LIGHTS OUT, PG-13 ( 1 hr & 21 min )

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I went to see this today, Friday, July 29th, 2016, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 5:00 p.m. show in auditorium 11, 7th row from the front, 8ht column from the right. The price of admission was $8.50. And I bought a $5.40 Nachos w/ Cheese and $0.00 ( free offer on my movie-watcher e-mail reward coupon ) small Powerade Mountain Berry Blast at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  Rebecca ( Teresa Palmer ) thought that she had left her personal problem behind when she left home to be on her own. But when she realizes that her little brother ( Gabriel Bateman ) is also suffering from the same evil visitations, she decides to put an end to it, once and for all.

The audience liked this movie. I liked this movie, too. This is a good scary movie for fans of the genre. Go see this movie.

Here's what I didn't like about the movie because it just didn't make any sense at all:  I didn't like the scene at the back of the ambulance where they were drinking bottled water fresh from the refrigerator. The bottles were without labels. Come on! If you can't get a bottled water company to sponsor your movie, you can make up your own bottle labels---It's not that hard to do. Really ....

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I had some minor cough last night which affected my meditation. I took a dose of Nyquil to get rid of it. The medication and my meditation knocked me out for almost 12 hours! I was past noontime when I awakened. I had to check and see whether I was scheduled for work or not. Am I glad I wasn't 'cause I would have been way late showing up for work.

About this movie, I don't know if I reacted to it because it is a good scary movie or if I reacted subjectively to it. Because I have had four confirmed encounters with "shadow entities" in my life.

The first one was in Kidapawan, Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines, when I was about 5 years old. My whole family slept in the same huge room that had a door which locked only from the inside. I decided to see if I could stay awake all night---Bad idea. Around midnight, with some stray dogs howling in the distance, the door opened and I saw a short, skinny "man" walk slowly into the room. This "man" was headed toward my parents bed. It stopped in its tracks as it saw the Veronica's Veil image of Jesus Christ at the altar above the headboard of my parents' bed. It stared at the image of Jesus Christ as it slowly moved back and out of the bedroom, with the door closing and locking itself after the "man" had gone away.

This is one of many examples of Veronica's Veil that I found online. My family's Veronica's Veil is somewhat similar to this, but in color. My family's Veronica's Veil cured my father of his alcoholism and cured me of my paralysis. The next time that I vacation in the Philippines, I will try and hunt down the same exact Veil to purchase and keep with me. There should be vendors of such Veils outside of Catholic churches throughout the Philippines. For the life of me, I don't know why the kind of Veil that I am looking for is not sold online ( maybe, I'm not searching hard enough ).

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The second time was in Matina, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines, when I was about 10 years old. Outside the second story bedroom that I shared with my brother and sisters was the roof that was above the kitchens and bathrooms of the apartment building where we lived. It was raining lightly. I couldn't sleep because I had a mild fever. Then, the back-side neighbor's dog howled. I heard slow, measured footsteps on the roof. Soon, I saw a young, slender "woman" walk slowly across the 6-unit apartment's lower roof. We occupied the second unit, and the "woman" walked toward the 1st unit. As it walked past the window, it stopped, took a few steps back and peered into my room as if it had noticed me watching it. Of course, I did what little kids would do in such a situation: I covered my head with my blanket! It resumed its walk until it got to the end of the 1st unit. Then, the footsteps ended; and the dog stopped howling. ( My sisters had seen this "woman", too, according to them, on a separate, similar occasion. Our dad slept in our room one lightly-raining night armed with his Colt 1911 handgun but the "woman" was a no-show. )

The third time was in Oakland, California, USA, when I was in my early 20s. It was around noontime when I awakened in a trance. I was sleeping on my belly, with my head turned to the left. When I opened my eyes, I saw a short, skinny "man" outside of my bedroom's rear window looking at me. It ducked away as soon as it noticed that I had seen it. I wanted to go to the window to confront the "man". But I couldn't move my body as I was still in a trance. It took me quite an effort to break my trance. By then, the "man" was already long gone.

