Won't Be Long Now - Review: Billy Nawrocki Delivers a Psychological Nightmare for Under $200
An atmospheric horror short explores the psychological anxieties of fatherhood while demonstrating what an independent filmmaker can accomplish with a little ingenuity.
By Seth Metoyer | More Horror I've watched plenty of independent horror films over the years and having produced more than 20 micro-budget projects myself, I have a pretty good understanding of what filmmakers go through when they're trying to stretch a few dollars into something worth watching. Some of those productions become exercises in creative problem-solving, where the limitations practically dictate the direction of the film. Every once in a while, though, I come across something that makes me genuinely curious about how the filmmaker pulled it off. Billy Nawrocki's Won't Be Long Now falls into that category.
Made for less than $200, the film follows a new father who becomes convinced that some kind of entity has begun stalking his family. As his fear grows, so does his determination to protect them, and that instinct gradually develops into an obsession that threatens to consume him. The premise is straightforward enough, but Nawrocki takes it into some interesting psychological territory, particularly through his approach to the visuals and the character's increasingly troubled narration.
The first thing that struck me was how damn good the film looks. There's a deliberate visual sensibility here that gives the production an identity of its own. While watching, I found myself thinking about David Lynch, particularly that unsettling quality he brought to films like Lost Highway, where familiar environments begin feeling strangely disconnected from reality. I'm a big admirer of filmmakers who allow atmosphere and visual storytelling to do some of the heavy lifting, and Nawrocki clearly understands the value of an image that makes you uncomfortable without spelling everything out.
I also picked up some Lars von Trier vibes, especially in the way Nawrocki approaches the protagonist's psychological deterioration. Much of the film plays out against a running monologue that becomes increasingly confessional as the character attempts to explain what's happening around him. There's something intimate and deeply uncomfortable about listening to a man rationalize his growing paranoia while trying to convince himself that he understands the threat facing his family. The narration almost begins to resemble recorded evidence, particularly toward the final stretch, when it feels as though he's documenting events for whoever might eventually discover what happened.
That gives the film an eerie, disjointed quality, almost like watching somebody else's fever dream. I enjoy this kind of storytelling when a filmmaker has enough confidence to let the atmosphere breathe, and Nawrocki gives the audience time to settle into his character's increasingly unstable perspective. The film also delivers a brutal ending that I won't spoil here. Suffice it to say, the final stretch left an impression.
Fatherhood, Fear, and the Things We Cannot Control
One of the more interesting aspects of Won't Be Long Now is how closely its premise connects to Nawrocki's personal experiences. He developed the film during a period when his life was changing dramatically. He was becoming a father, living with his wife and newborn at his in-laws' house while their own home was under construction, and trying to make sense of the responsibilities that came with this new chapter of his life.
In our correspondence, Nawrocki described dealing with a persistent anxiety that something terrible might be waiting just around the corner. Becoming a parent had brought him face-to-face with the realization that there would always be circumstances beyond his control, regardless of how much he wanted to protect his child. He eventually decided to channel those feelings into a horror film, which makes perfect sense to me.
I've always been fascinated by the relationship between horror and the experiences we carry around in our everyday lives. People sometimes wonder why anyone would voluntarily spend an evening watching something disturbing, especially when the world already provides enough reasons to lose sleep. I've had my share of difficult experiences, and I understand the strange comfort that can come from watching another person's fears take shape on screen. There's something about horror that allows us to examine emotions we might otherwise struggle to articulate. When those feelings become part of a fictional story, we can approach them from a different perspective.
Nawrocki and I ended up discussing some of this after I watched the film, including the personal challenges that often inform how we respond to art. We also talked about the way horror can provide a peculiar kind of comfort, even when the subject matter deals with experiences that would be devastating in real life. I think that conversation helped me appreciate what he was attempting with Won't Be Long Now, particularly the way the central character's fear develops out of something as recognizable as the responsibility of caring for his family.
There's also an interesting psychological question running through the film concerning the relationship between protection and obsession. Parents naturally want to keep their children safe, but fear has a way of distorting our perception of danger. The more desperately someone tries to anticipate every possible threat, the more consuming that responsibility can become. Nawrocki takes that anxiety and introduces a supernatural presence, giving the character's internal struggle something tangible to confront.
Making Horror on a Shoestring Budget
Beyond the story itself, the production of Won't Be Long Now is worth examining because Nawrocki handled an extraordinary amount of the filmmaking process himself. He wrote, directed, produced, photographed, edited, and starred in the short, bringing in four additional collaborators to contribute color work, sound mixing, visual effects, and music.
