:origin()/pre00/01b7/th/pre/i/2006/258/a/d/light_at_the_end_of_the_tunel_by_j_a_f.jpg "3: Lights Out At Whit")
As was the case with “When a Stranger Calls,” “Lights Out” begins with a sequence designed to replicate the original short. Taking place in a factory after hours, instead of an anonymous apartment, it begins as an employee (Lotta Losten, who starred in the short) sees a mysterious female figure in the dark that disappears whenever the lights come back on, and who suddenly gets a lot closer when they go back out again. This time around, however, she survives, while the factory owner (Billy Burke) winds up meeting a gruesome end. Just before his demise, however, he was on the phone with his young son, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), talking about how mentally disturbed mom Sophie (Maria Bello) has apparently gone off her meds and seems to be talking to an imaginary friend named Diana. A few months pass and we learn that Sophie has gotten worse, and her conversations with Diana are so unnerving to Martin, not to mention all the attendant weird noises and scratches, that he can no longer sleep through the night and has been conking out in the middle of the school day.
I Bought 3 under cabinet lights from home depot for my workbench (2 4-ft, 1 2-ft). 2 of the 3 light fine, but the other (4-ft) fixture lights for 15 seconds or so then turns off. When the power is turned off, the bulb flashes briefly, then is off. At this point, the power can be turned back on and the bulb will light for another 15 seconds or so. I have a problem I need help figuring out. Bought lights last year and they worked fine. Put them up this year and they were lit for 2 nights. I have a 3 80 count strands and a few shorter ones. Well one of the longer strands, the middle part is very dim. The first third and last third are fine and the strand after.
3: Lights Out At Whit's End Restaurant
When the school nurse cannot reach Sophie, she contacts his stepsister Rebecca (Teresa Palmer)—whose own dad disappeared mysteriously years before and who has been estranged from Sophie since abruptly moving out a few years earlier. When Martin mentions Diana, she recognizes the name from her own traumatic childhood years and tries to have Martin stay with her. That doesn’t fly with Sophie, and after she reclaims Martin, Rebecca tries to get to the bottom of who or what Diana might be and what it has to do with her family. Without getting into too much detail, she is now a creature who can only attack in darkness and who cannot be around any sort of light. After a couple of Diana attacks, Rebecca, with the help of amiably dopey boyfriend Bret (Alexander DiPersia) and Martin, decide to hole up in Sophia’s house, lighting up the entire place in the process, in order to get her to start taking her medication again and seek treatment for her instability. Alas, Diana thrives when Sophia is at her most disoriented and begins knocking out the lights in order to get rid of the interlopers once and for all.
Although Sandberg is the director, the big behind-the-scenes name on display here is co-producer James Wan. His genre bonafides include the “Conjuring” and “Insidious” franchises, films that have largely eschewed the gory excesses of his breakthrough hit “Saw” in order to provide low-fi thrills more reliant on atmosphere, small-scale effects (like door slams) and things suddenly appearing from out of nowhere. When done properly, as was the case with the original “Conjuring” and “Insidious,” the results can be sensationally effective, like the best haunted house ride every created. Done wrong, however, and the results can be more like the sequels to “The Conjuring” and “Insidious”—increasingly tiresome efforts that continually try to wring additional screams out of material too familiar for its own good.
Notes:
Whit has another opening monologue with the audience on this episode; he introduces some of the families. George Poindexter is introduced, played by Chuck Bolte, who also played George Barclay. He says the newspaper is the Odyssey Chronicle. It tells some of Whit's history, including his ties to Universal Encyclopedia and that he has lived here 17 years. It also says that Jenny died nine years ago and that they were married for thirty-three years. Later it mentions information about Whit's birth, mother dying, and raising in Scotland. It talks about the library at Whit's End.
Larry Walker is played by Jim Cummings, who also plays Monterey Jack in Chip 'N Dale's Rescue Rangers, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger on The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, among others.
Colleen Walker is played by the voice of Mary Barclay.
The episode presents a person named Bob working at Whit's End.
The ending has Dr. Dobson and Mike Trout talking about the episode and they once again mention that Family Portraits is set in Ohio. They also call the main character Dr. Whit. James Drury notes that it might be Mike Trout called Dr. Dobson by his title, as in: 'That's right, Doctor. Whit is...'
3: Lights Out At Whit's End Campground
GOOF ALERT: Shawn says that she could see all the way to the bottom of Crater Lake. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and its bottom cannot be seen.