10 Surprisingly Great Movies From Summer 2016
7. Lights Out
What We Expected: Yet another bust for talented lead actress Teresa Palmer, delivering generic shocks, predictable jump scares and a supernatural back story you can't even begin to give a damn about, while brutally wasting Maria Bello in a supporting role.
What We Got: Palmer finally gets a solid leading role and acts the hell out of it here, for what may seem like generic horror fodder is a surprisingly effective little chiller that makes the most of one of humanity's most common fears: the dark.
It's an extremely simple concept and proves that sometimes a basic, elemental premise can be so much more gratifying than complex, effects-driven scares.
It's not without the occasional groan-worthy jump scare, but the characters are uncommonly smart for the genre, the family drama actually works, Maria Bello gives a strong performance as Palmer's mother, and at only 80 minutes in length, it doesn't outstay its welcome for even a moment.