14 DAY TRIAL // Here’s something to prove to all of you that it doesn’t take a village and a fortune to make a solid horror movie. In fact, it doesn’t even take 60 or more minutes of screentime: a little under 3 suffices.
The video above is actually a short film by director David F Sandberg, released in late 2013, “Lights Out Who’s There.” For some reason, it started making the rounds again online (such are the ways of the Internet) and has gone viral in the last couple of weeks, scaring millions in the process.
The setting is as simple as it gets: 2 rooms, one of which is a bedroom; 2 lights; 1 actress, Lotta Losten. Only one camera was used and very little music was added in post-production, to make the most tense scenes stand out.
As the name implies, the concept is that there’s an evil presence in the room, seen only when the lights go out. As the character played by Lotta finds out, allowing them to go out is not ideal.
Tension builds dramatically until the end, when the biggest scare is delivered. I will admit, I did jump a bit out of my chair, even though I knew that a scare was coming, from the way the scene was constructed.
Check it out to see if the same happens to you.