If you want to hear the details about Diana’s
time in Mulberry Hill mental hospital, then
stick around to the end of this video.
The last several decades have each birthed
a horror icon.
Michael Myers capped the 70s, Freddy Krueger
slashed his way through the 80s, Ghostface
dialed into the 90s and Jigsaw tested movie
audiences in the 2000s.
And while the 10s had no shortage of iconic
horror franchises, many of the antagonists
were invisible entities, or characters not
really seen for most of their respective movies.
Although she only appeared in one movie to
date, unlike all the other names I mentioned,
I think it’s certainly possible to make
the case for Diana Walter from Lights Out
to be the face of horror in the 10s.
Although many people will probably say Pennywise,
who technically debuted in the 90s.
But we’ve already covered Pennywise on Horror
History, so today we’re going to take a
look into the shadows and analyse the entire
story of Diana.
To fully understand her journey, let’s take
it back once more to the 70s, for her birth.
Diana Walter was born in 1971.
She suffered from a rare skin disorder that
made her extremely sensitive to light.
Like a ginger in July, Diana made sure to
keep herself in the shade as much as possible.
Although she is stated to have parents, it
is possible she was adopted, because one article
mentions that nobody knows where she came
from.
Of course, there were many stories about her,
she was said to be evil and have the ability
to get inside people’s heads, and this seems
to be the fate suffered by her parents or
foster parents.
When Diana was 13 years old, she was found
locked in a basement with her father, who
had blown his head off.
On October 6th, 1984, Diana was admitted to
Mulberry Hill mental institution.
Doctors there determined that her condition
required heliotherapy, a form of treatment
where a person is bathed in full spectrum
light, usually used to lessen the effects
of diseases like psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis.
Diana, however, was no ordinary patient, and
began displayed what doctors referred to as
a history of violence during her stay at the
institution.
The first known incident was on February 9th
1985, when she assaulted a patient, leaving
the person with a fractured radius and ulna.
Another incident left a patient with a transverse
radius fracture, and a third attack resulted
in a lateral incision on another individual.
On June 5th 1986, she inflicts what appears
to be some kind of ribcage injury.
There are many other patients, at least 13
more incidents, victims of scratching, bruising,
broken bones and more.
Another incident was recorded on July 12th
And one that took place in April was especially
nasty.
The victim was found with arm bite marks and
deep cuts that resulted in having to get 43
stitches inside and out.
At some point during her stay, Diana met Sophie,
a patient in the heliotherapy suffering from
some form of mental illness including extreme
depression.
“You met Diana a Mulberry Hill when you
were taken there for your depression.
Am I right?”
Because Sophie’s mind was already very weak,
Diana easily got into her head and made her
think that they were friends.
Diana latched onto Sophie and developed a
tight bond so that she would permanently ingrain
herself into the young girl’s mind.
Taking a step back, the relationship between
Diana and Sophie is an allegory for Sophie’s
depression.
They met during a low-point in Sophie’s
life, Sophie did not know where Diana came
from, and they became best friends, in other
words, the depression consumed her life.
And like depression, Diana came back and hit
Sophie the hardest just when she was starting
to recover.
This came in the form of an attack that crushed
her left index and middle fingers.
She had to be put in restraints following
this incident, and claims to have attacked
Sophie “because she was getting better,”
which of course would have resulted in her
getting healthy and leaving the institution.
At this point, an experimental therapy is
performed on Diana involving 1200 watts of
full-spectrum light.
The treatment caused her a great deal of pain
and convulsion, just like me, after each passing
day of no baseball.
The so-called therapy caused Diana to just
disappear, and the doctors had no choice but
to report her death, but to this day there
are still varying accounts on what exactly
happened.
Going back to our analogy, therapy causes
depression to disappear.
For many years, Diana was gone, but she still
seemed to exist somewhere in Sophie’s mind,
seemingly her only connection to this world.
During this time, Diana is locked in the darkest
area of the house, the basement, where she
leaves diary messages using fingerprints on
the walls.
This is another symbol for depression and
mental illness.
A person may appear to recover without actually
getting rid of their illness.
They can suppress it, push it to the depths
of the back their mind and go on trying to
live their lives without ever truly facing
it.
But the problem with this method is that it
can come back stronger that even.
According to Dr. Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault,
“If you have ever had an intense thought
or feeling that you couldn't handle in the
moment or felt overwhelmed by and tried to
push away, you have experienced emotional
suppression for yourself.
Research shows that not only is it ineffective
in eliminating thoughts and feelings, but
it may even worsen the situation.”
That appears to be exactly what happens with
Sophie.
In the late 90s, she’s married with a daughter
named Rebecca when Diana comes back, now in
the form of this somewhat ghost-like creature.
When Sophie starts talking to Diana again,
it causes her to appear crazy, and her health
takes a serious decline.
This scares away Rebecca’s father, causing
him to abandon the family, and Diana takes
great pride in the idea of getting Sophie
by herself; she preys on loneliness.
”Has she been social with anyone?”
“Someone keeps coming over.”
“Good.
Who?”
“Diana.”
Rebecca on the other hand convinces herself
that Diana isn’t real, which was easier
for her, because none of the other adults
in her life were going to believe her about
a creepy shadow lady that only shows up in
the dark.
“I’m gonna tell you something that nobody
ever told me.
I believe you.”
But Rebecca eventually leaves her mother as
well, and Sophie once again has to get professional
help to get rid of Diana.
This time she goes on antidepressants and
talks to a psychiatrist.
But like last time, Sophie is only able to
suppress her, and years later, after Sophie remarries
and has another kid, Diana rises up once
again.
