Don't Turn Out the Lights Digital Review

3 stars of partying, bickering and horror.

Don’t Turn Out the Lights is a 2025 American supernatural horror film, written and directed by Andy Fickman (One True Loves, Race To Witch Mountain).

It is available on UK Digital Platforms from 17th March 2025, courtesy of 101 Films.

“Alright kids. Time to stretch those legs, get some fresh air, use the bathroom, grab more munchies, post annoying pictures on social media and enjoy civilisation. Who knows when we’ll see it again”

As the film opens, we see twenty something Carrie (Bella DeLong – Wuthering Heights (2022)) in the park being confronted by a seriously creepy child. Her best friend Gaby (Ana Zambrana) turns up, making her jump and they are soon joined by Chris (Daryl Tofa-Soriano – Better Nate Than Never), an amiable drug addled and drug laden young friend of theirs.

They are all here to meet up with the extraordinarily self absorbed Olivia (Crystal Lake Evans – Summertime Dropouts), to celebrate her birthday. As they arrive at a table laden with cakes and a huge balloon arch in the middle of the park, the birthday girl herself appears, along with another friend, Sarah (Amber Janea – Baby Ruby). Unfortunately Sarah and Carrie don’t get on, but Olivia urges them to make the effort for her.

She reveals that the plan is for them to attend the Blue Light Musical Festival, ten hours drive away. Here comes her boyfriend Michael (Jarrett Austin Brown – Gazer, Premature) in an R.V. borrowed from his uncle, along with his his fun-sucking ex marine roommate Jason (John Bucy – Don’t Look Up).

They set off and it’s all partying and fun until they hit a rest stop and have a run-in with a trucker redneck (George Schroeder – John Wick) and his nazi pal (David Sitler – 60 Miles North). They are forced to take a detour and when they stop for directions, they are simply warned by the bartender (Jasper Cole – Fall, Sallywood) to turn around and go back. They choose not to, but soon realise they have made a mistake when the R.V. breaks down and strange things start to happen. Can they survive the night?

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay. No-one’s gonna die on my birthday, okay? That would be a huge bummer, agreed?”

Don’t Turn Out the Lights is a good idea for a premise and fun to watch, although it does get a bit confused here and there and the title of the film seems to bear no relation to the story whatsoever. The characters are for the most part an unlikeable bunch, they don’t even like each other and it’s clear that a lot of bad blood exists from undisclosed events over the course of their friendships.

The script is a little stilted and the lack of experience among the actors shows through in places, but there’s no faulting the enthusiasm and commitment to their roles. The story goes great guns for a while and it’s genuinely scary when they first break down and an unknown force is present. Later on, it degenerates a bit into undefined weird stuff which is not as scary, although there is some serious gore, pretty good for a low budget affair.

All in all, this is a fun film, excellent for a fluff filled, blood soaked afternoon and I would recommend giving it a watch.

“A lot of good guys come back from war with P.T.S.D., Carrie. He could’ve been a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode. The last thing he said to us was run. He wanted us to leave the safety of our R.V.”