What makes a good hangout movie? Are there certain kinds of genre movies that might be extra-charming if you’re already in a susceptible state? Do you have to be a stoner, genre-head, or some other kind of social misfit to have a good time?
Good questions, but how should I know what your friends will like or how your group’s dynamic will determine your receptivity to something weird or maybe even fun? And even if we are friends in real life: haven’t you ever experienced the little heartache that comes from wildly misreading the room, after you try and sadly fail to share something that you love with people who, for whatever reason, don’t see what you’re digging? That’s sometimes a risk worth taking, especially if you’re less interested in converting your friends than in making sparks fly.
“Don’t Turn Out the Lights” might be a good hangout movie, especially if you like horror movies that also seem to be a bit stoned. A lightly metaphysical body count movie set primarily in a beat-up recreational vehicle, it meanders more than it purposefully goes anywhere. That’s a compliment, mostly.
You might still struggle to get to the point where you enjoy hanging out with the movie’s protagonists, an often irritating group of thinly drawn buddies, some of whom like each other more than others. They’re young and keyed up because they’re accompanying their self-absorbed friend Olivia (Crystal Lake Evans) to a big music festival, so, of course, they’re so loud and often so obnoxious that you too might wonder what writer/director Andy Fickman has against young people. But the movie keeps going, and things weirdly start to even out once the group’s RV inevitably breaks down (about 35 minutes in) and they’re attacked by who knows what.
Until then, you might enjoy rolling your eyes at stock types who, later on, will at least acknowledge that they only know so much about each other based on their rowdy behavior. Then again, there’s no deep tension or meaningful contrast in life experiences to distinguish Carrie (Bella DeLong), Olivia’s skeptical and very anxious bestie, from Gaby (Ana Zambrana), Carrie’s sassy rival. There are a few other stock types, and some are understandably more attractive than others, depending on your mood and self-identifying personality. Chris (Daryl Tofa) takes drugs and is clearly feeling himself, as when he emerges from the RV’s bathroom and warns his fellow travelers that, “Something died inside of me and, uh, fell out. **** is nas-ty.” By contrast, the stoic but capable ex-Marine Jason (John Bucy) stands out simply because he gets stuff done, like when he stands up to a pair of ornery rednecks who catcall and then repeatedly threaten Gaby and her friends.
Ultimately, you don’t have to like these disposable characters that much, and it’s not even because the post-breakdown peril they encounter is that good. Rather, “Don’t Turn Out the Lights” eventually coasts on its protagonists’ panicked, not entirely thought-through speculation. Because who really knows what’s waiting outside their RV? It sometimes sounds like the group’s individual members and only occasionally appears on-screen as a pair of floating red eyes, which may or may not be car headlights.
Instead, “Don’t Turn Out the Lights” ping-pongs from one possibility to the next, often suggested by Carrie through breathless dialogue that either does or (often) does not bear out through whatever happens next. Maybe Olivia’s friends are being stalked by the unfriendly roadhouse regulars they ran into earlier on. Or maybe there’s nothing outside the RV. Maybe Olivia’s messing with her guests so that she can film and post their terrified reactions online. Or maybe it has something to do with the RV owner’s stash of occult books. All of these options seem valid, but none of them satisfy, which can be the right kind of frustrating, especially if you’re watching with susceptible companions.
I can only recommend “Don’t Turn Out the Lights” so much, mostly because the characterizations and the dialogue are so cliched and unlovable that it’s often hard to enjoy all the twists and turns that Fickman (“Race to Witch Mountain”) tiptoes past throughout this diverting Choose Your Own Adventure genre exercise. Then again, the more I think about “Don’t Turn Out the Lights” and its unusual focus on paranoia as an infectious mood-killer, the more I appreciate Fickman’s space cadet odyssey. At a minimum, you’ll enjoy talking back to the movie, or fighting among yourselves, whether you’re watching with your partner or your genre-loving buddies. A horror movie rarely encourages you to let your mind wander as much or as far as Fickman does here. Don’t waste a trip by going alone.
