Storyteller and comedian Zach Mecham on Easterseals Disability Film Challenge thriller "The Man in The Yard"

A short film big on Karen horror

(To avoid spoilers, watch the three-minute short film before you read the following piece)

Zach Mecham has been participating in the annual Easterseals Disability Film Challenge for several years, and for this one, when the theme was announced for the short film challenge which requires 1) participants to have someone who is either disabled in front of or behind the camera, and 2) to produce an original short film under a specified genre — 2025’s being thriller and suspense — in an allotted time, the Des Moines, Iowa resident was inspired by a particular horror movie that came out last month.

“Originally, I was inspired by the trailer of, ‘The Woman in The Yard’ and the idea sprung from that,” Mecham explained to Chilltown Blues this week. “It just started with the premise of me sitting in someone’s yard because their house wasn’t accessible, but that immediately made me want to play with the fear and discomfort surrounded by people with disabilities. It’s heightened, but that fear is very much based on reality.”

“… I think if you can tell a good story and make someone laugh, it lowers their defenses. So I really hope this kind of work opens the door to introspection or conversation.” - Zach Mecham

In “The Woman in The Yard,” a family is plagued by a supernaturally imposing figure under a black veil who appears in the yard of their isolated farmhouse; and in Mecham’s film, a man, played very effectively by Tim Overton, is terrified of “The Man in The Yard” played by Mecham himself, sitting in his wheelchair.

It’s a reaction that’s irrational — comically so, in Mecham’s film — working on both the level of Mecham being disabled and, on an intersectional level, people who are perceived as being different in other ways.

“It’s something I think about, and I definitely try to slip messages like it in most of my work,” Mecham said. “My goal is always to primarily entertain, not preach. But I think if you can tell a good story and make someone laugh, it lowers their defenses. So I really hope this kind of work opens the door to introspection or conversation.

“In this story in particular I did think a lot about difference, and how it scares people,” Mecham continued. “A character direction I gave Tim was, ‘You’re the kind of guy who calls the cops when he sees a Black guy in his neighborhood.’ And he nails that vibe.”