A ghost story set in 1970s Yorkshire is unusual. The Maynards move in to a new house in 1974. Their teenage daughter quickly believes that their is something spooky in the house with unusual paranormal activities.

It soon becomes clear a poltergeist is in the house and is threatening the family and anyone else entering the house. The family get a priest to perform an exorcism. It seems that there are two spirits in the house. An evil priest that once raped and killed young girls and another, a young girl which is trying to warn the family to get out of the house.

The film has a good period setting which stinks of mid 1970s Britain and its also goes for eeriness rather than gore as well as some Yorkshire wit and grit.

However it does feel a lot like a television film to me not helped by the fact that several members of the cast of the television series, Line of Duty turn up here. It also reminded me somewhat of the recent BBC television series, Remember Me that starred Michael Palin.

The more obvious comparisons are though is the original version of Poltergeist with shades of The Exorcism thrown in.

So there is nothing novel here but its a well made, low budget drama. The ending however just feels a little too contrived and feel good though.

I have to admit, the German cover art looks more demonic than the movie turns out to be. Still there are quite a few nice performances, even the mother who has the toughest job to pull off. And she barely makes it in my opinion. The movie walks a thin line between going into the dark (no pun intended) and some might like the decision it takes about jumping or not jumping over the edge (it would be spoiling telling you that, so I leave that one open).

The other clever decision the movie makes it, that it doesn't try to outdo the Exorcist. It would be a lost battle from the get go, so it doesn't even try to go that direction. It does have a few nice ideas here and there, some of which are not further explored (unfortunately). Overall a decent effort.

This movie turned out to be somewhat of a surprise - at least it was to me. What worked out so well in this movie was the mood that they managed to build up, because the story itself was fairly generic. The movie starts out slow, and then gradually builds up in intensity and thrills.

The story in "When the Lights Went Out" is about a small family back in the 1970's where the young daughter starts experiencing strange things happening in their home. These occurrences build up in intensity and eventually start to be physically threatening to the family and anyone entering the house.

If you are a regular to horror movies, and to ghost movies in particular, then you'll not really find anything new or overly innovating here in this movie. That being said, don't get it wrong, I am not saying that "When the Lights Went Out" is a bad movie, far from it, but it just doesn't really offer anything that haven't really been seen before.

As I mentioned above, then it is the mood of the movie that is the centerpiece for this movie, as the director managed to put together something dark and sinister, that slowly escalates and keeps you firmly in your seat. And the approach to the story as to who is actually haunting the family was quite nice - and no, I am not going to spoil anything for you here - just watch it for yourself.

If you enjoy a proper horror movie that involves ghosts and hauntings, then "When the Lights Went Out" is well worth a watch. Though, this is hardly the type of movie that you'll watch a second time around once you've seen it the first time.