Steve Cann I took a bit of a gamble on this UK-made 'homegrown' horror, & have to say was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Set in a rural Yorkshire town in 1974, it charts the allegedly true story of the Maynard family's terror when they move into their new home, & soon discover it's inhabited by poltergeists & things that literally go bump in the night - initially centred around their rather grumpy teenage daughter. The events become increasingly frequent & more violent, involving the whole family (& even visitors to the house), until the god-believing family finally call in a Catholic priest to perform an Exorcism. But have the 'ghosts' really gone....What I really loved about this film was its incredible attention to period detail. Very often, it's easy to spot mistakes when a film is set in a certain era & doesn't get things quite right. But I'd give 10 out of 10 to the makers for their wonderful recreation of 1974 - which had me reminiscing all the way through to the era that style forgot! Right from the start, you feel you are in good hands, & that this is a film that will have care & attention lavished upon it. It's also written & directed by a family relative (Pat Holden), & he has done an excellent job here of bringing this story to the screen.The performances are good too, & it was great to see a cameo by veteran actor Peter Egan. As for the story itself, I have no idea as to its validity. Not being a believer in the supernatural myself, I was rather sceptical about the whole set-up, especially that the family's experiences seemed to play out rather conveniently in the wake of the classic horror film 'The Exorcist', released theatrically the previous year. But, if you are prepared to suspend your disbelief, it does make for a tense & genuinely scary film, with its fair share of jumps.If you are expecting a full-on gross-out horror film, or something glossy in the American style, then you may be disappointed. But if you are looking for a well-made, suspenseful, UK-made thriller full of orange & brown 1974 period charm, then sit back & enjoy!

fedor8 A horror movie that is quite indecisive whether it wants to be a comedy as well – in spite of the fact that it deals with "the most malevolent poltergeist in Europe's history". Long segments of WTLWO have no gags, but then the "humour" rears its absurd head in the most inappropriate moments, rendering the characters' behavior illogical. The film-makers should have chosen a direction and stuck with it, instead of meandering between genres like confused teens. Just to give you an idea: the girl's father and his pal blackmail the local priest into conducting the exorcism, and they do this by showing him sex-photos of him and his maid.Several idiotic plot-devices were used by force to advance "conflict" hence the plot.Firstly, the way Sally loses her best friend is quite absurd: Sally faints during a school excursion, and her teacher instructs her friend to go inside the house to watch over her. Once there, Sally's friend must immediately do no. 1 because she "wore nappies at the age of 10" (how convenient for the writer). Predictably, she gets attacked while peeing (in what is also perhaps a world premiere of a 13 year-old girl being shown peeing and wiping – though I am excluding French cinema in which this must have been done by now). The girl's mother angrily admonishes Sally – yet Sally FAILS to tell her that it wasn't her fault and that she had fainted previously. Sally's mother appears a minute later and smacks Sally hard, in SPITE of the fact that Sally had a mysterious band-aid on her forehead, which apparently wasn't noticed by her mother for whatever baffling reason, nor did she ever even ask Sally how she hurt herself. In other words, the entire fainting episode is something Sally FAILS to inform her parents about – and they never find out about it – which I thought was extremely moronic. A dozen people could have told them about it: the teacher, Sally, Sally's pal, Sally's classmates, the school principal, etc, yet none of them do.Secondly, the role of the private exorcist. He shows up at the pub where Sally's father gets drunk, but instead of introducing himself to him, he insults him and gets into a row! What purpose could this scene possibly serve? To tell us that Sally's father likes bar-brawls? Who gives a toss! Later, the mystery man hands a visit-card to Sally who predictably FAILS to show it to her parents. Later, when she finally calls him for help, he is unable to do much; the only thing we learn from this man is that there are two ghosts instead of one – as if that wasn't quite obvious anyway. Sally keeps failing to communicate the most essential information to her parents, as if she had her tongue already cut by the tongue-cutting ghost.The ghost is a pedophilic, serial-killing priest. He fondles Sally on many occasions, in what is slightly tasteless fare. But then again, this is the same movie that gives us insight into how a 13 year-old pees! Why be surprised. I am just glad the camera didn't go down into the toilet-bowl before the flushing occurred, to help us understand what a girl's pee looks like seconds before its sent into the British Canal.There is another cretinous scene early on when Sally's father lunges out of the cellar frightened out of his wits and actually smacks his daughter full-on – in spite of just having had encountered a ghost! The writer tries hard to alienate Sally from her parents and society, using all the clichés in the text-book, and then exaggerating them to the point of absurdity.

Spikeopath When the Lights Went Out is written and directed by Pat Holden. It stars Steven Waddington, Kate Ashfield, Natasha Connor, Craig Parkinson, Jo Hartley and Martin Compston. Film is based on alleged real life events that were recorded in Pontefract, England, in 1974. After the Pritchard family moved into their new house on the Chequerfield Estate, poltergeist activity reached such a level it has been called the most violent poltergeist haunting ever witnessed in Europe.Director Holden, who made the criminally under valued Awaydays, helms his picture with genuine love and thought for the topic. Being related to the Pritchard family he had wanted to make the film for some time, it's a noble effort even though it never achieves all that it can.There are two main problems that will ensure the film will stay rooted on the bottom shelves of DVD stockists and collectors. Problem one is that it is uncomfortable in mixing comedy with drama, something that practically kills a key scene in the last quarter. It's useful to understand that these Yorkshire folk are made of tough stuff, ready to offer a quip in the face of adversity, but it has to be pitched right and here it negates much of the pent-up terror.The other key issue is that it's so stunning in its period design (this really deserves the highest praise for the makers), anyone from the 1970s is guaranteed to be spending much of the film pointing out things and reminiscing. I know I was! Garish wallpaper designs, toys like Slinky and Buckaroo, rum and pep and Babycham in the smoky pubs, The Sweet singing Little Willy and a hairy Noel Edmonds on Top of the Pops, these are just some of the things to make film fans who were reared in the 70s smile during this particular horror film!As a tale it's creepy enough, the cold backdrop of a Yorkshire council estate suits the story no end, and in spite of a bad misstep when Holden uses CGI in the finale, the shocks and unease moments are nicely handled. While the human interest factor always remains high and there's a bit of thought within the writing to off set the normal question of "why don't they just move house?". It's also well performed by the cast, with youngster Connor really shining bright, and with Holden keeping things brisk the picture never gets bogged down with pointless scene fillers. Is it scary? Away from the flares, wallpaper and hair styles that is! Well no it isn't really, it's more an effective ghost yarn than anything else. So needless to say, the blood lust gore crowd or those expecting a battle between religion and demon, need not apply here. 6.5/10

dbhatton001 I really enjoyed the fact that this was old fashioned, yes obviously, due to the fact it is set in the 70s but I enjoyed that it was slow and simmering. The attention to detail in the sets and costumes really helped the whole feel and the acting was excellent and very natural. There are moments of black humour and the language and responses are very British, which I appreciated. Yes, it's nothing new but sometimes you just want a ghost story to give you chills and make you look twice at any open door at night when you are going upstairs! It is a shame the last 5 minutes let it all down so badly, no spoilers here but watch it and see what I mean. I'd say give it a go, it might just give you the creeps.