Diana Walter
| Diana Walter | |
|---|---|
| Lights Out character | |
| File:Diana Lights Out.jpg Alicia Vela-Bailey as Diana in Lights Out | |
| First appearance | Lights Out (2013) |
| Last appearance | Lights Out (2016) |
| Created by | |
| Portrayed by | Alicia Vela-Bailey (Original) Ava Cantrell (Young) |
| Information | |
| Species | Human, resurrects as a demon |
| Gender | female |
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Diana Walter is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 2016 film Lights Out, portrayed by Alicia Vela-Bailey. She is a vengeful ghost-like entity that attacks people in the dark, and can teleport.[1][2][3]
Fictional character biography[edit]
Diana is a mysterious figure that attacks people only in the dark. It is revealed she was once a teenager committed to a mental hospital, suffering from a serious skin condition that prevented her from being exposed to any light. She befriends teenaged Sophie, who is hospitalized for depression. They take a picture together outside where she is covered in shadow by an umbrella. Doctors began performing experiments on Diana, but inadvertently killed her by exposing her to intense surgical-suite spotlights, instantly reducing her body to ashes.[4]
Diana then turns into a demonic, malevolent creature that can act only in the darkness. The creature latches onto Sophie, staying with her for years, and kills anyone who tries to help or be with her. She interferes with Sophie's intentions of trying to recover from depression, and frightens Sophie's young daughter Rebecca by taking her drawing of her family and inserting herself into it as a stick figure while rubbing out her father. Rebecca’s father is killed by her, though his family assume he abandoned them and Rebecca moves out as soon as she is old enough. Some years later, Diana appears at Sophie's second husband Paul's work place and kills him. She then haunts Sophie and Paul’s child, Martin, to the point that he is unable to get sleep anymore. When Martin is staying at Rebecca's, Diana goes there and haunts them, scratching onto the floor the same name and stick figure she added to Rebecca's childhood drawing.[5][6]
Diana continues to influence Sophie, who suggests a stay-in movie night with Martin, including Diana as "the three of us", in an attempt to proactively introduce her son to her demon friend. When Sophie tries to take her anti-depressant medications, Diana knocks them aside. Diana tries to pull Martin under the bed, but Rebecca stops her. She locks Rebecca and Martin in the basement, and attacks Rebecca's boyfriend Bret, who is able to flee by activating his car headlights. She ignores Sophie's pleas to not hurt her kids, and continues to attack in the dark, killing two police officers. She reveals to Rebecca her killing of her father years before. However, as Diana is about to kill Rebecca, Sophie arrives and states that Diana only exists because Sophie has allowed her to exist. Sophie then shoots herself in the head, and Diana disappears.[7]
Development[edit]
Conception[edit]
Short[edit]
Heisserer did not develop a backstory for the creature for the short film. He had intended it to be "that little short film that we had fun with", which he felt made it easier to develop the character for the feature film as "It just mostly a concept or scene or two.".[8]
Film[edit]
Sandberg said that his goal was to keep Diana's appearance in the film as a silhouette. When asked about how challenging it was to keep Diana in the dark he said "Very challenging because I didn’t want to cheat. I had to storyboard all of it just to make sure that she was truly a silhouette. At first I was working with a storyboard artist. He would draw her with a rim light on her and I was like, “No, we can’t shoot it like that because that’s cheating.” So I had to do my own storyboards and really figure out how we could always keep her as a true silhouette. When she grabs Bret, I had to think about, “If he uses his flashlight like this to bang on the handle, if she grabs him when he’s up here, then the flashlight is pointed backwards creating a silhouette so that she can actually grab him.” It was really hard to figure out exactly how to get her on film." Diana was originally supposed to be more of a demonic presence but James Wan suggested that she have a human background so she could have a relationship to Sophie and add to the connection to the family.[9] Heisserer noted that they had to be careful "to roll out her mythology and explain her origins and her capabilities and, eventually, how she is vulnerable", as they weren't writing her as a typical movie monster.[10]
