Sawmill Road is a community driven horror short filmed in the space between truth and suspicion

Sawmill Road is a short horror film that melds truth and fiction, speaking to the uneasy feelings that come just a step away from the mundane. It opens with interviews, local residents sharing strange experiences they can’t explain, and closes with a filmed segment capturing the horror of being on your own in an unfamiliar place.

Last year, Terrell Dorsey was driving his daughter home when a road closure forced a detour onto Sawmill Road. Seated between Philadelphia and Reading, Chester County is where urban bleeds to suburban and slowly gives way to rural. There are many places where civilization diminishes or vanishes, interstitial points between the many towns. Sawmill Road is just such a place. Terrell’s car broke down, they lost reception, and just a few minutes turned the familiar on its head. Suddenly they were adrift, alone, and swallowed in darkness. Terrell made it out of course, and researched a violent history that has haunted the location ever since.

Sawmill Road the film is about the legacy of the urban legends more than the truth of that history. Too many living people remember it, and don’t want it to be the fodder of entertainment. Instead, it’s about the tricks your mind plays on you, and how those tricks filter out into a community as lies, legends, and half remembered truths. The opening interviews, replete with a deliciously authentic Delco accent, range from the plausible to the outlandish, but worry the mind with not knowing where to place the truth. A mysterious red light in the distance? That could be mundane. It could be more. Secret military documents and stored adrenochrome is almost certainly not true, but when you’re alone in the dark the logic may not matter. Wondering is enough to set your heart racing.

The second segment depicts those feelings with carefully realistic lighting. Mina, voiced by Kashfara Saba, finds herself lost while trying to get away from things. Shot from her perspective, we are constrained to the rare illumination that comes from streetlights, the car dashboard, and a flashlight. Everything outside of those minor dots of safety is lost to the wilderness. Sound Engineer Nic Murphy of BoDoc records fills in the rest of the atmosphere. Instantly, the surroundings become hostile. An otherwise mundane roadway becomes the source of threat from all directions, answers as distant as hope and light.

Sawmill Road is going through festival submissions now, but will be available for the general public soon. We can also expect to see the longer, uncut interviews for more context on the film. Its premier attracted attention from other local filmmakers, and now a legion of amateur (which isn’t to say untalented) crew are coming together to work on a feature film, centering on the urban legend of the Twin Tunnels in Downingtown. Conceived while working on his first short, Perfect Ensemble [link], it took about 5 months to complete. Feature films are an order of magnitude more complicated than 20 minute shorts, but enthusiastic indie work has more flexibility than large budget projects ever could.

As I’ve written about recently with Punisher: Nightmare and Webelo: the West Chester Movie, we’re seeing a groundswell of independent filmmakers coming together and making a community. A community driven effort, these artists are working together to uncover the quality and passion that studios would never appreciate. Nic has mostly worked on music before this project, not including a feature film coming out soon, and Kashfara has swiftly been rising the ranks from community to professional theater, with three other film projects in production. The next feature will include performances from children, Nic’s son included, rounding the picture out into something by, about, and for locals. More than the offers of help with acting and direction, Terrell has received offers from gaffers, camera operators, makeup artists, and more. It’s clear that Sawmill Road is only the beginning to something greater, and you can rest assured I’ll be covering that something soon. It’s just down the road after all.

You can find more about the film and its creators at the website, Terrell's Youtube Channel, or the official Facebook page or Instagram accounts. I'll also be covering more of this work in the future. Check in here or write in to me if you're working on independent films!