ghost stories The Lights harbours a secret that must be discovered, a mystery to unravel, and a background story to the current haunting. While this one isn't the most engrossing I ran across it still delivered a malevolent twist on the tale that had me fearing for young Sally. I guess I should also highlight that like all good poltergeist tales the focus of the haunting is the teenage moody Sally. Holden highlights Sally, puts her in harm's way while defining the nature of the haunting and has the audience concerned about her welfare. Once again another aspect to the movie that had me high fiving the ghost dog that haunts our house, or so the story goes, don't actually have proof or anything take my word for it and invest $5 in the guided tour. And people tell me it's a waste of time watching horror movies, or was it that horror movies turn your brain to mush, I forget which.

So naturally there were a few things I didn't like about the movie we are currently discussing, which all unfortunately had to do with clear borrowing from previous movies. During one scene Jenny is attacked by a swarm of either bees or wasps, I'm no entomologist okay, which reminded me of the attack of the flies in The Amityville Horror. In a similar fashion Sally is possessed by one of the spirits and goes on a midnight walk, not unlike Emily Rose in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I could mention more but guess you get the idea, quite a few ideas have been liberated from previous movies giving The Lights a sort of seen it before got the Tee feeling.

Excellent acting from an exceptional cast including Kate Ashfield (Shaun of the Dead) and the very talented Hannah Clifford who delivers a tour de force as the angst ridden teen Sally.

As stated, seemingly every week, I love a good ghost story and When the Lights Went Out delivered on that front with hardly a misstep being taken. I could have done without the "based on true events" however, that simply seems to be an attempt at shilling the Rubes. Besides a bit of seen it before action I was as happy as a wandering leprechaun discovering a pot of gold, full recommendation a ghost story that goes for a serious attempt at providing the chills.