The fourth time was here in Vallejo, California, USA, when I was 36 or 37 years old. I rented a room at my sister's house back before I bought my condo. One night, while sleeping on my right side, I was awakened by an uncomfortable feeling of labored breathing. I opened my eyes to the sight of a short, skinny "man" trying to enter my body through my nostrils! I couldn't see its face because it was dark, the source of light shining through the window only coming from the light post outside at the curb. I, once again, was still in the weakening grip of a trance so I couldn't move. I did a "stare-down" contest against this "man". Slowly, it sank down into the floor. I felt enervated as I rolled onto my back in bed. Then, I felt a pair of hands pushing up against my back. I guess that I "squashed" it with my body weight. 'Served it right! Ha, ha, ha.

In 2003, I did a form of meditation that allowed me to have an encounter with the apartment building "woman". I may have put an end to this particular haunting. But I won't know until I go back to Matina, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines, to interview the present occupants of that apartment building.

In 2010, my niece in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told me that she saw a shadow entity sitting cross-legged in a chair in her parent's room in broad daylight. She ran out of there frightened for her life. Her description of the shadow entity was the same as mine: Short and skinny. This shadow entity was not scared of my niece but seemed scared of me. I want to get to the bottom of this particular haunting someday and end it for good!


*

CASE 39, R ( 1 hr & 49 min )

where: UA EMERY BAY STADIUM 10 in Emeryville, CA
when: Monday, October 4th, 2010
show: 7:50 p.m.
costs: $10.75 Ticket + $1.00 3.40 oz. Peanut M & M's ( Dollar Candy Monday with a movie watcher rewards card ) + $4.75 small Diet Coke + $5.00 Carquinez Bridge Toll = $21.50
auditorium: 8
seat: 5th row, 12th column

synopsis: Emily ( Renee Zellweger ), a social worker for child services, suspects that a girl, Lilith ( Jodelle Ferland ), is a victim of child abuse. Against better judgment, she assumes temporary custody of Lilith. But bad things soon start to happen.

noteworthy scenes: 1.) Thirty-nine cases; 2.) Bar; 3.) File review; 4.) Appointment day; 5.) "Daddy's little girl routine"; 6.) "They hate me"; 7.) Detective Barron's ( Ian McShane ) office; 8.) Basement; 9.) School bus; 10.) 'Phone call; 11.) Oven; 12.) Hospital; 13.) County shelter; 14.) "Safe, supportive environment"; 15.) "Your new beginning"; 16.) House inspection; 17.) Group counseling; 18.) Murderer; 19.) "You're one person, you can't save the world"; 20.) "I wanted to know about you"; 21.) Chinese restaurant; 22.) "She's lying;" 23.) Collapse; 24.) "It was a man"; 25.) "NO" answers; 26.) Hornets; 27.) "You think it's my fault"; 28.) "Something came through that door"; 29.) Psychiatric hospital; 30.) Housecleaning; 31.) "I must have dreamt it"; 32.) "Walk the talk"; 33.) Why, Emily; 34.) Elevator; 35.) "'Not a demon"; 36.) Locks; 37.) "No state of mind to be here"; 38.) "Don't ignore me"; 39.) The closet; 40.) The chase; 41.) Inside the car; 42.) Good news; 43.) "One option"; 44.) Television; 45.) Cafeteria; 46.) Recording; 47.) The plan; 48.) Scattered files; 49.) Parking garage; 50.) "Don't yell at me"; 51.) The bedroom; 52.) Chamomile tea; 53.) "That was mean"; 54.) "The part of you that's her"; 55.) "Are you scared"; and 56.) The escape.

audience reaction: The four or five people in the audience with me seemed to like it.

recommendation: It was okay. This is another one of those "brat-from-hell" kind of movie. It only has one scary scene: The Closet Scene. Go see this movie only if you like watching topless scenes of Bradley Cooper. Otherwise, wait for this to come out as a rental.

