Lights Out : So if you're depressed you should kill yourself

Diana is depression. Which makes the end quite hopeless because the only way to get rid of it is to kill yourself?
Oh well, i liked the movie anyway, but battling with depression myself, i hope i won't get to this point!

That's not funny. Btw., whoever -really- is - just gotta say that it won't (like, 100% without a doubt! :))

*Because, you know, it isn't real Freddy isn't REALLY coming if they sleep.

Edit: It's a film, goddammit.

Sorry your post doesn't mean anything. I just don't understand there's no sentence

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That's not funny.

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Btw., whoever -really- is -

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gonna kill himself

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just gotta say that it won't

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() that *I won't kill myself

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(like, 100% without a doubt! :))

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I agree, whatever you do, don't kill anyone.

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*Because, you know, it isn't real Freddy isn't REALLY coming if they sleep.

Edit: It's a film, goddammit.

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What's not to understand? Maybe she just isn't depression. Maybe just for you.

I haven't seen the film though.

Jumpscares make me very nervous ^_ ^

She doesn't kill herself because she is depressed, she kills herself because a ghost has latched onto her.


Big difference.

You guys don't see the metaphore being the monster?
It's not always subtle. She stopped taking her meds and thats when it came back haunting her, at the end she tries to take her meds back but it stops her.
It's been told that the husband was killed by that thing because "he wanted to help her getting better"
That thing attacks everything in her life that could help her get better. Her husband, her children, her meds. It makes her live in the dark, of her mind.
It's depression, not an actual ghost. At least if you reas between the lines!
And she kills herself at the end so she kills it with her
So yeah i stand on my grounds

That sounds like an interesting concept, but is the movie really worth seeing in your opinion?




Is this to be an empathy test?

I have an unlimited card so i didnt technically pay for it. I wouldn't have paid for it, because there's better movies on the screen. It's a 6.5/10
You to judge :)

I dunno, maybe interpret the movie in a better way next time.

Me ? The interpretation couldn't be more crystal clear. The monster is her depression.
I don't think the director wanted to give that final message about how to get rid of depression but after all she did kill herself to kill the demon

she just couldn't live with the monster

I find that somehow an ok description

Live with the monster inside, or end it

Your interpretation will most likely not even be close to what the director/writer meant to make. You're reading way too deep into this. How do I know this? Because this movie started as a short horror, written and directed by the same person, and that short horror made no entendre in any way that there was a metaphor to be found. It was just a monster/ghost-movie and this movie is just a feature-film length of that. If the director didn't have a message or metaphor to convey in his short film, I seriously doubt he suddenly shoe-horned that in in the full-length movie.

Sorry but your argument is absolutely useless. "If the director didn't have a message or metaphor to convey in his short film, I seriously doubt he suddenly shoe-horned that in in the full-length movie"
Really? So you think the transition between a short film and feature is "sudden"?
Even Kubrick was re-writing his movies during the shooting so i can tell you A LOT can happen between the making of a short and a long.
On top of that, if you read other post and replies to mine, you'll see there is a lot of people with the same interpretation than me, because it's not a "deep" one, it's actually very not subtle which is what makes this movie average

Sure, a lot goes on between the shift from short-film and full length movie. However, it is very clear that the director had no intention to give this any subtextual layers. In interviews he literally talked about creating and expanding a mytho's around this monster. He literally talks about a monster and never even drops anything about depression, which other directors (like both the director and actors of The Babadook talked about the actual metaphor), the makers of this movie talk about it as a horror/monster movie because that's what it is.
It's not because something involves morals, or sickness that it automatically has a deeper meaning. People interpret even the Bible wrongly very often because they just see what they want to see. The makers have been 100% clear that they wanted to make a scary horror movie with a new monster, and that's exactly what they did.

No, that interpretation is pretty much dead on. It's very obvious subtext.

Your interpretation is incorrect.


