Red Lights (2012)

Plot of Red Lights: Professor Margaret Matheson and her assistant, physicist Tom Buckley, engage in exposing fraudulent paranormal experiences. Out in the world Simon Silver, a blind psychic had retired years ago after one of his critics had died during an argument with him, but now he is back, and Buckley wants hi to be investigated. Matheson is reluctant because he has seemed in the past to have created a connection between her and her son, who is on life support after an accident. Whenever Buckley is pursuing Silver, even remotely, strange events occur, light flicker, electronics explode and more. When Matheson dies apparently of natural causes the pace hots up and Silver consents to a laboratory set of tests conducted by Dr Paul Shackleton, apparently validating the claims of various capabilities including telepathy, but in the final moments Buckley’s assistants discover how the fraud has been carried out, and in a haze of exploding electronics Buckley and Silver face up to each other.

Content: No sex or nudity, although Buckley’s relationship with a student validated by them being seen in bed together. No drinking or drug taking. Matheson and Buckley are seen visiting a house where they debunk an apparent haunting, then they sort out a fake healer by identifying how he has obtained info about audience members. Meanwhile Silver is a threatening presence and we see him carrying out a sort of operation with his hands, a look  away moment. Silver also carries out other tricks and whenever Buckley is pursuing him, even remotely stuff happens. Close to the end Buckley is beaten up, graphically and unpleasantly.

A View: This outing was not much liked by the critics despite the pretty stellar cast, and the box office returns just equated the suggested production cost, so not a winner. But it rolls along and has a plot, which is a tick up for me and it does keep us wondering what Silver is up to and whether he really had the capabilities which he says he has. If there is a fault the plot seems to mix up a variety of super powers, all of them actually having different names. In the end it is a film you could have on, and now you have read this you don’t have to pay too much attention to it.

Fun Fact: Some of the technique used to expose frauds are taken almost verbatim from real events

Fun Fact: Some of the technique used to expose frauds are taken almost verbatim from real events.