Don’t Turn Out the Lights
Written and Directed by Andy Fickman
Starring: Bella DeLong, Amber Janea, Ana Luz Zambrana, John Bucy
Unrated
Runtine: 109 min
On digital September 6

by Anne Johnson, Staff Writer

We’ve all been on a nightmare trip. Something goes south, someone gets lost, tensions run high. But thankfully, speaking for myself anyway, most people find their way out and are able to return home.

Don’t Turn Out the Lights is an interesting take on this idea of a fun vacation quickly going south—and then some. Coming together for a weekend of partying at a much-hyped music festival, a group of friends packs into an old beat-up RV and heads out on the road. En route, trouble strikes with some troublesome old white dudes at a gas station, and they quickly turn off of the planned directions. Without cell service, and relying on old maps, they attempt to take a shortcut to get to their music festival paradise, but after a second gross encounter with a bunch of racist hill people, they find themselves trying their best to just get anywhere. Until the RV stops and all hell breaks loose in the middle of nowhere.

Don’t Turn Out the Lights is a decent, trippy horror flick. There are some solid scares, and the film relies heavily on Twilight Zone vibes once the friends start disappearing into the woods. We don’t know what is out there, what it wants, or where it came from, and it won’t let them leave. When they start getting picked off, one by one, the remaining friends in the RV are left to puzzle about what’s out to get them, how they can defend themselves, and whether they can get out. This alone is not for the claustrophobic. Being stuck in the RV for the majority of the movie has them puzzling whether the things they’ve seen are an elaborate prank from their friends trying to go viral, whether it’s some kind of demonic presence, and a dozen other things. I will say that the acting was a good effort by the whole cast, with actresses Bella DeLong, Amber Janea, Ana Luz Zambrana doing most of the heavy lifting. Excellent screams from all three, and some genuine jump scares. 

I would say, however, that the plot could use some trimming or rearranging. Whether it’s the exposition of the beginning, which ends up not being incredibly relevant to the order of the people who end up getting captured by the woods, or just the length of the movie itself, I thought it dragged a bit. And there seemed to be a few things that seemed out of order or unnecessary. After the gas station fight, I didn’t think the bar scene was necessary. And once people start getting picked off I thought the “creepy” Marine roommate would have a bigger role to play than he did. As these choices panned out, it did turn most of the focus back to the women of the friend group, but that choice also felt kind of unintentional.  

It was also a little difficult to get normal vibes on the relationships between the characters since they are all SO. DAMN. HYPE. for the majority of the beginning. But, grain of salt, I am old and crotchety and even spent more time than necessary trying to figure out who out of this wacky friend group set up the birthday party gifts, decorations, and presents in the opening scene. Don’t Turn Out the Lights is a decent indie horror flick, despite the fact that it could benefit from some editing.