Trailer and Clip For The Supernatural Horror Film TWO WITCHES and Interview with Director Pierre Tsigaridis

Here’s a trailer and clip for a supernatural horror film titled Two Witches, which  presents two truly terrifying conjoined tales of witchery, paranoia and terror that hark back to the gory thrills of classic Euro horrors such as Suspiria, Shock and The Beyond.

In the film, “Expectant young mother Sarah is convinced she has been given the evil eye from a mysterious blank-eyed old hag while she is dining with her bullish and insensitive partner Simon. 

“When the couple go to visit his new-agey friends Dustin and Melissa, dark forces are unleashed after an ill-advised attempt at consulting a Ouija board to allay her fears. 

“Meanwhile, tensions grow between grad school student Rachel and her new roommate Masha after a violent incident involving a man that the strange and impulsive young woman has brought home.”

This trailer for the film is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the awesome indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating.

The movie is currently streaming on the Lex streaming service. We also included an interview with the directors below.

Without spoilers, tell us what your film is about, its characters, and its themes. Is it a proof of concept, or a standalone story? 

“My film is about an old witch that is about to leave her legacy and powers to her grand-daughter. I wanted to do a Grindhouse B movie double segment kind of film where the audience can’t really figure out what is going to happen in the next 5 to 10 minutes.

“The idea was to make something very out of the ordinary and yet make it entertaining. I wanted to give it a sort of ensemble film vibe as well with many characters and events that are loosely connected. I would say even to give my film an anthology aspect that I believe works well in the horror genre.”

What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea?

“The idea for the movie came from a lot of different true events about spells and witchcraft. When I say true events, these stories were nothing like in the movie - I took things way further in Two Witches - but I had gathered ideas and stories from my personal experiences as well as the experiences of people around me.

“Some stuff was just too interesting and creepy to be left untold. I did a lot of research. I wanted to create a world where the witches would be scary in a very traditional way, in the way they used to scare me as a child. That’s why I injected a lot of the main themes and tropes of the past. I tried to articulate them in a more modern era.”

Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?

“I am a French-American director. I was born and raised in Paris. When I was a kid, my parents would tell me a lot of stories. We travelled a lot and during these trips my mom would invent stories to keep us busy on planes and in airports.

“Obviously in the early ‘90s there were no iPad, smartphones etc. so as I kid, I would spend time playing with my toys and imagining stories for them. My dad is Greek so he would tell me all about wonderful Greek myths and ancient Greek history. I would re-enact some stories with my toys.

“I want to say storytelling has played a big role in my upbringing. I naturally became obsessed by movies very early. I remember watching Jurassic Park when it came out in France. I was hooked! I was 4 years old… “Scream” is the first movie that really made me want to be a director. I watched it when I was too young. It scared me and shocked me a little (especially the opening scene) but I loved every minute of it!

What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories?

“I’ve always been into horror ever since I can remember. As a young kid I would hide in dark closets to look for witches and vampires. I was never interested in kids’ movies; at age 6, I was already drawn to movies like Coppola’s Dracula or Halloween.

“My fascination for horror became even stronger after watching Scream. I loved everything about the intro of the first Scream movie. The killer’s MO was just the scariest and fascinating thing I had ever seen. I was so obsessed with Ghostface.

“I had begged my mom at the time to buy me the Ghostface mask for Halloween. I remember I would borrow my parents’ camcorder to make homemade horror films with my brother and step brother. We would reenact the kill scenes in Scream, Halloween or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

“The idea of “make believe” was the most creative, fun and rewarding thing I had ever experienced doing as a child. That is when I realized I wanted to become a film director.”

What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?

My favorite part was seeing the finished work screened in front of a festival audience!

What are you most proud of with this film?

I'm proud of the exposure it got and how it was received overall.

What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?

“SPOILER ALERT: the hardest scene/moment must have been the one in the bathroom when Simon accidentally cuts Sarah’s finger. I was really running out of time and we did about 2 or 3 takes. I had to frame and pull focus at the same time.

“Nothing was blocked with Ian the actor and I just had to follow him with my camera and reframe between him, the mirror and then the finger shots. It was really challenging for me. Not to mention that I was anxious about taking the decision to not do any camera coverage on Sarah when I new that Belle, the actress was giving me an amazing performance from the other side of the door.

“I only chose to record her sound and I’m actually glad I went that way for the scene. Only hearing her voice become more and more demonic while focus on Simon’s reaction is actually much scarier.

What is the best advice you've ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?

Pick a camera and go shoot. Don't wait for the perfect conditions to start creating...

What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward?

I hope this film and my next one enable me to direct even more films. Especially films with bigger budgets obviously but also new collaborations. I would love to tell stories around the horror genre but not only! I love all genres and styles so I'm very open to action, period pieces, drama etc!

What is your next project and when can we expect to see it? 

My next feature is already starting its festival run so people should expect it fairly soon!

Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handles?

instagram @pierretsiga

Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite film?

Scream or Jurassic Park

Bonus Question #2: What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work?

At the top of my head right now I’d say David Lynch (Lost Highway, Twin Peaks), Wes Craven (Scream), Ari Aster (Hereditary), Gaspar Noe (Irreversible), Fabrice Du Welz (Calvair, Inexorable), Rob Savage (Host, Dashcam), Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes) Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), John Carpenter (The Thing), Spielberg (Jurassic Park), Oliver Stone (Platoon), Dario Argento (Suspiria), Mario Bava (Black Sunday), Robert Eggers (The Witch), Rose Glass (Saint-Maud), Lars Von Trier (Dancer In The Dark, AntiChrist), Jaume Balaguero (Rec), James Wan (The Conjuring), Mike Flanagan (Haunting of Hill House), Julia Ducournau (Raw), Friedkin (The Exorcist), Takashi Miike (Audition) Kim Jee-woon (A tale Of Two Sisters) and Pascal Laugier (Martyrs).