While developing the film Sandberg thought about what types of person a monster like Diana would haunt and came up with the idea to make Diana a representation of Sophie's depression.[11] Heisserer approved of this choice, as he felt it was "huge advantage when you’re writing, because anytime you start to get lost or start to get into the weeds, you can just go back to that theme and make sure that is tied to whatever your drama or your scares are and then it kind of rights the course for you."[12]
Casting[edit]
Short[edit]
For the short film the creature point had neither a name nor a backstory.[12]
Film[edit]
In an interview, when asked about the casting of Diana, Sandberg said "...I figured she would be pretty still but once I met Alicia, we met Alicia just to have her as a stunt person for whoever would play Diana. But when I met Alicia and she showed me what she could do, because she’s a dancer and she has full control over her body, it was like, 'Oh, this is really awesome. So let’s have Alicia play Diana the whole time and we can really turn her into this ferocious, animalistic creature almost.'”[9]
Portrayal[edit]
Vela-Bailey had to wear a full body suit, a wig, and prosthetic hands to portray the character, which she found cumbersome as it made it difficult to perform simple tasks when not filming.[13] As the set was dark for her scenes, the actress had difficulty manipulating the suit and finding her spot without falling, particularly when she was rigged to the ceiling. She was able to improvise some of her choreography, however "Certain scenes, though, David had very specific moments he wanted to capture."[14][15]
Reception[edit]
Bloody Disgusting commented on the character, writing that "With her wild hair and impossibly long fingers, Diana cuts a silhouette that is, in and of itself, scarier than most movie monsters could ever wish to be, but it’s the unnerving performance of the actress tasked with bringing her to life that may have ensured the character goes on to become a franchise-starting horror icon."[16]
Neal Bell criticized Sandberg's choice to make Diana and the film an allegory for depression as the film didn't follow the character of Sophie.[11]
References[edit]
- ↑ Phillips, Michael (July 19, 2016). "'Lights Out' review: Watch out for the darkness". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois: Tribune Media Services. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
- ↑ Srinivasan, Sudhir (July 29, 2016). "Lights Out: When darkness matters". The Hindu. Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India: The Hindu Group. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
- ↑ Calvario, Liz (July 31, 2016). "'Lights Out': Director David Sandberg Explains the Film's Shocking Ending". IndieWire. Los Angeles, California: Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Lights Out: Diana Spirit Origins Explained". ScreenRant. 2020-05-08. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ Sandberg, David F. (Director) (2016). Lights Out (Motion picture). Warner Bros. Pictures.
- ↑ Croot, James (July 27, 2016). "Movie Review: Lights Out". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ↑ Olivier, Chad (2020-11-13). "7 Ways To Defeat Diana Walter In Lights Out". WhatCulture.com. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ Giroux, Jack (2016-07-26). "Lights Out Interview: Director David F. Sandberg". SlashFilm.com. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Topel, Fred (July 21, 2016). "Lights Out Interview: David F. Sandberg and Lotta Losten". Nerd Report. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
- ↑ Mulcahey, Matt (2016-07-27). "Screenwriter Eric Heisserer on Lights Out, The Rules of Horror and Collaborating with James Wan | Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Bell, Neal (2020-03-20). How To Write A Horror Movie. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-61935-9. Search this book on
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Lights Out Writer Eric Heisserer on Expanding a Short Film: Fantasia Fest". Den of Geek. 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ "Lights Out Exclusive: Alicia Vela-Bailey Talks Bringing the Evil Diana to Life; Annabelle 2". Dread Central. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ "Interview: Alicia Vela-Bailey Discusses Becoming Diana for LIGHTS OUT". Daily Dead. 2016-07-28. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ "Alicia Vela-Bailey talks playing the villain of Lights Out!". JoBlo. 2016-07-27. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ↑ Squires, John (2016-07-28). "Meet the Woman Who Played Terrifying 'Lights Out' Villain". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
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