Have you seen The Conjuring 2? The one about the Enfield Haunting in Enfield, London’s Green Street?
Long before it came another film in the same vein, called When the Lights Went Out.
If you enjoyed The Conjuring 2’s closely accurate 70s vibe and the typically English violent haunting paradigm, then 2012’s When the Lights Went Out will thrill you to the core.
Based on the lesser known, but equally chilling true story of the Black Monk House in Yorkshire, When the Lights Went Out is a great watch for any day of the year, but especially for Halloween.
Admittedly, this is one of my personal favorites since I first saw it in 2014 (after another over-hyped ghost hunting YouTube channel investigated there and suggested people see the film).The film is set during the 1974 nationwide blackouts, which gives its title a rather sinister edge.
Yes, it is yet another story based on fact regarding a family plagued by apparent poltergeist activity and the ensuing search for help, but When the Lights Went Out has an endearing and slow-burning air that draws its viewers into the small family’s life. Not only is the film shot in a believable setting with likeable characters, but once you fall into the quaint world of the protagonists, the scares are quite unnerving, largely because of the realistic acting.
When the Lights Went Out is an adequately creepy experience into the story of the Maynard family and their fight with the demonic entity born from a child-killing monk that came to his own grisly end at the hand of the church many years before.
It would suit to remark that the modern horror market has always favored the ‘corrupt religious figure’ like The Nun and The Devils et al. Once again, this smoky black abbot similarly violates all he had stood for in the most gloriously heretical ways.
The acting is impressive and quite underrated. Great reactions from the cast effectively convey the dread and helplessness of the characters as well as pushing the film up a notch in quality factor. Kate Ashfield’s role as mom Jenny is a far cry from her hilarious performance in Shaun of the Dead, but she pulls off the loving, but stern Jenny swimmingly.
Her supportive, but skeptical husband, Len, is played by Steven Waddington (Sleepy Hollow and The Last of the Mohicans). Making her feature debut as their daughter, Sally is played by Tasha Connor, the target of the malevolent black monk spirit. However, the man who steals the show is Father Clifton, a soccer hooligan, bar-brawling type who just happens to be the local priest. Played by Scottish actor Gary Lewis (Gangs of New York and Valhalla Rising), Father Clifton is a badass with a rosary that brings his rugged persona into his house-cleansing regimen – a very entertaining character.
Written and directed by Pat Holden, When the Lights Went Out exhibits a ghastly atmosphere akin to older horrors such as Burnt Offerings. The score, along with some eerie foley creeps along to possess the shadowy camera work and does a great job at establishing the tone of each scene – which is mostly one of apprehension. It takes all of six minutes into the film before odd things begin to happen surreptitiously, but still it has the feeling of a gentle ushering into what’s coming instead of blatant scares.
When the Lights Went Out might be a generic, relatively unknown little horror, but if you want to go British and get your Amityville on, it will deliver in spades. Just pretend you haven’t paid your power bill and watch it with the lights out!
—Tasha Danzig