When the Lights Went Out (2012)

Sorry, this movie sucks

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A ghost story set in 1970s Yorkshire is unusual. The Maynards move in to a new house in 1974. Their teenage daughter quickly believes that their is something spooky in the house with unusual paranormal activities.It soon becomes clear a poltergeist is in the house and is threatening the family and anyone else entering the house. The family get a priest to perform an exorcism. It seems that there are two spirits in the house. An evil priest that once raped and killed young girls and another, a young girl which is trying to warn the family to get out of the house.The film has a good period setting which stinks of mid 1970s Britain and its also goes for eeriness rather than gore as well as some Yorkshire wit and grit.However it does feel a lot like a television film to me not helped by the fact that several members of the cast of the television series, Line of Duty turn up here. It also reminded me somewhat of the recent BBC television series, Remember Me that starred Michael Palin.The more obvious comparisons are though is the original version of Poltergeist with shades of The Exorcism thrown in.So there is nothing novel here but its a well made, low budget drama. The ending however just feels a little too contrived and feel good though.

The Maynard family move into their dream house, only to find out something is already living there. Len, Jenny and their daughter Sally struggle to keep their already-fragile family together as they are attacked by the poltergeist. It becomes apparent that Sally is the poltergeist's main focus of attention, and the house slowly becomes a living nightmare. Its true story time again, and here we have a 'real life' relative of the family not only writing the film, but also directing the tale. Now, whilst he doesn't pull any punches with the families struggles, it hardly touches on the financial crisis that befell many at the time.But then the film is about a poltergeist haunting a family. Imagine The Entity with several helping of stodgy hot-pot, and you get the gist of this film.But my gosh, its a mundane plodding affair, about as depressing as Sunday evening when you realise that the weekend is over.The cast are OK, Ashfield is okay as the troubled mother, but Waddington is fabulous as the anxious father. He knows his family are on the breadline, and now he has even more spirits to add to the ones he has at his local. But he is the only highlight of this otherwise poor film.Which is a shame, because the story is so interesting, but the result I'm afraid comes across more like a Heartbeat Halloween special, than a feature film.

Low-budget British paranormal chiller that avoids (praise be) the increasingly overused found-footage gimmick and settles instead for a traditionally scripted and shot narrative.It's a haunted house picture, set in the early 70s on a working class housing estate in Yorkshire. The period is nicely evoked, along with depictions of industrial action and accompanying power-cuts. Salt-of-the-earth-type mum and dad move into a council dream-home with teen daughter. Before long, poltergeist activity kicks off, escalating into increasingly violent attacks and malevolent manifestations. There's the restless spirit of a murdered little girl and...something much darker at play.Part traditional horror fodder, part social commentary on the parenting "skills" of the time, it is refreshingly unpretentious and doesn't waste the first half of the film with a protracted focus on the adults/disbelievers coming to terms with what is actually going on.Based on an apparently true case of a 1960s "haunting" it does have a unique ring of authenticity in characterisation, setting and execution. There are echoes of KES-era Ken Loach, neo-realistic British kitchen-sink drama and Play For Today tropes integrated quite seamlessly with post-modern RING/GRUDGE schema. This is all great until the CGI workout kicks in at the end, with a jarring and disconnecting effect, as though suddenly the audience is wrenched out of a skilfully constructed reality into a whole different stylistic architecture where Hollywood's POLTERGEIST runs the show.Full of nice disconcerting moments and some creepy turns, both fully lit and when the power cuts out, this is much more satisfying than many of its cookie-cutter US counterparts. Can't beat a good old-fashioned British ghost story for inducing a bit of skin-creeping fun. Also, once again, nice to see a modern horror picture with a positive outcome.

I really enjoyed the fact that this was old fashioned, yes obviously, due to the fact it is set in the 70s but I enjoyed that it was slow and simmering. The attention to detail in the sets and costumes really helped the whole feel and the acting was excellent and very natural. There are moments of black humour and the language and responses are very British, which I appreciated. Yes, it's nothing new but sometimes you just want a ghost story to give you chills and make you look twice at any open door at night when you are going upstairs! It is a shame the last 5 minutes let it all down so badly, no spoilers here but watch it and see what I mean. I'd say give it a go, it might just give you the creeps.