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Meet the Woman Who Played Terrifying ‘Lights Out’ Villain

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Exploiting our collective fear of the dark, David F. Sandberg’s debut feature Lights Out introduces a creepy new villain who goes by the name Diana, and if you had any trouble sleeping after the film, it’s damn sure because of her. Bathed in darkness throughout much of the movie, with only her piercing eyes illuminated, Diana is a horror villain who quite literally exists only in the dark, appearing when the lights are turned off and vanishing back into thin air when they’re turned on.

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. And setting her apart from recent female villains like the titular Mama, the Insidious franchise’s “Bride in Black,” and the four-armed Myrtu from this year’s The Other Side of the Door, Diana was actually played, in a refreshing twist, by a female performer.

That’s a new one, eh?!

I didn’t have to really act as much because the girl dressed up as Diana was petrifying to look at,” Lights Out star Teresa Palmer recently told Variety, praising Alicia Vela-Bailey’s performance. “She had a whole black suit on, crazy hair — so strange and surreal, but I loved having her there. I certainly have that silhouette of her imprinted in my mind. She’s a classic horror film woman, it’s very scary.”

I think people at Comic-Con will be dressed up as Diana next year,” added co-star Maria Bello, in the same interview. “Just the way she moved her hands and shoulders I think created an entire beast. I think her creature will transcend time and will be like a Freddy Krueger or a Jason.”

Born in California but raised in Hawaii, Alicia Vela-Bailey was already an accomplished gymnast and dancer at a very young age, and her career in film began with her working as Kristanna Loken’s stunt double in 2005’s BloodRayne. Soon thereafter, she doubled for Milla Jovovich in Ultraviolet, and in the past 10 years alone, she has done stunt work for 50 different television and film projects. The horror films on Vela-Bailey’s resume include The Ruins, The Fourth Kind, Piranha 3D, and Underworld: Awakening, and she has doubled for top Hollywood actresses including Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, and Shalene Woodley.

Most recently, Vela-Bailey was Gal Gadot’s stunt double on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and she again dons the red, blue and gold for next year’s hotly-anticipated Wonder Woman film. Yes, the same woman who played Diana in Lights Out is essentially playing Wonder Woman, which we can’t help but smile about. Next year, Vela-Bailey will once again play Kate Beckinsale’s double in Underworld: Blood Wars, and in the film she will also appear on screen as a “Safehouse Lycan.”

As an actress, Alicia Vela-Bailey notably appeared in Avatar, as several Navi characters, and in both Hostel: Part 3 and The Purge, playing “Japanese Cyberpunk Woman” in the former and the masked “Female Freak” in the latter. She will have a starring role in next year’s Annabelle 2 as “Evil Mrs. Mullins,” the film re-teaming her with Lights Out director David F. Sandberg.

High profile stunt-woman? Check. Horror icon? She’s damn sure on her way.

Check out some photos of Alicia Vela-Bailey, on and off set, below!

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Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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