Pop, pop, BANG. Watch out for gritty fistfights aplenty in director Christian Sesma’s new feature. Frank Grillo stars in Lights Out as a down-and-out war veteran who teams up with an ex-con, played by Mekhi Phifer, to take on the underground street fighting world in modern-day Los Angeles.

It’s pretty straightforward stuff, though the overall vibe is heightened by a bumping soundtrack and other household names that we’ve seen in other Sesma projects. We recently caught up with the SoCal-based filmmaker to learn more about the real-life inspiration behind Lights Out, which past classics fueled his vision for this latest feature of his, and why The Iron Claw should have gotten Oscar love.

‘Throwback Style’ Mixed With Contemporary
Lights Out (2024) 2.5/5 Release Date February 16, 2024 Director Christian Sesma Runtime 86 Minutes Writers Chad Law , Garry Charles Studio Firebrand

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There are at least two common denominators between Lights Out and Sesma’s penultimate film, Section 8 (2022): actors Dermot Mulroney and Scott Adkins. “We’re lucky to work with people that we really like, and they’re great at their job,” Sesma told MovieWeb in terms of reteaming with these household names. “They’re such icons, and we’re really fortunate to be able to get them back. And yeah, we just have a good working relationship for sure.”

With Lights Out, it’s indeed a fictitious tale, though we had to ask if the fight clubs Grillo’s character joins were inspired by any sort of real-life organizations. Says Sesma:

“Those things exist. That’s what’s crazy about them. When I got the script, it was so much like a Roadhouse, Lionheart, old-school, ad-style thing, and we were trying to find a way to make it contemporary and kind of make it feel cool. And I’ve also been just a fight fan of UFC and MMA and boxing, but I mean, now more than ever, the underground, bare-knuckle brawls, those kinds of things — I mean, a quick YouTube search, and you have guys doing these kinds of things in their backyard all over America. So this was not a stretch at all, you know, when it came to realism.”

In seeing the end result that is Lights Out for the first time, you might be reminded of past classics. “It was definitely like a throwback-style film, so obviously my job was to kind of keep it contemporary,” said Sesma. “I always wanted to make sure it felt very rooted in a kind of old school, ’80s throwback feel. I definitely was inspired by Training Day, Warrior, Southpaw.” And then there’s the bumping soundtrack to fittingly accompany this edgy crime flick, with rap songs aplenty.

“A part of me wishes that the audience would see this movie with what I attempted. It was like Cypress Hill, Beastie Boys, House of Pain, old-school, dope ’80s-’90s, classic hip-hop stuff. But obviously, that’s just a whole ‘nother budget level.”

6:15 Related Exclusive: Jaime King on Playing Corrupt in Lights Out and Calling George Lucas Her ‘Family’ The Sin City actress spoke with MovieWeb about her past work with Robert Rodriguez and acting alongside Dermot Mulroney in her new film, Lights Out.

Real-Life Fighters and Love for The Iron Claw

Plus, with fistfights aplenty, Sesma was able to incorporate talent from the real-life fighting world. “We were able to kind of showcase a lot of actual, real MMA or UFC stars,” he said. “Cowboy Cerrone is a legend; Cub Swanson had a cameo fight in the middle.”

But when it comes to nailing the lead part in Lights Out, you have to have seasoned acting chops in addition to fighting expertise. A good solution might be underrated action star Frank Grillo. “I’ve been wanting to work with Frank for a long time, been a fan,” Sesma told us. “Funny enough, we have a lot of friends in common, and I would always see him at the same gym… And when this thing came across in the script, I thought, ‘Man, this could be really perfect.’ And I think Frank nailed it. He’s such a talent.”

Related Boxing Rings — The Greatest Setting in All of Film When fighters step into the ring, audiences expect one thing. It’s how the filmmakers add originality to the scenes that make boxing rings stand out.

Looking ahead, Sesma is looking forward to the production and release of two new exciting projects:

“I just signed off for a really cool project that’d be shooting in Indonesia, I think at the end of the year, called
The Shitlist
. It’s a really cool project, very
Kill Bill
meets
The Raid
. That’s going to be really, really fun. And I have another one coming out in the summer, where
Richard Dreyfus returns to the shark genre
. It’s called Into the Deep, that’s gonna be really fun… It was not easy to get him back into the genre, but the script was serious, and it’s not a ‘creature feature’ kind of thing… Everybody was like, ‘You gotta say, We’re gonna need a bigger boat!'”

With the BAFTAs and Oscars upon us these days, we were curious if Sesma has been rooting for any one of the acclaimed films that have hit the masses this year. “The Iron Claw was phenomenal,” he said. “I thought it definitely should have been in [the Oscar nominations] somewhere, for a lot of reasons… I thought the directing was fresh. The fight scenes were good. The choreography was by a good buddy of mine who I’ve worked with, Chavo Guerrero… I just thought that was a phenomenal movie.”

From Quiver Distribution, Lights Out is now playing in theaters, on demand and on digital.