Red LightsMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 36 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    As a sinister ESP showman, Robert De Niro is corny and fun. Read full review

  • 63
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Red Lights also shows a director who knows how to construct a story and build interest, but at the end, it flies apart. I wonder if there was an earlier draft. I suspect most audiences would prefer a film with an ending that plays by the same rules as the rest of the story. Read full review

  • 60
    Movieline |

    The movie muddles to a rug-pulling ending that doesn't, despite its efforts, shed new light on what's come before. Read full review

  • 50
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto) |

    It works best when it doesn't take itself seriously, and some of the ways in which ESP is faked are briefly engaging, like short con games or magic tricks revealed. But, finally, the film doesn't offer the sense of release, or of surprise, that it seems to take for granted. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Amy Biancolli

    When its biggest trick is finally revealed, it is not entirely satisfying. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    It's mystifying how such a muddled and silly movie drew the talented cast it did. Read full review

  • 38
    Slant Magazine | Michael Nordine

    That all the good things--and there are several--Red Lights has going for it are ultimately in service of an ending that might even make M. Night Shyamalan cringe represents one of the year's biggest missed opportunities. Read full review

  • 38
    Chicago Tribune | Michael Phillips

    The storytelling proceeds in such a halting manner, with De Niro's speeches going on and on and on, that before long you'd kill for an easy scare. Read full review

  • 25
    Miami Herald | Rene Rodriguez

    This is ultimately a movie about highly intelligent people in pursuit of trivial nonsense: At least Mulder and Scully caught a real monster every once in a while. Read full review

  • 20
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    A ghost-busting drama set in a world of mystics, mind-benders and various and sundry fake-psychic gobbledygook. But the weirdest thing is how all the fun gets lost in a bottom-drawer "X Files" story. Read full review

View more reviews for Red Lights on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Horror/thriller about psychics has violence, language.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Red Lights is a thriller about paranormal researchers investigating a famous psychic who may or may not be legit. It has some horror elements and some scary stuff, as well as fighting, arguing, a little blood and gore, and characters dying. And there's a general uneasy, tense feeling throughout the movie. Language is the other major issue, with strong words like "f--k" and "s--t" (though they're used relatively infrequently). An older character is seen popping unidentified prescription pills.
  • Families can talk about Red Lights' violence. Even though there are no shootouts and few actual scenes of explosive violence, how do the filmmakers create a general mood of tension?
  • Is the movie scary? Is it any less scary when the "ghosts" aren't real?
  • Do you believe in psychic phenomena? Did the movie change your mind in any way? Does it matter whether Red Lights definitively answers the question about psychics being legitimate?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Red Lights' main theme is the idea of faith: whether or not to believe in something despite the absence of proof. It doesn't necessarily comment upon this positively or negatively, but it does suggest that people who do offer proof are frauds and are only negating the very concept of "faith." On a subtler level, the movie is about belonging.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Characters work to solve problems, but each person's motivation seems to be selfish and/or based on revenge -- not to mention that the problems they're working on may be unsolvable.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Some violent and/or disturbing paranormal events, such as angry "ghosts" shaking the furniture, birds suddenly smashing into windows, or lights exploding. There are also some scary sequences, such as nightmares. Main characters die. There's a bloody fistfight in a bathroom. Some blood and gore is shown. Graphic photos are seen. Characters often argue or engage in tense discussions. A character performs a gruesome magic trick that makes it look as if he has pierced his bottom lip with a pen.
  • sex false0 Sexy stuff: Two central characters seem to be on the verge of some sexual tension, but it doesn't go anywhere.
  • language false4 Language: Language isn't constant but includes words such as "f--k," "s--t," "crap," and "ass," plus "oh God" and "Jesus Christ" (as exclamations).
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1 Drinking, drugs and smoking: One character is seen popping some kind of prescription pills.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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