The spirit of abysmal despair

This isn't The Babadook. There are no layers. No metaphors. Her depression attracted the ghost. It's not supposed to be some sort of metaphorical manifestation.

who's scruffy lookin?

Of course Diana is a metaphor for depression. What some of those on this thread don't get, is that metaphors should be read on two different levels. Diana is also a demon or a ghost.It's both of those things. Just like the dementors in Harry Potter are the guards of Azkaban, but also a metaphor for depression. When a muggle is clinically depressed they feel the same as when a dementor attacks a magical person. The Shining, some say, is about American imperialism, particularly in regard to the victimization of Native Americans. But it is also a ghost story.
I disagree that the moral of the story is that people with depression have to kill themselves to get rid of their depression. They can and do, unfortunately. But as one person on this thread said, it is not meant as a prescription for depression but as a description of depression. As such, it is a very powerful one, that those who struggle with this problem should appreciate. It doesn't sugar coat it that's for sure.

The metaphor was like a more obvious version of the Babadook (with less plot holes). I usually take the film for what is presented to me rather than sketchy web-theories and even I reacted on the metaphor and the contrast to the ending.

I feel more as if the writers knew what story they wanted to tell but either had no idea how to end it, or had some studio suit telling them what to do.

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So if you're depressed you should kill yourself

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No; if the murderous ghost of a long dead cell mate is intent on murdering your children and anyone else she can get her hands on and you're her only link to the land of the living. then suicide quickly become a viable option.

Again, check my answer above. You're just stating the obvious, make it too simple.
I'm talking about the meaning of the movie.
That thing is a personification of her depression

It's both. The creators of the film crammed so much backstory about Diana into the movie that she is a an actual "monster"and not merely an allegory. Contrast this with the Babadook where it is pure allegory.

Especially sine they just green lit a sequel odds are that Diana is probably what made the light in the Ambulance flicker.

There won't be any sequel. Not good enough

The sequel was greenlit the day after the film opened in the US. The film made back its budget in 1 day.

Cool. I'm really not interested in a sequel on this

What if the premise of the sequel is about how to defeat with Diana (depression) without resorting to killing the person she is using as a host (suicide)?




Gruss Vom Krampus!

That would be a better message for depressed people :)

But to kill the poor monster, wouldn't that be just another reason to get depressed?

Right, so depression carved out her husband eyes and mutilated those cops, you sure do know what you're talking about.

Themes, subtext.

Nope you're just simply overthinking things. Regarding the movie..there is no deeper meaning and things are as they appearnot sure why you cant accept this



Everything in moderationincluding moderation..

Im not overthinking because it became so big after just 20min and im not the only one with that interpretation
Sorry but if you THAT goes over your head, you're clearly not a good film critic because that's a very simple movie. And it's not even subtle

I totally agree with you, RendezvouswithU! People nowadays tend to "overthink" horror movies and watch them seeking for "hidden messages and meanings" Like in Babadook, which I thought it was "what you see is what you get" movie, but people fight all over the internet about its hidden meanings and psychological theories zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Imagine having to do this with the classics, A nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th, for instance Bo-ring!!!

It's not boring it's the essence of cinema. Some movie don't have a message and i like them just as much (ex. Death proof) Some movie have a message and are brilliantly made (ex. Dallas buyers club)
Some movie try to have a message but it's so big it's cheesy as *beep* (ex. This one)

You're taking it all first degree. Obviously the director meant to make a metaphore about depression. I could bet a million dollars if you ask him. They're so many signs, like "when she takes her meds the demon goes away"
When her kids are around cheering her up the demon goes away thats why it's pushing them out?
Come on, if that's how you interprete a movie then Melancholia is just about a planet crushing to Earth? No, it's not that simple

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Obviously the director meant to make a metaphore about depression

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No.

Thats it. your entire thread is now irrelevant.


The spirit of abysmal despair

I get what you're trying to say but even in that context I don't think it's urging that suicide is the only option for depression.