In Southern California in the modern day,
Diana starts talking to Sophie once again,
and convinces her to feel bad for abandoning
her all those years ago.
Sophie sinks into a deeper depression than
ever before, and her family, who never sees
Diana early on, thinks that she’s going
crazy again and talking to herself.
Sophie’s new husband, Paul Wells, is more
committed than the previous guy, and instead
of running, looks into any possible avenues
to get her better.
For Diana, this would mean going away again,
and not wanting to be locked in the basement
for a third time, Diana shows up at Paul’s
work to try to deter him and she ends up scaring
one of his employees, a woman named Esther,
before eventually attacking Paul, breaking
his bones and clawing out his eyes out.
Paul represented Sophie’s support line,
so taking him out was a big win for Diana.
“I miss you dad.
He made me feel strong.”
The loss, as you can imagine, did not help
with her condition, which is only worsened
by the fact that she’s off her medication
and she refuses to see a therapist.
Diana appears with increasing frequency to
talk to Sophie each night, this time wanting
to get a strong hold over her mind, as not
to be repressed and locked away again.
From the point of view of Sophie’s son Martin,
his mom is just talking to herself because
she’s not taking her medication, until one
night when he sees Diana in the closet.
This represents the lack of coping skills
in a patient of mental illness, which can
lead to their entire family being affected.
Diana tries to break into Martin’s room,
and he’s unable to get any sleep all night.
Wanting to isolate her victim further, Diana
goes after Martin as he stays over the next
night with his half-sister, Rebecca.
Seeing her child, the only person she had
left, leave her, causes a lot of distress
for Sophie, which makes Diana even more powerful.
She scratches her name into the floor in Rebecca’s
apartment, but can’t get to her before she’s
able to turn the lights back up.
Martin protects himself by sleeping in the
tub with a flashlight.
The reason that she is not able to go into
the light may be related to the slang term
often associated with depression.
You may hear that a depressed person is “in
a dark place right now” or that their mind
“went to a dark place”.
There is also evidence that sunlight is something
that can help fight depression.
In a journal written by RN Rachel Nall, it
is explained that “Exposure to sunlight
is thought to increase the brain’s release
of a hormone called serotonin.
Serotonin is associated with boosting mood
and helping a person feel calm and focused.
At night, darker lighting triggers the brain
to make another hormone called melatonin.
This hormone is responsible for helping you
sleep.”
This could explain why Martin, who is constantly
trying to keep himself in the light to avoid
Diana, is unable to get any sleep at night.
Outside of the fact that the little dude is
just freaking terrified all the time.
The next day, Rebecca searches the house for
clues, and Diana locks her inside of her old
room.
“Stay away.
Stay away Rebecca.
I won’t be sent away again.”
Another symbol of light vs. shadow can be
seen that afternoon when Martin and Sophie
return to the house with some groceries.
Sophie recommends the three of them watch
a movie, implying Diana will be there.
As much as I love the idea of this monster
just chilling on the couch, munching down
some popcorn, Martin suggests that just he
and his mom check out the movie.
You can tell that she’s being manipulated
as she responds, with her standing in the
shade while Martin remains in the sunlight.
“Mom?
"Huh?"
"How about just you and me tonight?
OK?”
“We’ll see.”
During the movie, Diana comes for Martin,
and when he runs, she attacks Sophie.
This represents Sophie’s condition getting
so bad, it’s about to cause her to hurt
her son.
So he flees back to Rebecca’s place, where
Diana tries to pull him under the bed, every
little kid’s worst nightmare.
They all stay over at the house, and Sophie
starts to realize that her illness is getting
the better of her again.
Not wanting Diana to find out she’s seeking
help, she slips her daughter a note before
going to bed.
Sophie realized that she was about to have
a manic episode, and this is conveyed in the
movie by Diana completely cutting off the
power to the house.
As with anyone close to someone suffering
from depression, it is those closest to them
that are impacted first, and Diana goes after
Martin, who protects himself using a candle.
He escapes to get help from Rebecca, but Diana
locks the two of them in the basement, and
goes after Rebecca’s boyfriend Bret, who
is also staying in the house with them, but
I just haven’t really mentioned yet because
he hasn’t come up.
But he’s the man, he really is.
He ends up going to the cops to get help.
Next, Diana attacks her host, Sophie, because
she sees her going for her bottle of antidepressants.
Since Sophie is Diana’s only tie to reality,
she must be left alive, but she is knocked
out on the bedroom floor.
Diana targets Rebecca and Martin, but the
cops show up and she takes out one of them
as well.
In the end, Rebecca does what she was unable
to do as a child and stands up for her mother
against her oppressor, but in the end, Sophie
realizes that her disease is hurting the ones
she loves most, and like many victims of mental
illness in real life, she puts an end to in
the most tragic way possible, because she
believes the only way to destroy Diana is
to eliminate herself.
Because of her connection to Sophie’s mind,
Diana is a scary horror movie antagonist in
more ways than one.
In particular, I think it is her tendency
to keep herself hidden in shadows that really
makes this character hit differently.
Because this is what caused the people around
Sophie to not realize that she was being haunted
by Diana, just like depression in real life,
where the symptoms don’t always manifest
themselves in very obvious ways.
I know times are tough right now for a lot
of people, and it’s not easy to get into
the sunlight right now while we’re all quarantining
ourselves inside, so if you or someone you know is
struggling, I’ll leave some resources in
the description.
Remember to subscribe to CZsWorld for new
horrors every week, ring that deathbell for
notifications and I’ll see you in the next
one.
Assuming we stay inside.
