Editor’s Note: This Trailer is highly unsettling and contains a portrayal of violence against women for educational purposes
Tingle Monsters is the new short film written, directed, and starred in by Alexandra Serio. The film has already made its rounds with the film festival circuit and is set for national release online May 20, 2020. The film follows an ASMR vlogger who works with a very devoted fan base. She returns from an long absence with a livestream that ends up going way out of control. The film is meant to explore the real violence and harassment women face daily online, and how sometimes it all starts with words.
Alexandra Serio is the founder of the Nameless Network, a production and media company that works on making educational content for “the smartphone generation.” Tingle Monsters is inspired by her own experience being harassed online and the harassment of her creators who have been attacked for everything from their looks to their voices. As someone who has experienced rape and death threats from publishing as a woman on the internet, this stuff is real folks.
“I firmly believe that through gender parity and telling women-driven narratives we can begin to change the world. But we must start by taking a sobering look at where we currently are. Tingle Monsters aims to do that.” -Alexandra Serio
Serio also drew inspiration from an Amanda Hess piece called Why Aren’t Women Welcome on the Internet for Pacific Standard. In the piece, Amanda shares her own experience with online threats of rape, death, and stalking. Says Hess, “None of this makes me exceptional. It just makes me a woman with an Internet connection.”
