"If it existed, the Palme d'Or for best teen movie would go to Lights Out by Fabrice Gobert. His first feature film reveals uncommon mastery and control. You think of Elephant and Gus Van Sant...
...brilliantly scripted... constant suspense.
The great success of the film, carried by convincing young actors, consists of taking the adolescent tendency to fantasize about life and confronting it with much duller realities.
With a soundtrack composed by Sonic Youth, American-style locations in a French city and an ability to bring fantasy out of everyday life, Lights Out stands up to the challenge of genre and American cinema. It does a pretty brilliant job of it."
LE MONDE

"There is a touch of thriller, a hint of comedy and a portrait of today’s teenagers set to a score by Sonic Youth in this cleverly written debut feature. Presented today at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard selection, Fabrice Gobert’s Lights Out proves to be an interesting exercise in style whose obvious influences (including Elephant, Brick and The Virgin Suicides) don’t prevent it from asserting a rather individual identity thanks to an excellent cast and a sharp perception of the world of high school students and their ability to fantasize about reality."
"classic ingredients of the teenage horror film are there (a forest at night, a secluded hut, intriguing conversations heard by chance), humour pierces through with the inevitable obsessions of boys and girls in the middle of a hormonal surge and their first romantic experiences. The sophisticated mechanics of the screenplay preserve the driving forces of a plot that manages to play hide-and-seek with the audience."
CINEUROPA

"Lights Out with Sonic Youth. The New York group wrote the original soundtrack of this outstanding first film by Fabrice Gobert."
"...a curious mix of Elephant by Gus Van Sant (drama in a school setting), Twin Peaks (the disappearance of a handsome boy/Laura Palmer, the dark and mysterious forest) and Eric Rohmer (Love Games)."
L'EXPRESS

"Lit and photographed in hyperreal style by leading French cinematographer Agnes Godard and featuring a loose and rangy instrumental soundtrack by US indie rockers Sonic Youth, it plays with the dark side of suburbia in ways that recall Twin Peaks – though without David Lynch’s edge of madness."
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

"A first feature film that reveals uncommon mastery and control.
A sophisticated version of a high school movie with 90's music and a series of disappearances. A exciting first feature film by Fabrice Gobert.
A sophisticated structure like Elephant.
Lights Out is full of pure cinema pleasure.
The imagery and framing by Agnès Godard, the cinematographer of most of Claire Denis' films, are once again irresistible."
LIBERATION

"...a deftly realized teen thriller..."
"Gobert has a knack for portraying adolescents in all their oily awkwardness..."
"Solid camerawork and low-key lighting by ace d.p. Agnes Godard gives the action a naturalistic flavor..."
VARIETY

"Gobert's first feature Lights Out turned out to be one of the most memorable at the festival."
ANTHEM MAGAZINE

"through the characters, this film becomes something more than your typical teen thriller."
The soundtrack is comprised of songs from Sonic Youth, and awesome and fitting choice."
I watched the film at a public screening which concluded with a two minute standing ovation for the cast and crew. Lights Out is a thrilling and engrossing entry into the teen film genre, and Hollywood should take note."
SLASHFILMS.COM

"An audacious first film."
20 MINUTES