THE RICKETY MAN (A Short Folk Horror Film)

[@Royfokker73]

I was immediately taken in with the atmosphere, there is a sense of tension and suspense immediately before even the daughter shows up for the first time. A sense of dread and isolation. The cinematography was amazing, the framing of the shots in the home at dinner then writing at the fire were just perfect. You had me caught up in the trepidation and fear of the father that I got to share the dread and that is such a rare thing these days. I yawn at what passes for horror usually, but not this.

[@blondechannel]

The writer of this piece is a humble exploratory craftsman....very impressed with his stylized approach to his characters and story telling.

[@JeremiahLewis]

Thank you so much! Much love, Kimberly!

[@mandamichel6077]

Enjoyed this very much. Damn that little girl is spooky as hell. Great jog. 😍

[@krishelfferich3487]

Are you tired? 🤪 Jk lol

[@celestinaharris466]

Great job everyone!! Superb performance Ava!!!! ❤️

[@elainascott7496]

The cast is fantastic! The cinematography is fantastic! I loved the short story he wrote before this short, and you guys NAILED it!!

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thank you so much!!! :)

[@SouthRidgeFilms]

So happy to have finally seen this. Very well paced and what gorgeous cinematography. It was so atmospheric and creepy. Extremely well done!

[@ItsJasmynMarie]

This was impressive! Such a great short film. It was so thorough that I felt like I was sitting here for way more than 16 minutes! I love EVERYTHING about this! Great job to all involved! This is what I look for in horror films!

[@TheEnvisFury]

One minute in and I knew regardless of the monster I was gonna be spooked just by the girl's demeanor. My friend and I watched this together and honestly, she successfully held this to a very creepy standard. I can see why it won awards.

[@flouncymom]

Well. That was unexpectedly amazing! That was one of the most beautiful, well written and terrifying things I’ve seen in my entire life. I’m not exaggerating. Well done everyone involved!

[@joanwallace1373]

Excellent! Actors were just amazing. KUDOS for a job well done!!!!!

[@JohnCMartinActor]

Beautifully shot, edited and acted...but it feels like part of a larger story, beginning in the middle and without an end. Well made film for sure!

[@lilithwilcox9074]

I would love to get into this more.

[@krimsonhaze327]

I love watching horror shorts and this is one of the best I've seen. The camera work, the atmosphere gives such a creepy vibe and fills you with dread from the start. The acting was very well done. All around excellent.

[@orsolyaritter7292]

This is a masterpiece in every aspect. Both the father and the little girl are incredibly talented. Congratulations!

[@mishie618]

Why is this not being presented on a much larger platform? This was exquisite in every way! I adored it as a period piece, the actors, the location all of it was pristine and flawless! Beautiful and sooooo haunting. I'd love to see this concept made into a full length feature film!!!

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thank you so much for the kind words!! We definitely have plans!! 👀

[@aleshyadarling5274]

Very well done, Mr. Gallagher. The way the shots are put together gives it just the right amount of unease. Plus, creepy children are a good horror movie staple. The hand on his wrist and the hug was a subtle (then maybe not so subtle) way of tipping off the audience that something wasn't right.

[@jasonbullockfilms]

Loved it. Would love to see a BTS video showing the making of.

[@highstrangetv]

I love the firelight during the climax. It gives everything a wobbly tension, makes one unsure as to what they’re looking at. Great atmosphere in the build up too!

[@mikeyounis80]

Now THAT'S how you make a horror film... one of the best short films I've seen in years.

[@CelticKungFu]

It's so good! Glad more folks are getting to see this!

[@CoralineJonesPinkPalace]

Amazing film with an atmospheric edge fitting for the era. That little girl is a phenomenal actress. The entire film is beautiful too, where it was recorded looks like a magical place. The Rickety Man is definitely 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@bryanemurphy]

Pumped to see your latest!

[@kevinmkraft]

Well made! Ava Torres was amazing, but all of the performers were excellent. Very creepy, very effective.

[@fightthefairy]

That little girl is a phenomenal actress. Had me scared the whole way through. Amazing short horror.

[@danielhanawalt4998]

Creepy couple kids, especially Matilda. Nicely done. Be cool to see the beginning and what came after.

[@taracollins5597]

Could you add American/English subtitles? The accents & the powerful music sometimes make it tough to understand the dialogue.

[@SunrichPowerOfficial]

very simple you click cc and boom you have subtitles ….

[@taracollins5597]

@@SunrichPowerOfficial When I watched the film when I made my original comment, it said Subtitles Unavailable.

