WITCH Short Film

[@etherealgirl394]

You know you are good at storytelling in film and acting when you can disturb everyone who watches this without showing any body horror or violent scenes. Bravo!!!

[@dontaylor7315]

When you choose Shirley Jackson as a source you're well on the way to creating just that kind of subtle horror film. In her stories the horror is always psychological. There are monsters but you don't see them - or if you ever do, they look so ordinary you're not on your guard.

[@etherealgirl394]

@@dontaylor7315 That's so my style, I don't really do well with jumpscares and blood and stuff, so I'll definetely give her stories a chance! Thanks for telling me! ^^

[@trendkiller6611]

This wasn't disturbing.

[@mrgeeization]

That little boy is wonderful! He acts so naturally.

[@AmyW-m2p]

You know it's Shirley Jackson when the things that go without saying are the ones that really give you the creeps.

[@valerie241]

Mothers travelling alone with young children would often encounter creeps and scary people who are threatening towards them. This is not fiction.

[@leahw2124]

I think it's about being distracted as parents and not realising the outside influence on our children until it's too late. The boy was being innocent until the idea was planted in his head. Mum was distracted with her book and the baby. Very poignant. The train window could be a metaphor for modern day technolo

[@GGG-md3fo]

Wow! It is a very good interpretation!

[@MrTotalluck]

Very good reading

[@lisalamphier1410]

Thank you so much for posting this! Shirley Jackson was one of my favorite authors when i was a kid. I was especially mesmerized by We Have Always Lived In the Castle. How could i resist a story about homicidal children. (I also read The Bad Seed and The Last of the Crazy People). That was sixty years ago. The other day i checked a book out of the library, of short stories by Shirley Jackson, which is why KZbin recommended this video. They know EVERYTHING. 😮😮

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

Thanks for sharing! That's crazy how the algorithm works.

[@DNTMEE]

@@andrewfrescasfilm Not crazy. Scary. At the least, unsettling.

[@b_ks]

​@@DNTMEE Write a story about it. 😊

[@gusmonster59]

I used have a paperback of 'We Have Always Living in The Castle'. I wore it out. 'The Haunting of Hill House' is another favourite.

[@dontaylor7315]

​@@gusmonster59 Both favorites of mine too.

[@TheFolkandAcousticChannel]

Acting and story telling can’t be replaced by special effects and big budgets. Powerful little film, thanks!

[@MyaPapaya]

This was insanely well done. the shot compositions, the actors, the delivery... wow! it was so good and deeply unsettling!

[@Carneades2012]

Impressive acting, especially from Wyatt Solis, the little boy who played "Johnny." He managed to convey just the right combination of innocence and fascination with evil ("witches") that would attract a sociopath like the "Elderly Man.".

[@dontaylor7315]

"Deeply unsettling" is Jackson's specialty.

[@jameshoopingarner]

I dont get it, there had nothing to do with witches even in the slightest.

[@Carneades2012]

@@jameshoopingarner “Nothing to do with witches”?-The story is all about witches, which were-in classical European tradition-called “evildoers” (malefactors), especially in formal, religious literature. It begins with the little boy’s fantasy of looking for witches outside the train car’s window. He ignores the old woman (who might be mistaken for a witch, following the tradition of “ugly old women” being witches) who attempts to engage him in friendly conversation, and she walks away. (Perhaps she doesn’t fit the image of a “witch,” in the fantasy he is mentally exploring.) He then comforts his fretful little sister, displaying kindness and affection that his mother rewards with a smile and a cookie. Then the old man enters the train car, and begins what appears to be a friendly exchange with the little boy, but soon turns into a horrifying story about how he strangled, beheaded, and dismembered his own little sister, whom he “loved very much,” but who might have been a “witch” (hints that draw the child deeper into the old man’s storytelling). The mother finally reacts in horror, sensing the danger to her little boy of introducing these violent ideas into the vulnerable mind of a child. The old man pretends surprise, asking the boy “Did I frighten you?,” and departs, chuckling with amused pleasure, but not before reminding the boy “Don’t forget-YOUR little sister’s head, too!” (We may speculate that he is hoping to “program” the little boy into attacking his sister, at some future time, when she competes for his mother’s love.) The boy asks his mother if the old man really did kill and dismember his sister, and she replies “No, it was just make-believe.” The boy, weighing the events, concludes by saying “Probably, he was a witch.” The kid was right: witches are not “mean, ugly, old women,” but “evildoers,” who take pleasure in damaging and destroying innocent life. Our term for them today might be “malignant, narcissistic psychopaths.”