Nawrocki works professionally as an editor, which gave him the opportunity to exchange services and find creative ways to involve other artists in the production. He also confirmed that the film contains no AI-generated material.
I've been involved in enough productions at this level to know that the actual cash budget rarely tells the whole story. There's usually an enormous amount of unpaid labor, borrowed equipment, exchanged favors, and personal sacrifice behind these films. Someone might look at a shoestring production and assume the cash budget represents the total value of the work, when the people contributing their time and expertise often provide resources that would cost considerably more under conventional production circumstances.
What interested me here was how Nawrocki used those resources to create something visually compelling. The photography has a distinctive atmosphere, and the film's structure gives the images room to establish their own sense of dread. The running narration also serves the production in an interesting way, allowing Nawrocki to explore the protagonist's thoughts without relying on extensive dialogue scenes or a large cast. There's a degree of creative discipline involved in making those decisions work together.
Nawrocki also explained that he deliberately wanted to move beyond the familiar short-film structure where everything builds toward a quick final payoff. He approached this project as something of a personal test, allowing himself more time to develop the character and explore the psychological elements of the story. That decision helps explain the film's pacing, which feels more concerned with the protagonist's gradual unraveling than with delivering a conventional sequence of scares.
His previous industry experience includes editing Fuzz on the Lens' Leprechaun Revenge and the upcoming The Pitchfork Retreat, featuring the late Tony Todd. He also served as producer and editor on Orin Black's The Babysitter Murders: Timing's Off, a project More Horror previously covered.
Festival Recognition and a Larger Horror Anthology
Won't Be Long Now has already enjoyed a successful run on the independent festival circuit, earning selections at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, Eerie Horror Festival, and SModcastle Horrorfest. Its awards include Best Locally Sourced Short at YoFi Film Fest, Outstanding Horror Short at Ridgefield Film Festival, Outstanding Editing at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, and the $1,000 INDIE Shoestring Award at Hudson Valley Film Festival.
The film is also part of a larger project that Nawrocki has been developing alongside filmmakers Sean Kenealy and Eric Silvera. The planned horror anthology, tentatively titled The Contribution, explores several anxieties surrounding fatherhood, including fear of the unknown, fear of oneself, and fear of other people.
The anthology currently includes plans to bring together Two Knocks on a Door, Your Daughter Looks Pretty, and Won't Be Long Now, with another installment in pre-production. Nawrocki told me the filmmakers are also developing a wraparound story involving a man at a fertility clinic who hears the various horror stories while preparing to become a father himself.
I actually like that concept quite a bit. There's something inherently uncomfortable about a man sitting in a fertility clinic contemplating one of the biggest decisions of his life while confronting stories that explore the psychological consequences of parenthood. It gives the anthology an interesting thematic foundation, and I'm curious to see how the filmmakers connect the different stories.
The group hopes to move into production on the remaining short and wraparound material during the winter. Like many independent filmmakers, they're financing their creative ambitions while maintaining regular jobs, which is a familiar situation for anyone who has spent much time working in this corner of the industry.
Final Thoughts
What I appreciated most about Won't Be Long Now was Nawrocki's willingness to approach a familiar horror premise through a more personal and visually interesting perspective. The film has a strong atmosphere, some genuinely unsettling imagery, and a confessional structure that gives its central character an uncomfortable sense of intimacy. The Lynch and von Trier associations I mentioned earlier were simply the cinematic connections I found myself making while watching it, and I consider those pretty favorable comparisons.
I also appreciate that Nawrocki gave himself room to experiment with the storytelling. His decision to explore the character's deteriorating psychological state provides a different experience from the many shorts that spend ten minutes setting up a single reveal. The film asks for a little patience, and I think viewers who enjoy atmosphere-driven psychological horror will appreciate what he's doing.
The personal background adds another dimension to the experience. Knowing that Nawrocki developed the film while confronting his own anxieties about fatherhood makes the central character's obsession feel especially relevant. The fear of failing the people who depend on us is something many viewers will recognize, regardless of whether they've experienced parenthood themselves.
Won't Be Long Now is a worthwhile discovery for fans of independent psychological horror, particularly those who enjoy unconventional storytelling, unsettling imagery, and films that explore the stranger corners of human behavior. I'm looking forward to seeing what Nawrocki does next, especially with the planned anthology.
Where to Watch
Won't Be Long Now premiered October 19, 2026, on YouTube.
Filmmaker: Billy Nawrocki Official Website: https://www.billynawrocki.com Movie YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoqtDc7hBbI
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The filmmaker provided this film as an advanced screener for an independent feature review.
