Aahana Swrup
‘Don’t Turn Out the Lights’ is a horror film that follows a group of friends whose road trip turns into a night of terrors once their RV breaks down by the eerie roadside. Carrie and her friends from high school reunite to celebrate Olivia’s birthday. The gang has an incredible celebration planned, which involves an RV road trip and an exciting music festival as their destination. Nonetheless, halfway through the drive, Carrie and the others find themselves stranded on an uncanny path that houses unimaginable horrors. Despite sporting a relatively simple fight-for-survival storyline, the film carries many mysteries within its narrative. Still, an even bigger mystery presents itself once the film’s credits start rolling in. SPOILERS AHEAD!
A Stranger’s Snack Time
By the film’s conclusion, the narrative offers little explanation for the supernatural activities that lead to the gruesome and mysterious deaths of Carrie and her friends. It’s evident that an evil, bloodthirsty entity resides in the road where the group’s RV breaks down. Nevertheless, outside of its penchant for manipulation and trickery, no other characteristics become apparent about the antagonist. Therefore, as the credits roll in—partnered with an accompanying clip—the mystery around the entity grows.
The credit scene showcases an overhead shot of a person preparing a sandwich for themselves while surfing through various channels on the television. The programs on television seem to range from uncanny ads about serial killers and butchering tools to religious propaganda. While these advertisements aren’t inherently unnatural, the context of the story they follow imbues each of them with new meaning. Furthermore, intrigue also arises about the person—whose hands are the only parts of them ever visible—and their possible involvement in the fate of Carrie and her friends.
The Scene’s Possible Interpretations
The first and most obvious way to understand the credit scene emerges from the possibility that the person watching the news is in some way tied to the road and its horrifying truth. Since the scene also instills the idea of serial killers, one can imagine that the person is actually a human killer who somehow tricked everyone into believing they were an entity. Nonetheless, the same doesn’t allow for an explanation about the clearly supernatural events that took place abroad in the RV.
For the same reason, it seems the scene exists more for thematic resonance rather than narrative continuation. The scene showcases a rather mundane reality of a person enjoying a snack in front of the TV. The arrival of this scene on the heels of the horrors that unfolded minutes ago offers a jarring juxtaposition. Furthermore, the scene ends with an eerie nursery rhyme: “The people on the bus die one by one.” This references the film’s beginning when an uncanny child plays near Olivia’s birthday celebration. Consequently, the callback can be a possible allusion to the fact that Carrie and her friends were marked as victims from the very start.
Another detail that shines through in the scene remains the tarot card that the person throws on top of his sandwich. The card is a Knight of Pentacles, traditionally used to convey one’s commitment to completing one’s goals. It also signifies qualities like common sense and stubbornness. Therefore, the scene may evoke the idea that Carrie and her friends could have survived if they had stayed on the path to the original goal—the music festival. Likewise, they would’ve also had different fates if they exhibited more common sense by heeding the warning signs that led up to the road. As such, while the scene remains intentionally ambiguous, it seems to conclude the tale by feeding into various theories and themes to keep the tale’s ever-lasting intrigue alive.
Read More: Don’t Turn Out the Lights Ending, Explained
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