[@dontaylor7315]

@@jameshoopingarner Except in the child's mind the old man may be a witch and may even be the old hag in disguise. In a Shirley Jackson story there are monsters but you don't see them. She specializes in the horror hidden in everyday life. The old man is abnormally evil and qualifies as a monster but he's hard to nail down. You sense witches in the corners and shadows but you can't quite see the witch in the middle of the room. That's how Jackson rolls.

[@Beth-zg6gb]

Jackson was always one of my favorites in high school, way back in the day. The way things are now, kids probably aren’t even allowed to read her stuff. It’s too bad if that’s the case because it always made for interesting class discussion and made students think.

[@NicHudsonValley]

Interesting story. What struck me is that the boy snubbed the elderly woman that was kind to him in favor of the deceptively friendly old man. He associates an old unattractive woman with being a witch but trusts the old man who turns out to be a creep. The boy seems to learn a lesson in the end when he suggests that a man can also be “a witch.”

[@YouTubeallowedmynametobestolen]

I've never read the Jackson story, but this was really well done--except that I can't believe the mother would have let the old man's ramblings go on so long before interceding.

[@taracollins5597]

I felt the mother was just waiting for the old man to say "HA HA GOTCHA!" (because the boy started it by saying 'scary things' first) so she assumed he was just doing the same. By the time she realized he wasn't, he'd already said a lot. It took what, 15 or 20 seconds for all that? People assume that old people are not dangerous. Especially in the 1940s, when this looked like it took place.

[@bigseanprice]

yea that made no sense and no one else in the car seemed to care or that this even was happening. the twist ending is the little kid took some LSD.

[@theforgottensaint1]

It’s what l call destructive politeness. Girls/women, some of us especially in religious backgrounds, are trained from an early age not to express ourselves or say anything rude or be in conflict with others - to be the “good girl”. A healthy dose of shock and the freeze mode out of (fight, flight or freeze) can be the reason why she did not intervene sooner.

[@taracollins5597]

@@theforgottensaint1 I agree with that also. I myself was raised like that to some extent, to respect my elders but also not to 'make a spectacle of myself'. You also make a great point about the fight-flight-or-freeze' instinct we all have. This woman likely was so stunned by what she was hearing...especially since it started out sounding like a joke-story like her own son's.....that once she realized he wasn't going to say "HA! GOTCHA!" it was too late. But the mom ought to be more concerned with the fact that her son does NOT seem very bothered at all by the grisly tale! lol

[@fiofiofioletta1898]

My mother would've. She had a phobia of being "rude".

[@dudeonyoutube]

So the old woman was the witch and she transformed into the old man in order to exact revenge? Wow!

[@dontaylor7315]

If so, the revenge failed. That little boy wasn't even ruffled.

[@ravenbaa7989]

Rude spoiler

[@annacoeptis]

Oh that makes sense. I wondered why the boy was the first to say hello to her, then he just shut her down and turned away, like he knew. But in the form of a man, the boy was fooled for a while.

[@dudeonyoutube]

@@annacoeptis thank you for not accusing the lad of misogyny.

[@annacoeptis]

@ He was culturally conditioned to look for old women as the evil witches he was describing.

[@recolletsmanoir]

that was freaky and very well acted

[@kareengilbert2162]

Shirley Jackson was ahead of her time. Nicely done short. Thank you!

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

We thank you!

[@ForeverFlowering1]

I clicked because I'm familiar with the Shirley Jackson story, and yet I was still somehow shocked and spooked. Awesome work with this film!

[@Userick10]

One of my favorite Jackson stories. Terrific adaptation! Bravo!

[@satansprguy2864]

Love how mum was fine with the story until the dismembered kid was completely dead 😂😂

[@dethengine]

This was freakin awesome! Everybody in the film was perfect, but the boy was over the top. Just cute and funny in an odd and off-putting way.

[@janicemahan4772]

You meet the most interesting people on trains!

[@zlatoidijamanti5128]

@@janicemahan4772 das stimmt ! Und in flugzeuge?

[@janicemahan4772]

@zlatoidijamanti5128 Translate to a English please?

