Red Lights (2012)

Psychologist Margaret Matheson and her assistant study paranormal activity, which leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic who has resurfaced years after his toughest critic mysteriously passed away.

Director:

Rodrigo Cortés

Writer:

Rodrigo Cortés (screenplay)

Stars:

Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cillian Murphy	...	Tom Buckley
Sigourney Weaver	...	Margaret Matheson
Robert De Niro	...	Simon Silver
Toby Jones	...	Paul Shackleton
Joely Richardson	...	Monica Hansen
Elizabeth Olsen	...	Sally Owen
Craig Roberts	...	Ben
Leonardo Sbaraglia	...	Leonard Palladino
Adriane Lenox	...	Rina
Garrick Hagon	...	Howard McColm
Burn Gorman	...	Benedict Cohen
Mitchell Mullen	...	Jim Carroll
Nathan Osgood	...	Michael Sidgwick
Madeleine Potter	...	Sarah Sidgwick
Eloise Webb	...	Susan Sidgwick

Storyline

The skeptical psychologist Dr. Margaret Matheson and her assistant, the physicist, Tom Buckley, are specialists in disclosing fraudulent paranormal phenomena. When the famous psychic Simon Silver reappears to his public after many years of absence, Tom becomes obsessed to investigate whether Silver is a fraud or not.

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Plot Keywords:

psychic | skeptic | physicist | fraud | breaking a mirror | 

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Taglines:

How much do you want to believe?

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

Spain USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 March 2012 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Luces rojas

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

€14,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nostromo Pictures, Cindy Cowan Entertainment, Antena 3 Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Spanish director Eugenio Mira plays Robert De Niro's character in his early 30s.

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Goofs

Near the end of the film, when Buckley confronts Silver, Buckley looks down to his left hand to reveal the coin, but in the close-up, he opens his right hand.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Tom Buckley: Margaret. Margaret. Margaret.
Margaret Matheson: [waking] Yes?
Tom Buckley: You should get some sleep.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the ending credits, the film's title flickers in a similar manner to light bulbs do in the presence of psychic activity throughout the film.

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Connections

Featured in Projector: Red Lights (2012)

User Reviews

Not impressed. Too hollow, self-conflicting, unfulfilled

Unimpressed. I liked the theme that the movie was hinting towards in the beginning. Scientists evaluating and debunking pseudo-science and psychic phenomena. Reminded me of the Great James Randi. But within minutes, it was clear that even that aspects are mangled up. Some investigations are shown without the results/ explanations given in detail. The debunks are simplistic, and talk about some of the common/ popular psychic cons, but never in detail; I wonder if people would catch it unless they are already familiar with the cons via documentaries and other shows.

I was particularly irritated about how they administered the Astrology chart test devised by James Randi, and popularized via "Pen & Teller: Bulls**t" episode. Cilian Murphy's character administered the test, and then left the scene without explaining the point of the exercise, which is a shame.

I liked Sigourney Weaver's character in the beginning, but the character turned out to be so poorly threshed out; not a lot better than a caricature of a pseudo-science skeptic.

I understand a lot of people have problems with the movie's ending. I can understand the frustration. The climactic twist takes away from the central premise, it reminded me of 'The Reaping' in some way. And besides being incongruous to the main storyline, it further had the problem of being very poorly executed.

Overall, I'd rate it around 4 out of 10. Not great.