Today, we are going to explain a horror, thriller, mystery film called “Lights Out.”
Introduction
While working late at night at a mannequin factory, Paul video calls with his son, Martin, who informs his father that Sophie, his mother, has been acting strange lately. Paul assures Martin that things will get better and that Sophie will be okay soon.
At the same time, while Esther, Paul’s assistant, is locking up the warehouse, a black figure appears in the back of the room as she turns off the lights.
She notices a silhouette in the dark, but it vanishes when she turns the lights back on. To confirm, Esther turns off the lights once more, and the figure reappears. She repeats this process three more times, and when she turns off the lights for the fifth time, the figure appears closer.
Esther immediately turns the lights back on and tells Paul what she saw. Paul dismisses her concerns and tells her to go home instead.
A little while later, Paul goes to lock up the place for the night. As he prepares to leave, Paul recalls Esther’s warning about seeing someone. As a result, he takes a walk through the dimly lit warehouse, where he eventually runs into the same dark figure.
First Encounter
The silhouette is crouched in a corner and begins to stand up when it notices Paul. Suddenly, the lights turn off, and Paul tries opening them again. Upon opening the lights, the figure appears closer. It seems to be a colossal entity with its hair rumpled in the air.
Paul runs away, but the figure scratches his leg. Once he reaches a lit area, he sees a slash on his leg. When Paul stands up, he notices that the figure is standing in the dark in front of him. Paul realizes that it’s standing right where the darkness ends on the ground.
He then assumes that it can only travel in the dark and not in the light, causing Paul to sprint back to his well-lit office. He shuts the door behind him and takes out a baseball bat. The lights suddenly begin to flicker and eventually go out, leaving him in the dark. As the figure tries to enter the office, the door handles starts to jiggle until it finally opens slightly.
Paul braces himself for an attack, but the unknown force suddenly drags him into the darkness. The entity then dumps his dismembered body on the lit side of the warehouse.
Dark Figure Follows
A few days later, when Martin is about to fall asleep, he hears his mother talking to someone. He walks down the hall to her room, where she appears to be arguing with someone while lights are off.
Martin becomes frightened since only he and his mother are in the house, but Sophie apologizes for waking him up, telling him to rest. Martin slowly walks back to his room. When he returns his gaze, he notices a hand appear at the corner of the door as Sophie stands beside it.
Martin dashes back into his room, shuts his door, and hides under the covers. The lights outside his room turn off, and then suddenly, his door handle begins to shake as if someone is trying to enter.
The following day, Martin’s stepsister, Rebecca, is with her boyfriend, Bret, on the other side of town. At the same time, Martin is in the nurse’s office after falling asleep in class for the third time in a week. Since the school is unable to contact Sophie, they get Rebecca to take his stepbrother.
Taking Care of Family
She and Bret meet Emma, a representative from Child Protective Services, who informs her about Martin’s situation. Rebecca has a rocky relationship with her mother after her father abandoned her a few years ago. Martin speaks with Rebecca, wondering why she left the house, which she refuses to answer and offers to drive him home.
Meanwhile, when they reach home, Martin tells Rebecca to let him sleep in her apartment instead. Rebecca dismisses that idea and joins Martin in the house while Bret remains in the car. While they walk, Martin informs Rebecca that Sophie has been talking to someone named Diana.
Rebecca asks more about Diana, but Martin claims that he only overhears Sophie talking to her. Rebecca informs Martin that Diana is not real, that she is only created and imagined by their mother.
A little while later, Sophie welcomes her children inside. When Sophie inquires about why Martin is home from school so early, he responds that Rebecca will explain.
Unbeknownst to Rebecca, Martin goes up to his room to pack his belongings. Rebecca talks to Sophie and discovers that Sophie isn’t taking her antidepressants, resulting in an argument.
Just as Rebecca tells Sophie that she’ll be taking Martin over to her place for a few nights, Martin walks up with his suitcase packed and ready to go. Sophie starts to cry and begs Rebecca to let Martin stay, but Rebecca refuses and takes Martin to her home. Martin willingly joins Rebecca in Bret’s car while reminding his mom not to forget her vitamins.
Later that day, Rebecca and Martin arrive in her apartment, and she shows him her room. Despite the dark posters hanging on the walls, Martin unpacks his things, testing if his flashlight works.
When Rebecca heads out of the room, Bret seems concerned about Rebecca taking Martin against their mom’s will. He wonders if she’s doing it for Martin or doing it for herself to hurt her mother. Feeling annoyed, Rebecca asks Bret to leave.
That night, while having dinner, Rebecca prepares sandwiches for both of them. While Martin is eating, she fixes his hair, then suddenly Martin asks Rebecca that if their mother is crazy, and if it means they’re crazy too, to which she assures Martin that they’re not crazy.
Dark Entity Follows
In the middle of the night, Rebecca finds Martin missing from his bed. Upon hearing a scratching noise, Rebecca gets up, assuming its Martin. However, she investigates the noise source and notices a figure hunched while scratching the floor near the bedroom door.
