SUNDANCE - RED LIGHTS is a Fun Horror/Suspense Flick

Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver,  Rodrigo Cortés.  Photo by Victoria Will. 

Red Lights is a paranormal thriller directed by Rodrigo Cortés that is currently playing at Sundance.  I have not seen Cortés’s previous film, Buried, so I went into the theater without any expectations and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I think Red Lights will do so well commercially that I am surprised it is even at the festival.

In Red Lights, Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) are professors (parapsychologists) who study the paranormal with the aim to reveal its fraudulent origins.  Robert De Niro plays Simon Silver, a famous blind psychic who has returned to the public eye after a thirty-year hiatus.  Tom becomes obsessed with proving that Silver is a fraud and all sorts of spooky things start happening around him.

The movie had a dark creepy suspenseful tone that reminded me a bit of Black Swan and I had to cover my eyes more and more frequently as the movie progressed.  There is a fun twist at the very end that I did not see coming—but I would rather not spoil it for you.

Two small complaints: I would have preferred the ending to be a bit more concrete and the final scene where Tom imagines the future doesn't work because it came off funny.  Tom imagines a happy future, but in his daydreams, he is covered in blood and the juxtaposition of blood and daisies was just odd and funny...it didn't fit the movie.  It did not tell me what was going to happen to Tom or Silver and I wanted to know.  But don't let that keep you from seeing this movie.  

Red Lights is a classic type horror film with enough story line to appeal to broad audiences.  This is the type of scary movie that I like…one filled with suspense and surprise endings.  You may enjoy it best if you think of it as an entertaining popcorn flick and not a critical Sundance success.

Millenium Entertainment already purchased the film for either 4 million or 6 million (I have read both online) so we can all look forward to seeing it some date night at the local theater.  Grade B.