Red lights (movie, 2012)

Scientist Margaret Matheson studies paranormal phenomena and exposes fraudsters. Her assistant, physicist Tom Buckley, asks for permission to check whether Simon Silver is a charlatan, a famous psychic who suddenly returned to the scene after a 30-year absence.

Margaret forbids him to do this, since Silver left after the sudden death of a journalist who actively criticized him. Tom penetrates the psychic's performance, during which his equipment fails. After this, Buckley goes to Matheson, but she is unconscious. Hospitalization does not save her, and Tom decides to finally expose Simon.

This work is accompanied by inexplicable events: the failure of technology, the emergence of dead birds, an attack on the laboratory.

Colleagues Matheson at the institute organize a scientific study of Silver's abilities, and Buckley succeeds in joining a scientific commission. The psychic passes almost all the tests, and scientists are ready to recognize his paranormal forces. One Tom considers him a deceiver, and re-checks the video of experiments. Ultimately, his assistant finds the solution to the successful passing of tests by Silver.

Buckley himself revisits the psychic's performance, where he announces him as a charlatan, to which the stunned Simon finds no words. In parallel, it turns out that Tom himself is the owner of paranormal abilities. In his letter to the deceased mentor, he explains that his decision to work with her was an attempt to find someone like him, also with paranormal abilities.

Cortez spent a year and a half, working on the script and studying the issue of paranormal abilities from the standpoint of believers and scientists ^[1] . He concluded that some supporters of the opposing camps simply exclude evidence that could refute their positions ^[1] . With his film, he did not seek to express his opinion, although he himself does not believe in the existence of the supernatural, since nothing can bypass the natural laws of science. However, paranormal phenomena can exist where science has not yet been able to find an explanation for them ^[1] .

The role of Margaret Matheson was written specifically for Sigourney Weaver, who signed the contract after reading it ^[1] .

Filming lasted from February to April 2011 . The film was shot in Canada and Spain ^[2] . The film crew spent a week at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto .

The film received mixed reviews from film critics. At Rotten Tomatoes, the average rating of a picture is 4.8 points out of 10 ^[3] . On Metacritic - 68 points out of 100 based on 35 reviews ^[4] . On IMDb , the film's rating is 6.1 out of 10 points ^[5] .

• Red Lights on the Rotten Tomatoes website