Director: Rodrigo Cortes
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro
Running Time: 113 minutes
Certificate: 15
Extras: Interview With The Director, Interview With Robert De Niro, Behind The Scenes, Making Of Red Lights
RED LIGHTS tells the story of two paranormal investigators (Cillian Murphy & Sigourney Weaver) who take pleasure in busting fakes (like GHOSTBUSTERS, but not as interesting or fun). In fact they conduct lectures on the subject to college kids who seem insanely bored by it all.
The first few scenes feel like you are intruding on rehearsals for an amateur dramatic production of DON’T LOOK NOW. To say there is bad acting and dialogue here would be an understatement. Our two heroes are called in to probe irregular sounds in a house and observe a séance. They immediately use their super detective skills to expose that the séance is a total fraud. Busted. It’s sort of like Rogue Traders but without the benefit fraud. It actually all reminded me of the start of AMITYVILLE 3D. Right kids?
Anyway. The focus of their latest investigation is world famous psychic entertainer Simon Silver (Robert De Niro). Silver is a man of mystery who, as a news story about him reveals, has been retired from psychic entertainment since the since he was suspected to have killed a journalist who didn’t like him, with his MIND.
The best scene of the film (by far) is a man pretending to be De Niro as a young man (by doing ‘that face’ and wearing sunglasses) while De Niro overdubs him VERY badly. It is amazingly hilarious. Not sure it is intended to be.
The problem with De Niro playing a psychic entertainer is that he doesn’t have the charisma to carry it off. Sadly he is badly miscast. He seems tired and bored throughout and certainly not someone you would pay two thousand dollars to see live. Even though at one point he does fly, he still looks bored while he does it. Miserable mentalist that he is. He will then later switch to the other extreme and shout like he has trapped his knob in a photocopier.
RED LIGHTS has its heart in the right place, but is simply not that good. It seems unsure as to whether it is a thriller or a jumpy horror. In the end it falls between the two and doesn’t overly thrill or scare. It just exists.
The bright points all come from Cillian Murphy, a unique actor who never disappoints in whatever he is in. Shame he is in this, but them bills won’t pay themselves.
RED LIGHTS is released on Blu-ray and DVD October 22nd
