Don’t Turn Out the Lights — Don’t Turn Out the Lights (VOD)

Don’t Turn Out the Lights is a new horror film written and directed by Andy Fickman being made available on digital platforms on 17 March.

The film concerns a bunch of twenty-something friends whose camper RV breaks down en route to the Blue Skies music festival.  Shortly it becomes evident that they are surrounded by deadly unseen supernatural forces.

The good news about this movie is that the technical aspects are well-handled.  The photography and editing is good.  Performances are decent even if the characters are all stereotypes (party girl, stoner, rich girl et cetera) which runs to the heroine/final girl Carrie (Bella DeLong) who is a grounded modest character on the Laurie Strode model.  However, they are reasonably fleshed out and the dialogue is mostly convincing.

The film also does well with its audio effects of the supernatural occurrences with eerily effective distorted laughter and speech.  These are complemented by the tightly edited set pieces where characters outside the (presumed) safety of the RV come to their ends.

However, despite the film’s competence in some areas, it is ultimately scuppered by its general approach to its supernatural elements, and this accounts for its less-than-stellar showing in reviews.  There has always been a certain amount of stigma attached to horror films that appear too obvious.  In the case of Don’t Turn Out the Lights, the creators have gone too far in the other direction.  No explicit reasons are given for the forces that assail the young protagonists.  This would not be a problem if they were simply left mysterious.  However, Fickman is tempted to leave clues that though suggestive not only don’t add up to anything but also often contradict themselves.  There is the business of the RV itself.  This rather ramshackle vehicle belongs to birthday girl Olivia’s (Crystal Lake Evans) very straight boyfriend Michael’s (Jarrett Austin Brown) father.  Michael must have a much weirder dad.  The camper has a skull with antlers mounted on the front.  Later the protagonists discover a stash of grimoires and other satanic books in the vehicle.  Yet the sense of the situation arising from a family affair is blatantly contradicted by the sighting of an empty car that was presumably left by previous victims, and also at the end of the film by the introduction of another group driving by also earmarked for destruction.  All these hints ultimately stand revealed as teases and like all teases they leave you feeling short-changed and annoyed.

Because of the type of film this is you suspect these might be sophomoric errors on the part of a young filmmaker.  However, Andy Fickman has been in show business for a long time.  He directed the rom-com She’s the Man (2006) as well as sequels; Escape to Witch Mountain (2009) and Paul Blart:  Mall Cop 2 (2015).  His production credits go back to the early ‘90s.  These errors may have arisen from a lapse of taste.

With Don't Turn Out The Lights it's a shame the mentioned failings marred what may otherwise have been a rather good horror movie.