The mother only did it when her child was in extreme, real physical danger from Diane.

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the only way to get rid of it is to kill yourself

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I don't think the film is saying that. Rather, the mother kills herself because she feels she is a burden on her loved ones (not uncommon in depression). It's really an indictment of her daughter, who consistently disregards her state of mind rather than showing empathy and trying to understand it. The message, if anything, is that ignoring mental illness - i.e. denying the darkness - is what harms sufferers, more than the illness itself.


My movie reviews: www.rocknreelreviews.com/reviewed_by/rupert

I understand your point but you can't really say they're ignoring her illness when they decide to move in with her. The son clearly says to her sister "im not going to leave her alone"
It took some time (first there was fear) but the kids eventually tried to support the mother. But it ended that way anyway

That were my exact thoughts after I leaved the theater. And I'm pretty sure many people suffering depression would have a similar interpretation.
Even thought if Diana is a "real" ghost it doesn't change the fact that they implied that depressive people are scary, ruining their family and to say the least and inconvenience. I mean the only good thing the mother does is killing her self I'm sure the director doesn't intends to trow mentally ill people under the bus, but indirectly it kinda does. And unfortunately that's a pretty wore-out clich by now.

Totally agree! Thank you!

Yeah im not sure why so many people are disagreeing with you. The movie is very obviously using Diane's Ghost as a metaphor for depression. The movie was resolved by Sophie killing herself and preventing Diane (her depression) from affecting her children any more.

You could easily interpret that as "suicide is the only solution that will solve things" for someone with depression. I really doubt that the studio was going for this message, but it is a very feasible interpretation for the movie.

I agree. It definitely is a movie that accurately represents some aspects of depression. As I sat in the movie theater and I watched how the mother would lock herself in the dark, it quickly reminded me of my own depression. Although, her cause and effect started back when she was a child.

Here's my theory, I think the dark figure was supposed to represent the thing that made her depressed, so in this case, the little girl she befriended as a child. Weird how her daughter would see the same figure but wasn't affected by it.

Another possible theory is, the little girl she supposively befriended never existed in the first place. So, the dark figure that was consuming her family members, the first being her husband, was supposed to represent what can happen with a person in a depressed state. You push family members away and sometimes it can get to a point where it's too late to make amends and ask for forgiveness. I for one did not like how she committed suicide but that was the only way too stop the dark figure from harming the rest of her family.

Exactly. Thank you. The only people understanding the message in that movie are the ones who've known depression.
Others don't get it, it's insane.
It tells you how people don't understand this disease until they experience it

I'm 44 and I have depression since I was 18. I agree with you that only people who experience depression can relate to others who have it. It's a fact! But I simply didn't see the "monster/ghost" allegory for depression at all. Sorry Sometimes, what you see is what you get, mainly in a horror movie. Simple as that. Remember: It's a horror movie.

Maybe you haven't had temporary severe depression like I have. The one where you loose 20kg in a month, stop eating, stop drinking, stop getting up, and just let yourself slide towards death. It's more like a pic after a trauma, than a long term disease.

Of all genres, horror is the one that deals most in allegory.

Really? Because as someone diagnosed with depression I'm not seeing your "message". How did the dad die then? Did the depression manifest itself into an entity and go kill him? It couldn't of been the mom because she was at home talking to herself. It had to be the Diane monster.

I don't have a message. I'm just talking about the clumsy message in the movie.
When you're severely depressed you get to hurt the ones who try to help you the most. The dad wanted to help his wife, but her "depression" killed him, she put him away, rejected him, like a depressive person would do. It's all figurative, not literal. Of course the movie shows a monster, and the da is getting killed. But for me it's all just a metaphore. Depression is that monster inside you, and the ones who try to help, mostly your family, get hurt, because a depressed person can be a violent, or cruel person sometimes. I know I was. That's a way to get people to leave you alone.