Red Lights
Directed by Rodrigo Cortés
- thriller
The story
Two investigators of paranormal hoaxes, the veteran Dr. Margaret Matheson and her young assistant, Tom Buckley, study the most varied metaphysical phenomena with the aim of proving their fraudulent origins. Simon Silver, a legendary blind psychic, reappears after an enigmatic absence of 30 years to become the greatest international challenge to both orthodox science and professional sceptics. Tom starts to develop an intense obsession with Silver, whose magnetism becomes stronger with each new manifestation of inexplicable events. As Tom gets closer to Silver, tension mounts, and his worldview is threatened to its core.
What it’s like
Cold, desaturated interiors dominate Red Lights: grey university corridors, fluorescent-lit lab rooms, rain-streaked car windows, and dim hotel suites where the only warmth comes from a single lamp. Rodrigo Cortés keeps the camera restless and close, with tight handheld framing and slow push-ins that make the air feel heavy, and the palette tightens toward sickly greens and muted browns as the mystery deepens. The score is sparse and tense, built on low strings and long silences that let the ticking of a room register. Its vibe is paranoid, clinical unease, the feeling of a rational frame slowly cracking. Pacing is measured, with dread building through conversation and small, unsettling details rather than jolts. Violence is occasional and brief, with one sharp, sudden attack and some scenes of threat, but there is no gore and little explicit bloodshed. The emotional core is a younger skeptic growing obsessed with a figure he cannot explain, while his mentor's certainty erodes. It suits a late night alone, or viewers who enjoy cerebral thrillers about belief, fraud, and doubt more than horror set pieces.
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