[@anniefreiler8036]

​@@zlatoidijamanti5128lunatics

[@MisterG2323]

Well, that was a bit disturbing. Nicely done! Kudos!

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@springheelmedia]

One of my favorite Jackson stories and you folks did a brilliant job. Those performances (especially the boy) were just wonderful. Outstanding work

[@ALIENIGHTMARE]

That was so simply made. No special effects or anything unnecessary but the acting was everything. Nice and uncomfortable situation. I like it. ❤

[@caroleannrice]

Great story and superior acting - a truly great horror short

[@michaelfelsinger-k2i]

I don't think little Johnny will grow up to be a nice person. Great story brought to life by a great cast and crew. You don't need monsters to scare people. Just a dapper old guy who's kept a horrifying secret all his life and now doesn't care who knows it. Congratulations Andrew and Kevin, cast and crew ! Wishing you lots of happiness and success !

[@ajayfacts81]

Will depend on his nature (DNA) and nurture....

[@ΦιλιπποςΠαπαβασιλειου]

Mother engrossed in her phone, little boy on pc games (window) and old man revealing the dangers of the internet.

[@RosemaryEdwards-g7k]

Now I'm going to HAVE to read the story!

[@lifewithlee6298]

They way I read the story , I feel like the old man could just be messing with them 😅. Seems like something more a teenager would do than a grown man, but that’s why it’s so eerie

[@bigseanprice]

that guy would later invent and build ED-209.

[@SeanPaulBrooks]

Roman Polanski’s film, The Tenant, has similar themes of psychological warfare; however, your film truly does more as the protagonist and antagonist simultaneously share their experiences with us, which makes us all feel more connected with imaginative discomfort. Brilliantly crafted, Andrew! (especially the crescendo of dialogue with a moving train). Well done!

[@ravenbaa7989]

Roman was a pedo

[@freddieblue6351]

Very cool, I love Shirley. It has underlying tones of the patriarchy.

[@oHas1]

Omg. Well done 👍

[@karladuncan4026]

Great story!

[@mattrobinson47]

I’m gonna find that Shirley Jackson story, thanks for the well-made video

[@popcornanytime7414]

Thank you for posting this!!! Well executed and captures the atmosphere of the story.

[@chesterlisa68]

❤ wow! So simple but well done

[@wmligon]

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 😊

[@shahanrao4420]

Well done!! Beautifully shot.

[@phillyking]

"I'm already a man." lol That a good line. He one upped the kid tho. Great story, and set.

[@mrl9418]

Woooah. I thought it would cut corners and go a cheaper route, but no. The nerve! Well done ❤

[@TheTV1972]

This was well done. Stays with you ... that's how you know.

[@JazzMaven]

Really well done; excellent!

[@Manikese]

Captivating!! Well done!

[@davefoster9178]

loved it !!!!1

[@Maya_Pinion]

This and the Lottery are excellent.she could spun a yarn that Shirley. 👍

[@Mendyshahan]

Well done. I want more.

[@seancostello7608]

Love it. I’m a sucker for a proper witch.

[@SharonBell6123]

Wow that was good and creepy

[@joannemadden7449]

Very good story, so good I wish there was more to it!!!! PLEASE 😊

[@AllThingsFilm1]

Strange short story. Why did the mother wait until the man had already told gory details in the story before protesting?

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

I agree with you on this one.

[@taracollins5597]

I felt the mother was just waiting for the old man to say "HA HA GOTCHA!" (because the boy started it by saying 'scary things' first) so she assumed he was just doing the same. By the time she realized he wasn't, he'd already said a lot. It took what, 15 or 20 seconds for all that? People assume that old people are not dangerous.

[@angela3196]

Nice!!! Wish it went for longer ❤

[@karendrozario9019]

Perfectly pitched, it was enjoyable and unsettling

[@aderodriguez3481]

I'm so amazed by the acting of the boy super Natural and genuine acting Wow 👏. Excellent job

[@sassycat1825]

That one is just great!

[@anarodak-1]

Amazing 😮👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@waltersmetak]

This was surprisingly good! Really gives you an afterthought

[@J0knows]

Anyone think it’s odd the other people who witnessed this old creep do this didn’t react like they accepted he was doing this and were like it’s okay it’s just a woman with a kid.