[@gaylewatkins5088]

Everything is superb. The girl is an amazing actress.

[@LaceandArmour]

Absolutely stunning! The absolute menace this little girl exudes is palpable and chilling ! She needs to get an award!

[@djr1943]

Excellent! Very moody and mysterious.

[@Mashy8722]

Oh that was so good!!!! I would LOVE to see a full length on the rickety man!!!

[@rawrice3096]

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Horror movies these days lack the scare factor but this short movie has everything. You have a new fan from Australia! Thank you for posting this clip.

[@hpp867]

By far the best short horror I've seen on youtube.

[@LunaRealized]

You haven’t seen much then

[@chrimsonshane2132]

Love it! Great job, Ava!! 👏🏽💕

[@LunarlightCinema]

Yes! Super excited to finally get to this.

[@AndieJ32209]

So many if the lines were mumbled that I didn’t know what was being said half the time. Lovely set. Most of the filming was very good. I didn’t feel that the father’s reaction to finding his son dead in his gore was remotely believable or normal. But, maybe he didn’t love his kids. He never said “I love you” back to the girl. Did he murder his wife? Maybe he didn’t care about the kids. But his reaction to his dead son was NOT the reaction of a loving parent. Even if the son was dead he would not have abandoned him to run and hide from a perceived threat. A normal parent would have freaked out upon finding his mortally wounded child. He would have either thrown himself across his son’s body to protect him from the threat in hopes that he wasn’t dead, or, at the least, grabbed his body and run from the danger with it. I don’t understand this character’s motivations. Is he cowardly? Does he not really care about his children? Did he murder his wife and become paranoid? Just a lot of questions. I may watch again with captions on so that maybe I can read what is being said.

[@emann715]

Every piece you make shows massive improvements from the one before, can’t wait to see what you’re making in a few years!

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thanks Man!! We owe it to the OG’s like you!!

[@jillcochran9794]

Great actors!!

[@einienj3281]

Awesome! Thank You very much! 🖤

[@FerraFilms]

I can’t wait I am hyped for this short film

[@mareir]

What an incredible actor. Wow.

[@prasantabehera7461]

That's how u make short films !!

[@trevorbailey730]

Great job Cameron, you should submit this to ALTER because this is right up their alley. Cheers!

[@obox911]

Very nice short film👏👏

[@nelliesilvers1210]

"Draw birds and flowers.....happy things". Sounds like my mum when she'd look at my sketches when I was a kid. Skulls, Gothic fairies/mermaids etc. I saw this when it first showed but had to check it out again👌🏻.

[@calebshoemaker]

What a fantastic meditation on grief

[@vincentdormani60]

Beautifully done! A great job on all parts making this feel like true folk horror. Even reminds me a bit of Over The Garden Wall and I just loved that.

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thank you very much!

[@dovel1000]

Wow, this is awesome.

[@diontaedaughtry974]

Scary films are always scarier with children in it.

[@d_triadshots5486]

Cinematography is Exceptional

[@GearsAndGuns]

That young girl is one heck of an actor! Keep it up!

[@racheltaylor2091]

There's always a creepy kid 😲..makes it even better.

[@lilithwilcox9074]

Great little story. Enjoyed this very much.

[@samfras09]

This is a beautiful example of a horror film. I see few and far between 0f this theme (steampunk vibe) of this quality. well done

[@jenjean70]

Amazing job Ava! You're so talented! Congratulations!

[@rynaecurry5237]

I felt the chill in the air. As the others have said... a sense of dread upon entering the house. It was so dark all of the time. The story reminded me strongly of Edgar Allen Poe... maybe it's just the way i feel when i read Poe, it's dark and twisted..you are not sure which path leads to the end. Bravo!

[@V.R.CoryArt]

Incredible atmosphere and sound design, cinematography, and impressive acting (especially for the young girl!). Also for what I'm assuming was most likely a very small budget/amount of resources, the period piece was done effectively to the point and not over the top to the point of everything looking either try-hard costumey, and there was never an item that felt jarringly out of place to "take you out of it", which in my experience is a lot harder than it seems. It's hard to believe that much story happened in such a short amount of time. I don't know what award this won, but whatever it was it was well-earned!

