"Red Lights"

Margaret Matheson is an expert in the field of psychic phenomena. Both she and her assistant, Tom Buckley visit Mediums, Psychics, and debunk what the mystics claim to be as their special powers. Tom is always on the lookout for red lights, the little something that gives away the fact they are fake. Between the two of them they have become quite a formidable team.
The film opens quite nicely with them visiting a possible poltergeist in a house, and then they visit a Medium performing on stage. Naturally with their combined efforts, they proof that here is another fake at work.
They have a lab set up with a local university, which is where a lot of there work is conducted. They also have to contend with bureacracy at the University, struggling with funding etc.

Then they are faced with the ultimate psychic investigation. A world famous Blind psychic, Simon Silver, is returning to the stage after an absence of some 20 years. He left the limelight, when his last show ended with disasterous results. For Tom this is an opportunity that he cannot turn down, the chance to debunk one of the greatest Psychics to set foot on the stage.  However, Matheson is strongly against it, she argues that she tested Silver some years ago, and that he passed all the tests. But this is the chance of a lifetime for Tom, so he sets the wheels in motion.
But naturally Silver is reluctant to take part, could his act be revealed as a fake, or is he genuine and wants to keep the mystery a secret? Is there something more sinister behind his powers?

The scene is set for the battle between relative novice Psychic Investigator and one of the leading Psychics of our time.
During the journey to the showdown, some rather unexplained and unusual things start to happen. Could it be that Silver's power really is as strong as they say? 

There are some wonderfully played moments, at times quite chilling, and they succeed in getting the hairs on the back of your neck to stand. There really succeed in setting the tone of the film. With this film, in that nothing is 100% as it seeems, you do start to wonder whether Silver's claims are genuine. Obviously I will not reveal anything here, but it is a worthy end to the film.

All the cast are excellent in their respective roles. Sigourney Weaver has finally been given a decent role, she plays Matheson with an almost maternal love for Tom. Her own Son is hospitalized, so I guess he is the next best thing. Clearly he is someone she cares a great deal for, and as said, she plays the role really well.
Murphy is as reliable as ever. And De Niro plays the role of Silver with the right amount of mystery and menace as required. He does get a little hammy towards the end, but I did not mind, as the build up of a journey was well worth it.
I cannot say much more about the ending of the film without giving anything away. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, nicely played out with a great cast, and there was excellent direction from Rodrigo Cortes.

Great movie, that really keeps you guessing til the end......8 out of 10