Flickering Myth chats with filmmaker Sarah Young about her short film Not Him…
Hi Sarah, could you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little about your filmmaking journey to this point?
Absolutely! I’m Sarah Young and I’m primarily a director. Not Him is the first film I wrote the script for as well as directed. My background is actually in opera / theatre directing. I’ve directed opera productions all over the US and I got my masters in theatre directing from The New School for Drama in NYC in 2019. I got into film directing mostly over the pandemic when that became the artistic medium still somewhat possible to do, and I haven’t looked back. Post-pandemic I’ve had the pleasure of being an indie film director for hire and have directed several award-winning short films and web series pilots.
The power of a short film is not easily explained; it’s a lot of magic jammed into a short period of time. Did you feel freed or limited by working within the short film space?
That’s a great question! A short film really is such a unique form of storytelling, you need to pack a fully satisfying story into a very short amount of time. You have to be really smart about introducing your characters, your conflicts, and the point you are trying to make. For this reason I get really excited watching good short films, and I personally enjoy the creativity that you are forced into with such strict parameters.
Not Him dives into domestic violence, a topic barely touched on within horror. Was there any hesitation or nerves when tackling this subject?
I am a big believer in genre filmmaking because I think it’s a great way to tackle difficult subjects in an accessible way. The best horror in my opinion is using metaphor to dive into extremely real world horrors. Some of my favourite examples are The Babadook exploring grief, The Shining exploring alcoholism, and Smile exploring mental health. Sadly I think it’s safe to say everyone has some level of connection to domestic violence whether themselves, family members, or friends. The statistics on how many people, women and men by the way, are victims of domestic violence are staggering. I too, have a personal connection so it’s a particularly important subject to me to shine a light on. My goal with this film was to place the audience into the emotional experience of having a loved one turn on you. It was very important to me that this film is 100% from the perspective of the wife. The audience reaction to the film has been incredible, I’ve had people tell me they felt seen by this film in a way they had never experienced. I am so glad to have been able to give people that. So no, no nerves or hesitation exactly but I was certainly aware that when you set out to explore a very real world subject you need to be extremely mindful and deliberate with it. Yes this is through a supernatural lens, but the real world horror of domestic violence has to be approached with care.
You do an excellent job isolating Michelle in the story, even when she’s in scenes with other people. Were there any tricks or techniques you used in the filmmaking to achieve this feeling?
Thank you so much! That’s great to hear that sense of isolation comes through in the film. I was looking to highlight some of the most insidious aspects of domestic violence in this short film, which of course is a challenge in a story that’s just under 15 mins long like you pointed out. One of the major techniques that abusers use is to isolate their victims. Abusers want their victims to feel alone, unsupported, and that no one will believe them or come to their aid. We deal a lot with gaslighting in the film, which is a huge part of that isolation. So when Michelle is with other people she is struggling to be understood, to be believed. The circumstances are making it difficult for her to communicate clearly and we shot it with lots of “hand held” like camera movement to lean into her feeling of instability. And my actors are just great which helps.
The actor playing John might be one of the scariest performances I’ve seen. Can you speak to casting this character and mention anything Charlie McElveen did to stand out amongst the pack?
He is fantastic in it, yes! Charlie was actually the one actor we brought in off an audition. Michelle played by Tori Ernst, Kim played by Katharine Chin, and Joe played by Ryan Nicholas Cooper are all amazing actors I was lucky enough to go to grad school with so they were in my mind as I wrote it. For the role of John we put out a casting call for self tapes on Backstage. Charlie sent in a great tape and then did an amazing audition with Tori. As John, Charlie has to run the gambit from loving husband to cruel demon to helpless victim himself and he delivers an incredible performance.
Tori Ernst starts the film in an already frantic state, but she still finds ways to give Michelle layers within the performance. What was it like directing her in some of these more hard-hitting scenes?
Tori and I had amazing conversations about the character as I was writing the script so she was very instrumental in finding the nuance of Michelle. The short begins with her being attacked and we are with her as she grapples with the aftermath of that attack at the hands of the man she loves. We wanted her to contend with again, very typical aspects of abuse from point blank denial to the “demon” threatening to kill her real husband that’s “inside him” if she tries to leave. Self harm threats are a common technique of abusers to control their victims. It’s an incredible performance from Tori and it was an absolute joy directing her through the short. We came into the shoot armed with our pre production conversations and the mutual desire to do justice to the experience of domestic violence survivors.
Sometimes, the dynamic between our two leads feels like The Shining but done in an even more confined space. Did any films help inspire the tone and style of Not Him?
Yes, The Shining was an influence of this film for sure, though I was determined to tell a story from the perspective of the wife in this story. Another was Gaslight, the film that coined the phrase gaslighting about a wife whose husband is trying to convince her she is crazy. The sheer storytelling genius of The Babadook is always on my mind as a filmmaker and What Lies Beneath had some influence with Harrison Ford’s surprise villainous turn.
The dinner scene was this intense acting showcase. What was it like having all four actors together, and did it feel like the perfect way to heighten this story?
That’s one of my favourite sequences in the film. At this point Michelle has confronted her husband and been threatened by the “demon”. His attack on her is interrupted by the arrival of their best friends Kim and Joe. Michelle, thinking fast, invites them to stay for dinner. So the dinner scene is Michelle playing a horrible game of cat and mouse with John, trying to trick him into revealing his true self in front of their friends as John works to make her look unstable. Everyone is amazing in it and I think it’s where we get the most obvious gaslighting in the film, which is honestly very stressful to watch. Our cameraman had to take a break at one point because it felt so unpleasant doing the closeups on John during that sequence. It’s a great example of a scene where nothing supernatural or “scary” happens but the tension is so thick and the stakes so high it hits hard. I loved directing that scene because it gave all 4 actors a chance to shine and since logistically it’s just 4 people sitting at a table I was able to really focus on capturing the best possible performance.
Thanks to Sarah Young for taking the time for this interview.
