There is the issue of validation when dealing with Hollywood horror: finally the master has noticed me; finally he will spend money on me; I will become belle of the ball.
The success of The Exorcist 1973 hovers over every production like a possibility.
Studio horror intention is at its best this year with The Woman in Black and at its worst with Underworld: Awakening. Red Lights is listed as a thriller1 but its premise and trailer scream horror tropes. This looks like is an A-list film to note however it is being distributed by Millennium Entertainment. They bequeathed the world Faces in the Crowd last year so what do they know?
Director Rodrigo Cortéz helmed Buried 2010. That much lauded film is a one-trick one act stretched into 95 minutes. It is fraud – but like the best cons it fooled the right people.
Robert De Niro was once inspiration to the acting profession and to the public that watched him. He hasn't played a good role since Jackie Brown 1997. Sigourney Weaver is what everyone expected from De Niro. She is second only to Meryl Streep. Cillian Murphy is as steadfast as Ed Norton. Elizabeth Olsen is a limited actress inexplicably receiving a huge push.
Or perhaps she is easily explained. The Olsen twins have been in Hollywood for 20 years. Both they and their parents have no doubt built solid connections in that time. If the twins want their little sister to be a star (like they were) there are plenty of sycophants who will oblige. It seems Rooney Mara2 (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010) is taking a similar course – except she has talent.
Despite the red flags Red Lights will create buzz. That's what Robert De Niro does. Despite a previous cringe worthy foray into horror (Hide and Seek 2005). The audience knows if he turns it on its lights out.
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