[@KJ7Tillymann]

The atmosphere and style are awesome and delectable. And the characters are interesting as well as the world building towards “the wall” sort of implying that the daughter’s mistake of going over the wall lead to her discovery of the monster. However there’s not much buildup to the creepiness. We never meet the little girl as a little girl. From the start, she’s very suspicious and you can tell immediately that this is the “imaginary friend” trope used in movies like “paranormal activity”, “Z”, Babadook, and “Play with Me”. In contrast, the girl could of been murderous without an imaginary friend and it would have been the same story. The “rickety man” serves nothing to the story except to be a trope sprinkled over to give the girl a motive. I would have loved to of seen more of the Rickety Man. From what I could make out, he was terrifying. It’s a shame that he’s not shown off more Edit/additional feedback: For example; the father asked, “Where’s James?” and the daughter only says “He’s about.” She then proceeds to change the subject. The father, for some reason forgets that she didn’t answer the question and forgets his concern for his son. Then in the field, he grabs hold of his daughter’s hand, tells James they’re heading home, and leaves James behind entirely. Nothing I saw in this movie tells me that this father cares for his son. Even when he finds James dead, he’s not too shaken. No emotion.

[@CameronGallagher96]

Hey! You actually picked up on a lot of intentional decisions! We see Edward AS a distant father, who (especially in the time period) had a different way of connecting with his kids. In this case, the loss of their mother, is also the loss of the parent who connected! That’s where THE RICKETY MAN, and lack of it comes in! He really is supposed to be the beacon and “stand-in” for grief, so it’s less about him physically, but as an idea and presence! That being said, it seemed like most of what we were hoping for worked!

[@KJ7Tillymann]

@@CameronGallagher96 I see. Thank you for your comment! I’ll rewatch the short film with these points in mind

[@KJ7Tillymann]

@@CameronGallagher96​So I’ve rewatched the short film, and I’ve caught things I didn’t before. Mainly how the forest or swamp beyond the wall is something of a metaphor for either death or their emotions towards their mother. Like their father telling them not to venture beyond the wall could be interpreted as telling them not to dwell on their memories. Or it can be interpreted to imply that the children did some sort of ritual to summon the Rickety man. I prefer the first one, but I’m not sure which you meant to imply. Not a criticism. Just sort of wondering which you had in mind. Also after seeing how her father tells her not to grieve through “Draw happy things” instead of what she’s been drawing, I can see why she turns to the rickety man. In this first scene of dialogue, I can see the daughter’s disdain of her father’s emotional absence and I can see it grow when the father dismisses her and doesn’t return her affections. I can also see the daughter’s distaste for her father when she realizes he’s more concerned about the tutoring lessons than James. I think the mother’s death could of been a little more than subtly implied though. I hope you don’t mind me knit picking your story, but I do enjoy it after you explained a bit more about your intentions. Maybe I was having a rough day when I had watched it. It feels like this short film takes a lot of inspiration from the Babadook. The Babadook also uses an imaginary friend type monster to represent grief and depression. But much like this one, if you’re not looking at the monster as a representation, it might fall flat of being spectacular like it was in my opinion. Anyways, cheers and good luck on your next films :)

[@bryanemurphy]

Nicely done! Definitely your BEST work yet! 👍

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thanks 👍

[@HighCurbS]

Well done!

[@collinchaney8082]

Very well crafted! It only took me about one minute of watching your film, and soon I felt as if I had been dropped smack dab in the middle of a story written by Edgar Allen Poe! Well done! Now you just need to convince Hollywood to manage to learn to make this type of film grade haha

[@Robation26]

I think I know horror and this is it. Wonderfully done. 👏👏👏👏

[@dornravlin]

Loved it it feels like the innocence meets the witch loved to muted desaturated colors it’s veery creepy

[@jomontanee]

THE ACTORS ARE PHENOMENAL!

[@MARIUSIANCUCIPA]

Hello! Great film! Can I react to some of your shorts? For sure, I will give you credit in my video and in the description!

[@CameronGallagher96]

Absolutely!! We’d love to see!!

[@CameronGallagher96]

Hey Marius! You’d love our new short “LUCID” out now!

[@zorro11ification]

Wow. That little girl can act!

[@valiantwarrior4517]

Great acting and cinematography!

[@jeffreymercado2082]

Way to take the creepy kid trope and crank it up to 11. Damn great performance.

[@carlofiorletta]

excellent, great all around

[@BrookedeRosa]

Love love love loved it!

[@KosmicJelly]

Wow! Big-time Hollywood horror cinema screenwriters should be taking notes from you! Well done simply isn't praise enough for this piece or for the remarkable talent demonstrated by everyone involved!

[@CameronGallagher96]

Well that all is all credit to our writer Jeremiah! He is AMAZING!!!

[@JeremiahLewis]

​ @Cameron Gallagher ACTUALLY it's due to you and Zach and the incredible cast and crew! And maybe a tiny bit of me.... :-P

[@alfredsmith6381]

Brought the tales of Poe to mind. Well executed, and all the more effective for not being overly gory. Bravo 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@lesleyrussell8200]

its more from lovecraft than poe....