spoiler alert! The alarm clock was a cheap, senseless scare tactic to pull on the audience. Wind-up alarm clocks need rewinding at least once a day. And its alarm is only on a twelve-hour cycle. When Emily was finally able to go back to the house for inspection, it was already more than a day after the incident had occurred. At which time, the alarm clock would have already wound-down to a complete stop and its alarm would have already turned-off. If I had hornets crawling out of me like that, I would have reacted in a more pained and a more animated way than what "topless guy" Bradley Cooper showed for the camera. How could he talk normally when his jaw was just recently dislocated? Barricading the door was, indeed, an exercise in futility because other-worldly entities can open locked doors. How and why did Emily's co-workers disappear so fast--boy! talk about clocking-out on a TGIF. Why do they use metal eating utensils in a facility for the criminally-insane? I don't want to sound sexist, but women love to talk a lot; so, why did Emily not notice that her cell phone had been missing from her bag all that time? All of those ground-up sleeping pills in the chamomile tea would make for one bitter brew. So, why didn't Lilith show the appropriate facial expression after she drank it? Since this movie is essentially about demon-possession, Emily will never find herself "out of the water" because the demon can always find another innocent victim to possess so it can hunt down and settle the score with her sooner or later. She had better know of a good exorcist!

fyi: I know for a fact that other-worldly entities can open locked doors because I saw it happen twice back when I was a little boy living with my family in Kidapawan, Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines.

One day when I was still in Grade One, a classmate of mine bragged that he was able to stay awake all night long. I decided that I could do the same, too. Back then, everybody in my family slept in one big bedroom. That night, I forced myself to lay awake in bed. My bed was positioned along the wall that has the door. My parents always made it a habit to lock the door before we all went to bed. The lock was a simple piece of wood with a nail in its center and which was turned halfway clockwise to engage it to the catch so that it wouldn't be opened from the outside. Sometime after midnight when everyone else was fast asleep, I saw the lock turn, and the door slowly opened by itself. Then, a shadowy figure of a short, skinny man with short hair glided slowly into the room and headed straight to the foot of my parents' bed. Then, it stopped and looked up at the altar above my parents' heads and fixed its gaze on the Veronica's Veil portrait of Jesus Christ hanging on the wall. And, with its gaze still fixed on the image of Jesus Christ, it slowly floated back the way it came. And the door slowly closed after it had exited the bedroom and the lock engaged itself to its catch.

At another time, my sisters and I visited a friend's house which was built near the creek and just about two blocks away from our own house. We were in a bedroom playing a game of Jack Stones. All of a sudden, the bedroom door made a noise and its zinc barrel bolt lock unbolted itself at the same time that it gave off a red spark. Then, the door just flew open, much to our consternation!

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When I was a Grade Five pupil at the Ateneo De Davao Elementary Department in Matina, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines, I was distracted from following along with the class lesson as something was buzzing around very near to my right ear. I tried to wave it away as it was making it difficult for me to concentrate on what I was reading. It landed in my ear. I grabbed it with my right hand, thinking that it was just a fly. But I was wrong. It was a bee! And it stung me. Soon, my hand swelled-up and looked like a boxing glove.

word of advice: Don't take your work home with you.

tidbits: Earlier in the day, I visited my friend, Hector, in Oakland, CA. His son and I watched STAN LEE's SUPER HUMANS on YouTube. The segments that we watched were the one on the Samurai man with the fastest reaction time and the Monkey Man of India who learned how to climb by hanging-out with monkeys. Later on, I cooked dinner for everyone. I served them spaghetti made with hot Italian sausage, two cans of Del Monte sauce and two packages of pasta. They never had spaghetti made with Italian sausage before, but they liked it.

I played a practical joke on Hector when I went out into the driveway to hose down my car. I put a "Viva, Mexico" sticker on his SUV's back window. They're all Puerto Ricans. But whenever they start speaking in Spanish at a level that I cannot comprehend, I would always exclaim, Viva, Mexico y Viva La Raza, tambien. Otra vez! And I would say the same thing, too, whenever anyone of their relatives would give them a call on the 'phone.

After the movie, I swung by my former place of employment in North Oakland just to say "Hi!" to everybody. I haven't worked there in over ten months because of my chronic foot pain. While I was there, I decided to buy a bar soap, a belt, and a neck pillow.

Note: Earlier today, in the pre-dawn of Oct. 7th, I tried to do a correction on this blog and ended-up deleting the whole thing, instead!