Movie Review: DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: September 6th, 2024 / 04:24 AM

DON'T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS | ©2024 Quiver Distribution

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Bella DeLong, Amber Janea, Daryl Tofa, Ana Zambrana, Crystal Lake Evans, John Bucy, Jarrett Brown
Writer: Andy Fickman
Director: Andy Fickman
Distributor: Quiver Distribution
Release Date: September 6, 2024 (theatrical, VOD)

DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS begins with ominous music over a drone shot of a camper traveling on a forest road. Superimposed over this is what appears to be a little girl’s birthday party, with wrapped presents, colorful cupcakes and a balloon arch in a public park.

However, when we see a little girl, she is not near the celebration, but rather standing by herself, singing “The Wheels on the Bus.” When Carrie (Bella DeLong) approaches and introduces herself, the little girl just stares at her, so the unnerved adult goes back to the party.

Our first surprise is that this elaborate event is not for a child, but rather for twentysomething self-described “princess” Olivia (Crystal Lake Evans). Carrie is one of the friends Olivia has invited for this auspicious occasion. Others at the gathering include college athlete Gaby (Ana Zambrana), Gaby’s drug-supplier boyfriend Chris (Daryl Tofa), wealthy Sarah (Amber Janea), Olivia’s boyfriend Michael (Jarrett Brown), and the one stranger in the group, Michael’s college roommate, ex-Marine Jason (John Busy).

Olivia announces that she has scored everyone tickets for the Blue Light Music Festival. It’s a ten-hour drive away, but it’s a Coachella-like affair that lasts for forty-eight hours, with multiple bands and stages.

To get everyone there together, Michael has borrowed his uncle’s RV. The vehicle has an occult-looking set of antlers on the front, but otherwise seems road-worthy.

There’s a bad incident at a gas station where Jason’s combat skills come in handy. Then there’s a detour. Then some very creepy supernatural stuff starts to happen.

The set-up is decent, and the character delineation is good enough to arguably make DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS a better drama than a horror film.

Director/writer Andy Fickman and his cast are especially skilled when it comes to illustrating how and why some people are more willing to embrace a comforting conspiracy theory than to face facts they don’t like. The various relationships between the peers are explored with more depth than we often get in this type of movie.

Fickman also knows how to make the limited sets and settings feel entirely sufficient, without ever seeming to have needed more budget than he has.

But DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS lets us down on one key front, and doesn’t fully deliver on a few others.

There are some good jump scares, and one memorable gore scene, but while there’s moderate tension, we’re almost never actually frightened.

This is tied in to a larger issue. Horror movies like DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS understandably don’t want to be pegged as formulaic, and fair enough. But when we and the characters are confronted with a central enigma – what’s happening and why – we and they reasonably expect some answers before the finale. We get hints, but nothing that adds up.

If DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS were a different type of horror film, it could get away with the ambiguity. Here, though, it presents itself partly as a mystery to be solved. The terror, the trippiness and other factors aren’t enough to distract us from this, and by the end, it feels like a cheat.

Indeed, the title of DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS is perhaps emblematic of this. Of all the things the characters argue about, they are in agreement that they want as much light as possible (not that this wholly protects them, but it helps). The name isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s misleading.

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