Despite the interesting set (England, 1974) and acceptable acting, When the Lights Went Out is a poor horror movie, mainly because of a presumably low budget and mediocre special effects. It creates enough empathy with the characters to make you feel sorry for what's happening to them (the girls in particular), it delivers a slight twist at the end and the story is interesting enough... but on the other side, the climax is just pitiful, the ghosts aren't scary and the mentioned twist is nothing but a way to keep the movie going for another 3 or 4 minutes. The movie generally fails its horror promise and leaves some questions unanswered (like... was there a more specific reason - other than the ghosts - why the girl wasn't allowed in her friend's house?). I have mixed feelings about this one, but can't give it a positive grade, 4 is as good as it gets.

A family moves into a new house only to discover that a spirit lives there and wants to hurt their daughter. Sally is the first to witness the entity behavior but her parents don't believe her not even when a friend of Jenny said that she seen someone in the house they don't believe until she takes part one day at the manifestation and begins to figure out that her daughter doesn't have visions. Now they must seek help from a priest in order to perform an exorcism on the house so they could make the spirit to leave from their residence.I think this is "The Amityville Horror" UK version but much more worst. There are many things wrong about this one. First when the family are convinced that the house is haunted they don't leave but more they look for fame in the newspaper and allow other to visit like there is something entertaining. Len spends his time drinking in the pub instead to take care of his family and doesn't bother to look for a solution about his problem instead Sally's teacher Mr. Price does that is his place. Len along with a friend assist at the exorcism along with the priest even though they don't have any experience. The movie tries to be a real story from the '70 but the missing facts and the uninspired actors makes this to be horrible and silly, so don't bother.

This movie turned out to be somewhat of a surprise - at least it was to me. What worked out so well in this movie was the mood that they managed to build up, because the story itself was fairly generic. The movie starts out slow, and then gradually builds up in intensity and thrills.The story in "When the Lights Went Out" is about a small family back in the 1970's where the young daughter starts experiencing strange things happening in their home. These occurrences build up in intensity and eventually start to be physically threatening to the family and anyone entering the house.If you are a regular to horror movies, and to ghost movies in particular, then you'll not really find anything new or overly innovating here in this movie. That being said, don't get it wrong, I am not saying that "When the Lights Went Out" is a bad movie, far from it, but it just doesn't really offer anything that haven't really been seen before.As I mentioned above, then it is the mood of the movie that is the centerpiece for this movie, as the director managed to put together something dark and sinister, that slowly escalates and keeps you firmly in your seat. And the approach to the story as to who is actually haunting the family was quite nice - and no, I am not going to spoil anything for you here - just watch it for yourself.If you enjoy a proper horror movie that involves ghosts and hauntings, then "When the Lights Went Out" is well worth a watch. Though, this is hardly the type of movie that you'll watch a second time around once you've seen it the first time.

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.