The genesis of The Ghost Lights stemmed from a reality docuseries Stevens was hired to work on in 2019. He describes it as "Destination Unknown meets Paranormal Activity,” with the pilot centered on the Marfa lights in the Big Bend region, which are often attributed to ghosts or paranormal phenomena. The show didn’t get picked up, but he felt inspired by the Marfa Lights and wanted to explore this part of Texas further.
“I’m just madly in love with that part of Texas,” Stevens says. “I went to Terlingua for the first time in 2018 for their Dia de Los Muertos celebration. It’s this cool, old abandoned mining town right on the edge of Big Bend, and it's just a really spooky mysterious place. ... I just knew I needed to come back and film something there eventually.”
In the film, the character of Alex comes from Dallas but relocates to New York City after landing a job at a magazine. She comes back to Dallas to try find ways to make up for missing her father's funeral. When Alex returns home, she discovers a cassette tape labeled “The Ghost Lights – October 15, 1978.”
On the tape, she hears the voice of a miner (Billy Blair) from Terlingua, talking about experiences with “strange lights.”
“[The miner] is being interviewed by [Alex’s] father,” Stevens says, “so she sets out on a road trip, because she feels like she hasn't had a great relationship with her father, to try to connect with him beyond the grave by pursuing the story. She’s hoping this miner is still alive and she can find out more.”
Beyond the paranormal plotlines, the film's themes are universal and earthly.
Director Timothy Stevens on the set of his new feature film, The Ghost Lights.
courtesy Spectograph Films
Stevens, Blair, Philips and McCullagh took to the road for the filming. It was shot “mostly” in chronological order over the course of a 10-day excursion from Dallas to Terlingua. A road trip film unlike any other, The Ghost Lights filmed in Dallas, Marfa, Alpine and Terlingua locations.
Stevens estimates the film cost “about $7,000” for principal photography. He filmed in October of last year, while much of the world was still “hunkered down,” he says, due to the ongoing pandemic. Only two characters appear on screen at any given time, and the four-piece cast and crew collective took COVID tests before filming. They also stayed in the same Airbnb through much of the filming, so as not to potentially expose themselves to the virus.
After filming was completed, Stevens cut a trailer and shared it online. The film was still missing final touches, so the cast and crew launched an Indiegogo campaign, which crowdfunded “about $6,000 for post production, which paid for special effects, music and color, ” Stevens says.
With over a decade of filmmaking experience, Stevens has directed several horror and thriller short films, including The House Beyond the Hill and The Resurrectionist, the latter of which won him the Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase award for Best Director. Limited funding, Texas traffic and, of course, a pandemic, were all hindrances to The Ghost Lights’ production. Stevens says the full-length feature is one of his most challenging projects to date.
Still, he looks forward to sharing the film at the Lone Star Film Festival, his favorite event of the year.
“I've been to film festivals elsewhere that maybe bring in great movies, but they can't get the filmmakers to come out, for whatever reason,” Stevens says. “While I love seeing indie films on a big screen, the main reason I go to a film fest was to meet other filmmakers. ... I will toot the horn that Lone Star Film Festival is like one of the best film festivals in Texas, if not one of the best in the U.S. I'll take it over South By (Southwest) any day of the week.”
