There’s one simple, yet spine-tingling scene that reminded me of a 1940 detective movie called “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum”. In that movie, Chan and a group of people find themselves trapped in a wax museum one rainy night with a killer on the loose. In “Lights Out”, Theresa Palmer and her kid brother are trapped in a basement filled with mannequins in the middle of the night. Oh and did I mention that there’s a creepy entity called Diana running around the house? There’s one twist: you turn the lights on, she disappears. Off, she reappears. That’s “Lights Out” in a nutshell, the new horror movie produced by James Wan, the genius behind “Saw”, “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” films. Wan doesn’t direct here, but director David F. Sandberg gets the job done. Part of the fun is experiencing how skillfully Sandberg and his group of talented actors manipulate the audience using familiar techniques. You won’t see anything that you haven’t seen before here, and yet the film still manages to creep the hell out of you, every step of the way. If you’re looking for a horror movie to see this week, consider “Lights Out” a must see.

Playing at

VOX cinemas | Citycentre Beirut
Cinemacity | Beirut Souks & Dora
Empire | Premiere, Dunes, Espace & Nabatieh
Cinemall | Lemall Dbayeh
Stargate | Bekaa
Planete | Tripoli

The official trailer