[@gerardo8av]

Brilliant! And the wee lad is an amazing actor 🌟

[@joeykremple]

Pitch perfect adaptation of my favorite Shirley Jackson story. ❤

[@MultiMarat]

Muito bom; a prova de que para fazer um bom filme de terror não é preciso apelar para "jump scare" ou monstros digitais. E os atores estão perfeitos, especialmente o jogo entre o garotinho e o homem velho. Parabéns e saudações do Brasil!

[@MissMadHatterLife]

Utterly horrifying from a mother's perspective 😡😰

[@oblongbox5110]

More films like this, on this channel will be great.

[@SammieHQ-og5ii]

No, the very minute someone starts talking like that to you child you shut them down. Then, you talk to your child about it and let them speak and hug them with calm reassurance that they are safe. The Mom in this video was too passive, and too distracted to even pick up her crying baby.

[@wonderbooooy]

WONDERFUL

[@Frazsier-lx1gr]

I love such kinda content. 👍🤟Don't need no horror and slasher movies. I'm more fan of the spooky stuff. 💜

[@mordechai-]

How do you get a five-year-old to act like that? Amazing!

[@gregboy47]

The boy’s mum seem proud of the son talking to strangers. Hope she learnt something from this

[@Souchi-ito]

It helps him socialize with others. As long as the parents are around, there is nothing wrong with talking to strangers. It's dangerous when the child is alone.

[@elchasai]

you took the wrong message from this.

[@ravenbaa7989]

@@Souchi-itoits dangerous anyways kids need to be taught

[@gusmonster59]

I love Shirley Jackson. Very few people know about her these days.

[@GGstrange]

that little boy is such a great actor!

[@000aleph]

Very nicely done. So much better than all the meaningless little horror films out there.

[@pmshykh]

Gud work

[@lindasteenhuis2639]

Very creepy.

[@AlexK26496]

Now that was creepy !

[@gregevans6044]

Yeah. That was… whoa 😬

[@Charlotte66666]

Wow 😮😮😮

[@panl22]

The opening shot is very much an Edward Hopper painting, which itself speaks volumes to people who are aware of this. This film is disturbing, wonderful, poignant, ironic, nostalgic, endearing, cutting, horrible, hilarious, prophetic, damning, penetrating, and uplifting just for starters. The folks here that say they don't see these things, we have to conclude, are blind to them, and are not to be faulted, btw. They've done nothing wrong. They are telling us what they see, which is nothing. Emptiness. That is as tragic as the story is. And it adds another level of meaning to this, actually, which they won't see either.

[@suzannerogers-ib5yz]

Loved that clever comment re: The Witch

[@Missunderstood103]

Bad ending.The mother would have moved to the same side as her child as the man was leaving the car, and remained closer for the rest of the journey. She would not have simply picked up reading where she had left off unaffected. Our brains don't operate like that unless we are empathy free.

[@barbarabeesley7451]

I kept waiting for something truly frightening to occur. It never happened. Oh well.....

[@ravenbaa7989]

Killer should be in jail and kids should not be talking to strangers

[@endora2.046]

It's not real...not much of an imagination uh?🤦‍♀️

[@AGdawn]

I choose to believe that the mother is a witch and thats why the little boy was obsessed with witches. I like to think that she cursed the creepy old man.

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

Not a bad theory.

[@DNTMEE]

@@andrewfrescasfilm More likely his little sister. The old man knew it and was warning the boy, along with some helpful tips on how to deal with her later on when she starts doing evil things as witches of lore have want to do..

[@Carneades2012]

The mother was the "witch?"--I don't think so! Who in this story exerted the magical fascination, the seductive power of evil and cruelty, that witches were traditionally said to embody and project? Who hinted that the little girl might have to be "dealt with" at some future time?

[@AGdawn]

@@DNTMEE That's an interesting theory 🤔

[@darlenesee2561]

The fact that you are (edited to correct) assuming someone must be a “witch” is exactly the point…

[@corneliusdenise]

I think the story isn’t about witches. It’s about the way men feel about attention from women. The advice the man is giving him isn’t about his sister or murder. He’s telling him a macabre way to stop craving attention from women or letting them have power over him.

[@taracollins5597]

I sort of got that vibe too! That the older man had been 'burned' emotionally by women, hardcore & was filled with rage at them. His sister likely took away a lot of the attention he was getting growing up & being a psychopath he either took literal revenge on her or fantasized doing so. He saw a young boy that had imagination & also SAW the little sister in the basket.....so it very likely brought back his own childhood. Dark creepy little tale. As for the 'witch'....don't forget MEN can be witches too!

