Forget everything you thought you knew about cute woodland creature movies. Wyatt Whittier is here to torch that wholesome little cottage in the woods and dance in the ashes. His new short film, A Tell Tail Summer, drops today, and if the title sounds like a cozy bedtime story, you clearly haven't met the Wolf yet.

This is a nine-minute slice of paradise with a knife hidden behind its back. Get in, get comfortable, and get wrecked - all before your coffee gets cold.

Release Date & Where to Watch

A Tell Tail Summer arrives today, September 22, 2026, which is a little on the nose for a movie about summer, but we respect the confidence. It's a Hollywood production, shot in English, and clocks in at a tight nine minutes. This isn't the kind of thing you catch on a Tuesday afternoon at the multiplex. It's a festival darling in the making - the sort of short that plays before a packed house of people who all think they've discovered something nobody else has.

Keep your eyes peeled on the indie streaming circuit and Whittier's official channels throughout the fall festival season. Given it's the first of four installments, expect this one to build buzz before the next season rolls around. And no, we don't know if that means a winter release or a full year's wait. Whittier is keeping the schedule under lock and key, which is very on-brand for a guy who just named his villain after a bird that shows up to ruin everything.

Cast & Crew

Whittier writes and directs, and he's assembled a trio of actors who each get exactly one job and absolutely nail it. Avery Gilmore plays Doe, a name so innocent it practically comes with a warning label. Gilmore's whole deal here is trust - the soft, open kind that makes an audience squirm because we can see what's coming. Brock Davis is Wolf, and casting a guy named Brock as the apex predator is the kind of poetic touch a lesser filmmaker would miss. Davis has to do the heavy lifting: be charming enough to sell paradise, cold enough to make you want to check your locks.

Then there's Bianca Delgado as Crow. In folklore, the crow is the truth-teller nobody wants at the party, and Delgado leans into that role with relish. She's the stranger who walks into the garden and starts pointing at the floorboards. No spoilers, but if you've ever had a friend deliver news you weren't ready for, you'll recognize her energy immediately.

This is Whittier's first chapter in a planned four-part series built around the four seasons, which is a bold swing for a first feature-adjacent project. Most directors ease in with a calling card. Whittier is building a whole mythology.

Story & What to Expect

Here's the setup, and it's deceptively simple: Doe and Wolf live together in paradise. That's it. That's the life. Sunshine, harmony, two unlikely species sharing a home and presumably a lot of meaningful glances over artisanal breakfast. It's the honeymoon phase stretched into a lifestyle, and Whittier lets you marinate in it.

Then Crow arrives. And Crow doesn't come bearing gifts or gossip - Crow comes bearing the truth. Specifically, the truth about Wolf's nature. See, in a world where a Doe and a Wolf can live as partners, something had to be bent, hidden, or politely ignored. Crow bends it back and flips on the lights.

Expect the first act to feel like a nature documentary directed by a romance novelist, and the last act to feel like that same documentary hosted by a therapist who's about to say something devastating in a calm voice. Nine minutes means there's no fat here. Whittier has to establish love, plant doubt, and detonate the whole thing in less time than it takes to boil an egg. With a runtime that brutal, the pacing alone is worth the price of admission.

And honestly? That 0/10 rating on TMDb is doing a lot of heavy lifting as intrigue bait. With zero votes registered, it's the ghost of a score, not a verdict. In a week, that number will mean something. Right now, it means absolutely nothing - so don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Why It's Worth Watching

First, genre-blending is having a moment, and A Tell Tail Summer stacks drama, fantasy, and romance in a nine-minute package like a chef plating three courses on one plate. If you're the kind of person who reads folklore retellings and thinks "needs more emotional damage," this is your movie.

Second, the four-part structure is genuinely intriguing. A summer chapter about bliss and betrayal begs an obvious question: what does fall bring? If summer is the season of the reveal, autumn is presumably the season of the consequences, and Whittier is clearly playing a long game. Getting in on chapter one is a flex.

Third, and maybe most importantly - short films are having their main-character moment. Nine minutes is a TikTok scroll for your soul. Watch it, sit with it, then argue about it with your group chat. And next time someone tells you crows are bad luck, you'll know exactly where that story comes from.

A Tell Tail Summer is now available. Go find it before fall ruins everything.