''Lights Out'' is a 2013 Swedish
supernatural horror short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
directed, written, produced, shot, and scored by
David F. Sandberg and starring Sandberg's wife
Lotta Losten. The film was released online on 30 December 2013 on both
Vimeo
Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...
and
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. The short film was the basis of an
eponymous 2016 film adaptation, also directed by Sandberg.
Plot
On a dark and rainy night, a woman (
Lotta Losten) comes out of a room and turns off the hallway light, which causes a long-haired, humanlike silhouette to become visible at the other end of the hallway. Surprised, the woman turns the light back on and the silhouette vanishes. Switching the light off and on, she watches the silhouette appear and disappear, stopping when the silhouette suddenly moves so close it is inches away from her face. Gasping, she turns the light back on and tapes the switch in that position to prevent the silhouette from returning.
The woman goes to bed, leaving the lamp on her bedside table on and the door leading to the lit hallway ajar. She hears creaking sounds and looks towards the doorway. The hallway light starts flickering and eventually turns off. Scared, she hears footsteps approaching the bedroom and hides under the blanket. After a few seconds of silence, she peeks out. The door opens wider by itself, which terrifies the woman.
The lamp flickers. From under the blanket, the woman looks towards the power strip it is plugged in to. She nervously reaches out, locates the plug, and pushes it in more firmly. The flickering stops. The hallway light clicks back on and she sees it is on again and the door is only slightly ajar again. She is relieved, but unfortunately suddenly sees a monstrous humanoid with all-white eyes and an open mouth at her bedside table. The monster turns off the lamp, and the screen goes dark.
Production
The film had practically no budget as it involved only Sandberg and Losten. The film involved two lights and two rooms. In particular, he used a Blackmagic cinema camera with a Tokina 11-16 lens, a Zoom H4N with a
Røde NTG1 microphone, a paper lantern from
IKEA, a 375-watt photo bulb, a Chinese knockoff redhead light from
eBay
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, a Manfrotto tripod, a homemade dolly with PVC pipe, a piece of shelving also from IKEA, and skate wheels.
The visual effects of having the ghost appear and disappear were mostly done by using a
split-screen technique. In an interview with ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' about
the 2016 feature-length adaptation, which used the same technique, Sandberg said, "Whenever she's in frame with another character, it's basically just a split screen. So you shoot it with her and without her. You turn the camera on with her, you turn it off and she walks off, and then you turn it on again. It's super simple, actually."
Release and reception
The short film was first released for a film festival called the Bloody Cuts Horror Challenge, where it was a finalist and where Sandberg won Best Director. Some months later, the short film became popular online on
Vimeo
Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...
and
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, going from about 8,000 views to over 1 million and attracting Hollywood directors and producers.
As of March 2023, the video has 17 million views on YouTube. The short received critical acclaim and won for Best Short at FANT Bilbao 2014, as well as Best Director in Who's There Film Challenge.
References
External links
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{{David F. Sandberg
2013 films
2013 horror films
2013 short films
American horror short films
American supernatural horror films
Films directed by David F. Sandberg
Films without speech
Swedish horror films
Swedish short films
2010s American films
Films released on YouTube
2010s Swedish films