David F. Sandberg still has moments where he wonders if he’s dreaming.

Just a few years ago the 36-year-old director was making horror shorts in his native Sweden with his wife Lotta Losten.

Then Hollywood came knocking after Lights Out, a three-minute film he made for a contest and uploaded to his YouTube channel, went viral on reddit. Featuring a malevolent female entity that only exists in the dark, the supernatural spine-tingler caught the eye of producer Lawrence Grey and horror maestro James Wan. They invited him to stretch Lights Out into a feature-length creepfest.

“It was surreal,” Sandberg recalls summing his meteoric rise.

Lights Out was a hit at the box office (the film grossed $150 million worldwide after costing just $5 million to produce) and now Sandberg has been handed the keys to Annabelle: Creation – the prequel to 2014’s Annabelle and the fourth film in The Conjuring film series, which follows the adventures of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga).

Annabelle: Creation delves into the chilling backstory of the demonic doll from the first Conjuring film. Set several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a doll maker (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife (Miranda Otto) welcome a nun and a group of orphan girls into their home. They soon become the target of the possessed doll, Annabelle.

Still, how the Swede went from an unemployed wannabe filmmaker making no budget shorts in his Gothenburg apartment to taking the reins of one of the most successful horror franchises going today is the stuff of dreams.

We caught up with Sandberg to find out how he breathed new life into the Annabelle franchise, his rules for making a horror flick and what he has in store for his next feature – DC’s Shazam.

The Conjuring is turning out to be its own cinematic universe. What makes that series ripe for all these spinoffs?

First off, they’re just good movies. They have that classic horror feel to them, which I like. But I think it’s interesting that they’re doing this whole Conjuring line of movies that is based on the Warrens’ case files. But then with the spinoffs, we have more freedom to do whatever we want with them. We can go off on tangents that aren’t necessarily based on true events, but are inspired by the Conjuring universe.

What intrigued you about expanding the Annabelle story and doing a prequel?

It was the fact that they were doing a prequel and its own standalone story. When they first started talking to me about potentially making a sequel to Annabelle I was little bit unsure. But I was glad to read the script and see that it was something totally different. It was a new cast and a new story and it was something that I thought I could have some fun with and make my own.

Are you someone who believes in ghosts or demonic entities?

I’m not, no. I do like having them in movies [laughs]. They’re a great source for telling stories. But I haven’t experienced anything in life that would lead me to believe they exist.

Did anything creepy happen on the set of Annabelle Creation?

Not when I was around. We did have a set blessed by a priest, though. Stephanie (Sigman, who plays Sister Charlotte) had heard that they did that on the Conjuring 2 and she said we needed to do it on this movie. She was a little bit freaked out by that doll.

What did the kids think when they heard they were starring in a horror movie?

They were so happy. They were always laughing and having fun. It didn’t feel like a horror set. The youngest of them Samara – who plays Bee – she’s a huge horror fan. She’s actually named after the character from the Ring. She wanted to do more extreme things. When we were shooting the scene where she gets hit by a car she was upset that we didn’t show the aftermath. She was like, ‘No one’s going to see my dead body.’

What are your rules for making a successful scary movie?

What I try to do is have a lot of tension. Tension is almost more important than scares. I don’t have jump scares coming out of nowhere. I really build towards it by having these long moments of tension.

What was your hope when you made the online short for Lights Out?

When we made the short, we did it for an online contest and really we were just trying to win the contest. But we didn’t think anything would come of it.

So when Hollywood came calling, what were you doing?

Not a lot. I was trying to make a living doing animation, but I wanted to go into live action and I was trying to get money from the Swedish Film Institute and other places where you can apply for grants to make short films. But I kept getting rejected because they weren’t interested in making genre films.

What was your reaction when you got the gig to direct Lights Out?

It was surreal. We kept thinking that there was no guarantee it would happen. Lotta and I approached it as, ‘We’ll play along, but nothing is really going to happen.’ We kept that attitude pretty much until I was on the set of Lights Out and actually directing the movie. Then it was finally, ‘OK, this is happening.’ Really, we thought that way because we didn’t want to get disappointed. If we didn’t count on it being a real thing, then we couldn’t get disappointed if it turned out it wasn’t.

What was the most important lesson you learned from making Lights Out and Annabelle Creation?

The big difference between Lights Out and Annabelle Creation is for Lights Out I put so much pressure on myself that it had to be great. That was my one shot at a career, so I planned meticulously. On Annabelle the approach was, ‘We’ll figure it out together on set with the cinematographer and the actors.’ Sometimes the best ideas you come up with happen while you’re shooting.

You’re set to direct Shazam – the next film for DC. What attracted you to that superhero?

The big attraction for me with that character is the fact that every kid dreams of being Superman, right? I mean I certainly did, and (Billy Batson) is a kid that gets that chance. He gets to become the superhero. So it’ll be big with superpowers in a way. In terms of what people can expect, I think this will be one of the more fun or lighthearted movies so far in the DC universe. It certainly will be a departure.

A lot of scary movies have disappointing endings. You’ve made two that buck the trend. How did you manage that?

I think endings are super important. That’s something we realized on Lights Out. There was originally a different ending in place and the film went on for 10 more minutes and people in test screenings hated that ending. We ended it 10 minutes early and suddenly people loved the movie.

What’s it going to be like going from no budget to big budget?

I don’t know [laughs]. I mean Annabelle was a step up from Lights Out. What I’ve realized with each step up is that it’s the same kind of storytelling. The only difference is you just have access to more toys and you have longer to do it.

So sum up the last couple of years for us then?

It’s been quite the ride.

Annabelle: Creation opens Friday, Aug. 11.

Twitter @markhdaniell

MDaniell@postmedia.com