Review of When the Lights Went Out (2012) by Robbie D — 24 Aug 2012

When the Lights Went Out held such good promise for a really great horror movie; sadly it failed to live up to the expectations.Set during recession hit 1974 Yorkshire, the film tells the story of the Maynard family, as we find them moving into their new house, within the typical Yorkshire estate.

With a daughter who is extremely unhappy at being uprouted and friends who's only task seems to be to keep the 70's spirit rolling (no pun) and continue to remind us that this is supposed to be a recession.

The story flows along, as strange and mysterious evens ensue; from an exploding tap to a clock thorwing itself down the stairs. When young Sally's belongs find themselves back outside of the room she has taken, her parents see it as childish rebellion, but as time goes on, stanger acts start to occur and the family start to detect a defin ite presence.

The story carries on from here, but this is not the problem for me.What I struggled with was the poor production values; from the multiple SKY satelite reception dishes scatter thorughout the estate, to the disjointed story telling.

We get the feeling that the parents want to blame the child for what is going on, but the violent attacks on the child by the parents do not come across as warranted.For me this film failed to live up to the expectation and the failures to provide continuity and to ensure that the 21st century did not break the state of belief, made this film feel no better than an amature attempt on Channel 4.

..