A couple years ago, director David F. Sandberg released a viral short called LIGHTS OUT that introduced a concept so intriguing and creepy in its 3 minute running time that New Line Cinema and producer James Wan, through his company Atomic Monster, offered him the chance to turn the short idea into a feature. The trailer for that feature expansion has now arrived online and runs almost as long as that original short did.
Scripted by Eric Heisserer, the much longer take on LIGHTS OUT tells the following story:
When Rebecca left home, she thought she left her childhood fears behind. Growing up, she was never really sure of what was and wasn’t real when the lights went out… and now her little brother, Martin, is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that had once tested her sanity and threatened her safety. A frightening entity with a mysterious attachment to their mother, Sophie, has reemerged. But this time, as Rebecca gets closer to unlocking the truth, there is no denying that all their lives are in danger… once the lights go out.
Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, and Maria Bello star. It also looks like Sandberg brought back the actress from the short for at least one sequence, which is a nice touch.
Rated PG-13 for "terror throughout, violence including disturbing images, some thematic material and brief drug content", LIGHTS OUT will be in theatres on July 22nd.
I'm liking the looks of this trailer. It appears that Sandberg and his collaborators managed to build a pretty intense movie around the original idea.