Light from outside blinks on and off and Rebecca sees the creature appearing and disappearing. The figure notices Rebecca looking at it and appears right in front of Rebecca.
Fortunately, the signage light turns on, and it vanishes. Rebecca rushes to the light switch and lights up the room. She then searches the room for Martin and locates him sleeping in the bathtub with a flashlight on.
The following day, Emma knocks on Rebecca’s door warning her about taking Martin against their mother’s will. Rebecca tells her that their mom is not in a good mental state, but Emma informs her that she must file a case against her mother before taking Martin into her apartment.
Emma then takes Martin and brings him back to Sophie. Rebecca is alone again in her apartment. While thinking about what she will do next for Martin, she notices a scribble on the floor, which reads, “Diana,” with a drawing beside it. She then remembers an incident when she was young.
Finding Diana
When she was around Martin’s age, she heard a strange cracking and scratching from the dark while drawing her family. Upon approaching her dark closet, the noises stopped. When she opened the light, and her drawing suddenly dropped to the floor.
She picked up the paper, and she noticed that someone removed her father from the picture and inserted itself into it, naming itself as “Diana.”
Later that day, Rebecca and Bret sneak into Sophie’s house to gather information about Diana. She gets a hidden key and lets themselves in. Rebecca immediately goes upstairs and finds a box containing information on Sophie and her previous stay in a mental institution when Sophie was a child.
Rebecca discovers that Sophie met a girl there named Diana, who had a rare skin disorder and couldn’t go out into the light. The doctors used many lights to perform an experimental procedure on Diana, which resulted in her death.
Rebecca visits her old room and finds the old drawing, and then suddenly, the door shuts behind her. She pounds the door, hoping Bret could hear her, but a force knocks her to the ceiling and strangles her with her necklace. Bret hears Rebecca’s screams and manages to open the door.
Diana Arrives
The light from the hallway causes Diana to vanish and Rebecca to fall to the ground. Rebecca then grabs the box containing Diana’s information and flees out the back door after Bret informs her that Sophie is coming home with Martin.
A little while later, Sophie and Martin spend some quality time together by watching an old movie. Martin is delighted to finally bond with his mom. While eating popcorn, Martin and Sophie begin watching the film, and they casually talk about how both of them are coping up after Paul died.
Sophie tells Martin that Rebecca is only acting strong since she abandoned her when things get complicated. However, Martin assures her that he won’t leave her mother. He also tells her mother that she must be strong and sometimes face her fears.
Later, Sophie then takes a break from the film and informs Martin that she will be right back. Suddenly she goes and turns off the lights. Martin becomes frightened, and Sophie tries to reassure him, telling him about her friendship with Diana. She convinces him that Diana is her friend and can only stay if all the lights are off.
Diana Gets Aggressive
Martin starts hyperventilating and freaks out when Diana appears beside him. He tries to turn the lights on, but when Diana is about to stop him, Sophie gets in the way, and Diana hits her across the face, knocking Sophie to the ground.
Martin takes the opportunity to switch on the lamp and reaches the front door to run. Martin reaches Rebecca’s apartment, telling her that Sophie’s getting worse.
Bret then goes to the store to have some food, allowing Martin to speak alone with Rebecca. Martin explains what happened and says Diana exists. Rebecca understands that he is telling the truth and tells him what she found out about Diana. She tells him that the entity goes into Sophie’s mind and convinces Sophie that she is a friend.
Rebecca discloses that Diana only comes around when Sophie is at her worst, allowing her to control her. She also informs him that Diana died during an experiment, and only Sophie is her connection into this world.
Rebecca plans to make their mother constantly feel better, hoping to break Diana’s connection. Still, Martin says that Diana won’t let that happen because Paul already tried to, and he failed.
Horror by Diana’s Spirit
Suddenly, someone knocks at the door. Rebecca goes to answer the door, thinking its Bret, but there’s no one there. There are scratching sounds on the walls and in the bedroom closet, and when she opens the closet door, it appears empty. However, Diana grabs Martin’s leg and pulls him under Rebecca’s bed, but Rebecca drags Martin back.
That night, Rebecca and Martin return to Sophie’s house with Bret. Sophie ignores Rebecca’s attempts to persuade her that Diana is dead but that her spirit is attempting to kill them. Still, Sophie dismisses her and walks upstairs to her room.
Meanwhile, Rebecca persuades Martin to sleep over in her place instead, but Martin refuses to leave their mother. Rebecca then decides that the three of them will be staying the night. Bret will rest on the couch, while Rebecca will share Martin’s room.
Rebecca enters Sophie’s room to inform her that she will be staying the night. Sophie opens the door as she walks away from the bedroom door, expressing her gratitude to Rebecca for allowing her to spend the night with her.
While hugging Rebecca, Sophie takes her hand and slips her a note, and goes back, as if someone is pulling her clothes inside. Rebecca then checks the paper, which reads, “I need help.” Rebecca rushes to find Sophie’s medications, but all of them are expired. She then joins Martin in bed.
