‘Lights Out’ Actress Teresa Palmer Admits To Being ‘Petrified’ Of The Dark

At first glance, Lights Out seems to be a longer version of a popular YouTube horror short, but a closer look at the David F. Sandberg directed film reveals that Lights Out takes a simple, yet frightening, idea and expands on it to deliver the latest big thing in horror. While many might think they know the story from that YouTube video, producer Lawrence Grey promises that Lights Out diverges in some very significant ways.

Lights Out Delivers Unique Thrills And Chills

While Lights Out may be based on a popular horror short, International Business Times learned from Grey that the villain was completely re-imagined for the feature film. Diana, the otherworldly antagonist in Lights Out won’t resemble the other villain at all, says the Lights Out producer. The film’s producer admits that the popular short film is brilliant, but points out that it’s also cheaply made, having been produced on the original creator’s home computer for little or no money. In addition to building up a more frightening entity for Lights Out, Grey adds that the feature film delves deep into the mythology, which is something the shorter version just couldn’t do.

“One of the things that was great early on was that we go into connecting mythology and character design very early in the script development process, which is something very rare and for most horror films, that’s the last thing you do,” the Lights Out producer said. “We wanted the cinematic aspects of the movie to connect to character and theme.”

It seems clear that Lights Out builds upon that original work and some might think that, in itself, makes Lights Out unoriginal, but Grey says he’s proud of the work his team has done in fleshing out the story and creating a truly scary spirit.

Lights Out Star Teresa Palmer On Her Own Fear Of The Dark

A terrifying idea isn't enough to save the dim #LightsOut. Our review: https://t.co/t0RBcKh5v0 pic.twitter.com/aOPtPqUWFx

— IndieWire (@IndieWire) July 22, 2016

As the film premieres in theaters today, star Teresa Palmer opens up about her own fears and working with the evil spirit, reports Post-Bulletin. The Lights Out actress says she has some experience with nyctophobia, or a fear of the dark, stemming from her own childhood. As is the case with most of us, Palmer reveals that she slept with a nightlight, but Teresa was never really satisfied with the dim illumination.

“I remember I had a touch-lamp next to my bed and I would tap it on the brightest light, and I remember my mom would always come in and she was like, ‘That’s too bright to sleep, we’ve got to put it on the dimmer one,’ and I was like, ‘OK, goodnight, mom.’ And then (push the button) right back up to the bright one. I was just petrified,” reveals Ms. Palmer.

Teresa says that she knows the actress who plays the evil spirit Diana in Lights Out, because she worked with her once before on the film I Am Number Four. She says Alicia Vela-Bailey was a stunt woman on that original film, so they were already familiar, when they came together on Lights Out. Alicia and Teresa would talk behind the scenes and Palmer reveals that the stuntwoman turned actress is planning to get married soon, so the two women had much to discuss.

While Ms. Vela-Bailey was very happy to pal around with Teresa, the Lights Out actress reveals that both her and her son, who Teresa often brought to the set, were unnerved by Alicia, when in costume.

“We didn’t use CGI, so the actress was in a black rubber suit with straggly hair,” Palmer said. “It raised hairs on my neck. I couldn’t have my toddler on set. He’d scream and cry.”

[Image by New Line Cinema]