[@danielmorse4213]

Excellrnt

[@hobeone1192]

That Oldman is my grandpa.

[@ravenbaa7989]

Proof

[@martacruz5912]

A véia que entrou é a mãe da minha cunhada...😂

[@AnnieBananie-nm8yn]

What year is this supposed to be?

[@kerryhudson1898]

1940s by the look of the clothes

[@kevinwhelan9607]

I think the great woman would have loved it. Now adapt Paranoia - a man is convinced he's being followed through NYC. It is a masterpiece.

[@MoxyVerve]

Wtf is up with the mom waiting so long, was she going to wait until he attacked them?

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

That's what I'm saying!

[@leahw2124]

Because he was an un assuming nice man and she was distracted.

[@taracollins5597]

I felt the mother was just waiting for the old man to say "HA HA GOTCHA!" (because the boy started it by saying 'scary things' first) so she assumed he was just doing the same. By the time she realized he wasn't, he'd already said a lot. It took what, 15 or 20 seconds for all that? People assume that old people are not dangerous.

[@maria-fb4gu]

Espero que el niño no lo copie.

[@kurtweiand7086]

A disturbing tale, a bit like a Steven King story!

[@latoshaadams3828]

Who sits their and let a man tell your son a story like that ...this is stupid

[@valeriegriffin7021]

Thought the witch was Bette Davis.

[@lisacooper3991]

This didn't make any sense..if u had ended it with the lady or the little boy being a witch and showing it with attacking the rude gentleman, that would have been unexpected but didn't even have a witch..

[@andrewfrescasfilm]

@@lisacooper3991 I’m with you on that one. I personally would’ve made someone a vampire.

[@lisacooper3991]

@andrewfrescasfilm excellent idea

[@NicolaOrtiz-s5h]

I don't get it?????

[@xSundayMourningx]

Right? This is nothing but a random old man telling an inappropriate story to a child. That's it. Not creepy. Not scary. Anticlimactic and pointless.

[@michellel564]

Boarding school😂

[@dontaylor7315]

The dialogue sounds just like Shirley Jackson's style. I think this screenplay is straight from the story but I haven't read this one so I can't be positive.

[@taracollins5597]

What a creepy little tale! It would have been nicer if it had more 'story' in the story, but I realized it is a story about HUMAN evil. Not supernatural. I got the sense that the older man had been 'burned' emotionally by women, hardcore & was filled with rage at them. Notice his reaction to the mother when she orders him away...he scoffs & smirks with disdain...he barely acknowledges her. \ I felt the old man was actually revealing how much he hated women, all women. He saw the boy & likely flashed back to his own boyhood. His own sister likely took away a lot of the attention he was getting growing up & being a psychopath he either took literal revenge on her or fantasized doing so. He saw a young boy that had imagination & also SAW the little sister in the basket.....so it very likely brought back his own childhood. Dark creepy little tale. As for the 'witch'....don't forget MEN can be witches too!

[@datgrrl_official]

Why do viewers insist on writing their own synopsis to what they view on this streaming platform? Read Shirley Jackson. You are way off base.

[@taracollins5597]

@@datgrrl_official Why do you feel a need to criticize people for writing what they feel & also responding to a FILM? And judging from some of the comments from people who HAVE read the story, it is still open to interpretation to a large extent.

[@nadiaborzacchini1987]

That's strage to say to a kid

[@ladyowl8732]

Spoilers I read the meaning of the story was about how some men teach boys to mistreat women, and the mother represents how helpless it makes women feel. It seems to fit with the story to me.

[@NicHudsonValley]

That makes sense. The little boy snubbed the kind elderly woman that greeted him. He was immediately receptive to the man. He also insisted on looking for an “old ugly woman” as the witch. He associates a woman who is older and unattractive as being bad like the woman who spoke with him despite her clearly being friendly. There’s definitely elements of misogyny here.

[@DeborahNeippdn]

Perturbador. Plantar ideias na cabeça da criança inocente.

[@ALEakaKorwin]

Fix subtitles please.

[@warptek]

That's it?

[@andrewengelbrecht8873]

Wow

[@JayMusicNZ]

his mother off her face.