Total Blackout
Later that night, there was a total blackout. Bret investigates outside with a flashlight while Rebecca searches the basement for the fuse box. When Martin wakes up, he discovers Rebecca has vanished. He takes a candle and walks down the hall.
Diana appears behind him. Trying to escape, Martin stumbles while still holding the candle, and suddenly, Diana starts to drag him away, but Martin turns around and shines the candle in her face, causing her to flee for a moment.
Martin dashes downstairs to the basement, where he encounters Rebecca. Rebecca realizes it’s a trap, and the two decide to run upstairs.
At the top of the stairs, Diana appears and slams the basement door, trapping them inside. At the same time, Bret discovers that Rebecca and Martin are trapped in the basement and tries to open it. He turns around and sees Diana in the kitchen down the hall. She starts to draw nearer to him.
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However, he directs the flashlight’s beam at her. She vanishes for a moment before reappearing beside him, smacking the flashlight from his grip, knocking him to the ground. Diana carefully approaches him, but he grabs his phone and flashes light in her direction. With his phone in hand, he uses it to keep her at bay.
Bret gets up immediately and runs away. Diana grabs him as he passes in front of his car. She lifts him above her head, but Bret grabs his car keys and presses the car alarm button before she can kill him. His car’s headlights turn on, scattering Diana and slamming Bret to the ground. He gets into his car and drives away to seek assistance.
Diana is not a Friend
Upon noticing that Martin and Rebecca are in danger, Sophie realizes that Diana is not her friend. She calls out to Diana, telling her that she cannot survive because Diana has attached herself to Sophie as a spirit.
Sophie is about to take her medication when Diana walks in and hits her across the room. Martin and Rebecca are still confined in the basement. Rebecca searches through a box, using scraps of paper to keep the furnace fire going, and Martin finds an old ultraviolet light and presents it to Rebecca.
Using the ultraviolet light, Rebecca searches the basement and discovers writing scattered across the walls. Diana suddenly appears, and Rebecca realizes that UV light cannot harm Diana. She heads back to Martin while trying to grab a shovel, but Diana grips her hand while crawling. Fortunately, Martin saves her by flashing a light into Diana’s hand.
They run towards the basement door and continue knocking, asking their mom for help. Meanwhile, two police officers escort Bret into the house. While the two police officers go inside, he stays outside in his car. However, they manage to obtain Rebecca and Martin from the basement, but not before Diana assassinates one of the officers while inspecting the kitchen.
Rebecca tries to warn the other officer that she will need to use a flashlight to survive, but the officer doesn’t listen to her. Still, she fires her weapon at Diana, but she vanishes due to the gun flash. Diana manages to gain the upper hand and ends up killing the policeman.
At the same time, when Rebecca and Martin can now go away from the house, he refuses because he doesn’t want to leave Sophie behind. When Bret arrives at the door, Rebecca tells him to look after Martin while she gets Sophie.
Rebecca makes it to the second floor with the black light and flashlight. Diana slowly approaches her from behind, but Rebecca burns Diana’s hand using the flashlight.
Mother’s Sacrifice
Feeling enraged, Diana picks Rebecca up and throws her from the second-floor balcony, where she lands on the ground floor but is relatively unharmed. Diana makes her way downstairs and is about to kill Rebecca when Sophie suddenly appears, pointing a gun. Sophie warns Diana that if she harms any of her children, she will hold her accountable.
Just as Diana is about to stop her, Sophie puts the gun to her head and pulls the trigger. As Sophie dies, Diana vanishes into dust. Rebecca is overwhelmed with emotion as she witnesses how her mother saved them by sacrificing herself. She crawls towards her mother and holds her lifeless body in her arms.
Rebecca later joins Martin and Bret in the ambulance. Rebecca shares her gratitude for Bret for returning to saves them, while Martin also admires her for doing the same. The three of them are comforting each other in the ambulance while the police keep on arriving, leaving the police lights to brighten up the place.
Summary
This story is an allegory for depression. Diana’s spirit tethered herself to Sophie in death and has been with her since childhood, eventually killing Sophie’s husband when he tried to help her. As revealed, Diana’s motivation is to kill anyone who seeks Sophie’s treatment, including her children.
While light scares her, it is revealed that black light allows them to see Diana as a large woman with horrible skin burns. Although the ending proved controversial in this regard, it intended to portray Diana as an embodiment of Sophie’s depression.
Towards the end, Sophie realizes that Diana is connected to the world through her, so she kills herself to save her children. Some misinterpreted the message as Sophie “freeing” her family from the burden of her depression by killing herself, but this was not the case.
The ending was initially longer and had a different finish, where Diana reappears, and depression overwhelms Martin due to his mother’s death, and they have to deal with Diana again.
It wanted to show the probable effect of depression. However, test audiences hated this epilogue, rendering Sophie’s sacrifice pointless, so it was removed from the final cut.