“The Moths Will Eat Them Up” – Stranger-Danger on A Train

A woman finds herself alone, at night, waiting on a mostly deserted train platform. Mostly deserted but not completely. Absolutely nothing could go wrong with that scenario. But this is a nail-biting thriller, so anything can happen in “The Moths Will Eat Them Up”, an atmospheric Australian horror/thriller short film written by Tanya Modini and co-directed with producer Luisa Martiri, now available to watch on Alter’s YouTube channel.

The train hasn’t left the station yet to submit your own script to the next Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition.

The Plot

The camera focuses on a fluorescent light with a swarm of moths flying all around the warm glow. Wide shots of a deserted platform and a long row of concrete steps paint a picture of isolation. Heavy footsteps from a woman descending the stairs carrying her work backpack and a bottle of wine come into view.

The woman walks down the fluorescently lit platform past a few random men in respectable suits waiting for the train. The men are quiet and seemingly unbothered by their surroundings as the woman walks past them. She takes her place at the edge of the platform underneath a tall light fixture. One of those moths flies down from the light and settles on the woman’s shoulder.

A horn blares signaling the train’s arrival. The woman enters. Her frightening journey home begins.

She takes a seat facing the sliding door that houses the restroom on the other side. A man walks up the aisle from behind her and aggressively bumps the back of her seat. He stares at her. The action startles the woman. She watches as the man pushes the sliding divider door open and closes it. He stares at her again through the window in the door, then turns away. The restroom occupancy light comes on.

As each stop is announced, a man disembarks from the train, leaving her more alone and more vulnerable. The aggressive stranger appears at the window to stare at her. The few other souls on the train are exiting one by one, and the stranger is making his presence known.

Will the one remaining man on the train help this woman?

What Lies Underneath

“The Moth Will Eat Them Up” uses moths as an unexpected metaphor to illustrate the theme. The filmmakers tie it back to a bible verse, Isaiah 51:7-8 – Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults. For the moth will eat them like a garment; Yes, the moth will eat them like wool, which is featured in the opening. The literal culmination of this verse comes at the end of the film, where moths play a pivotal role. But the figurative interpretation could be tied to the moths representing a community that won’t look away but will step in and fight, the antithesis to the complacent train passengers who did nothing.

This film hinges on its intense performances from Ling Cooper Tang as the woman just trying to get home from work and the eerie, spine-tingling work of Kevin Spink as the man who stalks her. It is incredibly difficult to sell a natural, believable concept of fear through glances, stares, and body language, yet these actors do it with very little dialogue (in Spinks’ case NO dialogue). Keep in mind, this is not an over-the-top slasher but a psychological piece of theatre. Both actors knew the assignment and executed it with a sense of realism that was quite frightening.

“The Moths Will Eat Them Up” expertly builds tension with a glance or a stare. This is a psychological horror and thriller hybrid that confronts gendered violence and the bystanders who either choose to ignore the threat or simply ignore the signs.

Through Tanya Modini’s writing and co-direction with Luisa Martiri, the filmmakers craft an illuminating and persuasive story about the fear that women and any marginalized group can face when outnumbered and left to fend off potential harassment or violence on their own.

What Makes It Killer

“The Moths Will Eat Them” taps into a collective unease women have about their personal safety. But it doesn’t fear monger. The narrative frames a real-world situation of a woman traveling alone at night (and minding her own business, I might add), which happens every day, and shows how easily it can escalate, which is the real horror of it all.

Watch it below.