Red Lights (2012)

The movie “Red Lights” is the least horror-like film I’ve reviewed so far but it contains supernatural themes and is a great comparison to the movie I reviewed yesterday, “Apartment 143”. Both movies are about proving, or disproving, supernatural phenomenon. While “Apartment 143” the lead seemed a bit aloof, the investigators in “Red Lights” are believable and are deeply invested in their work. “Apartment 143” used fancy gadgets that seemed too fancy but “Red Lights” used techniques that make sense and that could be used in everyday situations. The funny twist to this comparison is the fact that both movies were written by the same man!

Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her assistant, physicist Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy), spend their time disproving supernatural occurrences when they are not busy teaching a college course on the same subject matter. Examples include hauntings in an old house and the medium that is trying to make contact the spirit to a convincing but ultimately fraudulent miracle healer. In both cases, their tricks are easily explained and even demonstrated for the class. Whenever Dr. Matheson tries to ask why such a brilliant person like Buckley remains at the college helping her with her work, he always changes the subject. He is clearly passionate about this line of work because he is instantly fascinated by the sudden return of the famous psychic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro). After Dr. Matheson suffers a major medical emergency, Buckley becomes obsessed and tries everything he can to prove that Silver is a fraud. Silver claims that his powers are real and agrees to undergo testing at the very university that Buckley works for. After completing the tests, Silver announces his retirement and final show just as the test results are to be verified and publically announced. Buckley goes to the show for one last chance to reveal the truth and a final standoff with the psychic.

Favorite moment – I really enjoyed the process of how Dr. Matheson, Buckley, and student Sally (Elizabeth Olsen) uncovered how the miracle healer was working his magic.