Before ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms,’ ‘Lights Out’ Blazed the Trail From YouTube to Studio Hit
A two-and-a-half-minute YouTube horror short made by David F. Sandberg became the basis for a studio film, helping establish a path later followed by online creators such as Curry Barker, Kane Parsons and Markiplier. Its success showed how a low-budget idea can attract a global audience and Hollywood interest.
Sandberg’s short starred his wife, Lotta Losten, and gained traction after a Reddit post drove its views from 8,000 to more than a million. Warner Bros. released the feature in 2016, starring Teresa Palmer and others; it earned $148 million worldwide on a $4 million budget. Sandberg says filmmakers should keep creating, while a sequel remains in development.
In short
- A YouTube short led to a 2016 studio horror hit.
- The film grossed $148 million worldwide on a $4 million budget.
- Sandberg says young filmmakers should keep creating.
Explained simply
David F. Sandberg made a short horror film called “Lights Out” for YouTube, starring his wife, Lotta Losten. After it found a large online audience, Warner Bros. turned the idea into a feature film, released in 2016.
The story is part of a wider shift in how horror films can reach audiences: creators can share work online and attract attention beyond the internet. Sandberg’s film became an early example for later online creators, including Curry Barker, Kane Parsons and Markiplier, whose work has also drawn interest from film studios.
This matters because it showed that a brief, low-budget idea could find viewers around the world and lead to a commercially successful cinema release. It also helped make online shorts a more visible route into filmmaking.
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