[@dylanclark]

Absolutely beautiful. So ambitious and it paid off. Awesome work to all involved!

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thank you so much!! We’re all so glad you loved it!

[@kalieghward8450]

Amazing!!

[@taracollins5597]

0:32 What a gorgeous home. Now, back to the film........

[@juliarodriguez9970]

Wow

[@guntherthequizmaster9515]

And each time, the doors and windows are still locked from the inside. He's a phantom, a phantom that can walk right through walls. - Mr. Deacon Carlswell, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! - Jeepers, It's the Creeper

[@natalielinden]

This was well done...except I don't get it🤷. Did the children die with the mom and he was just imagining them and then killed himself? Or were they alive and the daughter became possessed? But why would she? Or is this just a metaphor for how families are never the same after a death? I'd like to understand the story.

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thats the fun in it....the questions keep you wanting more! :)

[@ragdolls333]

@@CameronGallagher96 seriously you must be joking!! We just wanted to understand the plot & you guys 😐🤬 this was not expected damn it

[@CameronGallagher96]

@@ragdolls333 mmm its called "thinking on your own" XD lol

[@lesleyrussell8200]

@@ragdolls333 thats the cool thing, its playable.....like it was the alien ship of alien 79 before they destroyed it with prometheus...

[@lesleyrussell8200]

@@CameronGallagher96 another version of the turn of the screw.....

[@roxyabrooks864]

Great atmospheric horror! 🔥

[@lizhussein5210]

The daughter is pure evil, good movie btw 😊👍

[@fearopolis]

Well done! Simply put, it's a well made short horror film! Bravo! 💀

[@nikkiekitties]

perfection

[@tetomapa]

One of the best short films I've ever seen 👍

[@Ravens93]

Loved 😍 it 👍

[@marcellaglass949]

now that was truley creepythanks

[@ColetteCherry]

this is incredible

[@Karatejin]

That was a great film! Congratulations!

[@darcihoudeshell2588]

Your films are well done, but could you please add subtitles? Some of us (myself) are old, and the hearing just isn't what it used to be.

[@amystewart4865]

Turn it up 😂

[@amystewart4865]

They recommend headphones to lol

[@robertjudy9135]

A very dark tale. Kinda reminds me of E.A Poe. Great story.

[@lesleyrussell8200]

folk of pact and worship of demon creature is from lovecraft

[@_daisuke.hamato_7251]

that was intense shesshh omg that. scared me a bit oof it was a good one

[@laradavenport903]

Where is the subtitles????

[@LET_US_TALK_OPENLY]

Brilliant movie I love it

[@fancykarlmarx]

Did I interpret the ending correctly? Did the father kill the mother to be with Liza? “Momma wants to know if you found your new life everything you’ve wished?”

[@CameronGallagher96]

I love the theory! MUCH more to dive into in the feature film!

[@fancykarlmarx]

@@CameronGallagher96 oh you are making it in a feature for sure?

[@goldenhour1618]

Beautifully written and shot and put together! If you don’t mind me asking, what was this shot on and lens selection?

[@CameronGallagher96]

Thank you! We shot it on the URSA Mini Pro G2 with Leica R Lenses Cine Modded

[@DavidSmith-sb2ix]

At last, a horror movie not set in modern times without screaming Gen X ers.

[@amystewart4865]

The way she says I miss Mama but I love you father is creepy asf lol

[@bluerainwalker5463]

beautiful film wel done the girl is fantastic sad and dreadful .loved it could have been longer would make a great feature film this reminds me of turn of the screw

[@ErikTheHighlander]

I would really appreciate subtitles. that would be great.

[@Dysprosodic]

Yeah I don't really get it

[@ragdolls333]

Me neither ☹️

[@Dysprosodic]

@/hvtrs8%2F-wuw%2Cymuvu%60e%2Ccmm-cjalngl-UAfxMr0WZsK%40faZ%7BsW7ETo2u Like there's a demon but what in the world is the "rickety man"

[@unohoncho7727]

Lolz - 10:00 you can hear a car drive past changing gear 😂

[@CameronGallagher96]

You’re the first person to catch that! 😂😂 It’s been our secret!

[@lesleyrussell8200]

its a haunted mansion ......

[@donatoviero1700]

WHICH CAMERA WAS USED?

[@CameronGallagher96]

Black Magic URSA Mini Pro G2 with a set of Contax Lenses!

[@etcetc3800]

so the dude is tolkien right