THE UNHOMELY
Every memory hides another.
It never comes alone.
We’re proud to present The Unhomely, a collaborative project between the Miseria team and Derek Tomson Nguyen, a film director based in Los Angeles. We wanted to create a horror-esque film just in time for the Halloween season, so we came together to brainstorm what would eventually become The Unhomely.
During our conversation, we kept coming back to the idea of trying something new. A film that would fit into the Miseria narrative while showing another side of what we could create. Something that would make people think, “This is Miseria, too.”
That’s when Derek proposed a film that would draw you in and then, seemingly out of nowhere, pull the rug out from under you. A horror-esque short film that uses the comfort of nostalgia to let you settle in before taking an unexpected turn. We loved the idea and wanted to connect it to our mission of helping people feel less alone by giving shape to what they feel.
One thought became the starting point for the story:
Every memory hides another. It never comes alone.
We wanted to explore what happens when fond memories bring difficult emotions back with them.
Think about the last time you revisited a memory that made you feel nostalgic. What feelings came with it? Happiness? Sadness? A mixture of both? You might remember a place that made you feel safe. A person you once felt connected to. A time in your life when things seemed so simple. But as you sit with those memories, other moments and feelings can begin to return. You see the past with the understanding you have now. What begins as a pleasant recollection can leave you feeling differently than you expected. Nostalgia can hold both warmth and unease.
That’s the duality we wanted to explore with The Unhomely. The film opens with fond memories of early childhood. As you watch, the imagery grows darker and more eerie until it breaks into full horror. We wanted that change to catch you off guard, much like the feeling of remembering something you hadn’t intended to revisit.
Because sometimes you do more than just remember a moment in time. You remember a certain feeling that memory brings and even though your life may be different now, you recognize it immediately.
That connection gave the horror a purpose for us. The sudden shift is an exaggerated expression of something that can happen when we look back. You start with a memory you’re happy to spend time in, and then you remember something else. You don’t always get to decide where it takes you.
We wanted the film to have depth without making its meaning too obvious. It was important to leave room for you to watch it and make your own connections. The theme around the film can bring up very different feelings for different people. Even among ourselves, the conversation could go in different directions.
We hope that sharing a little of what went into The Unhomely opens up that conversation. You might recognize the feeling we’ve described, or the film might mean something else to you entirely.
For us, this is part of why we create. Some feelings are difficult to explain, especially when they seem to contradict each other. You can look back on a moment with love and still find it difficult to revisit. Giving those experiences a place in our work is one way we hope to help people feel understood and a little less alone.
Thank you to Derek for helping us bring The Unhomely to life, and to YOU for taking the time to watch, read, and explore this part of Miseria with us.
