a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time Business News
The Witching Hour: A New Anthology from Alvin Soprano
Machinima filmmaker Alvin Soprano has announced her latest project, The Witching Hour , an ambitious monthly anthology series set to premiere this August. Told through her signature machinima style—cinematic storytelling created entirely within The Sims 4 game engines—the series will release one episode per month, each exploring a different character's final moments before death.
The concept centers on a chilling phenomenon: deaths that occur precisely at 3:33 a.m.—what folklore often calls 'the witching hour.' Each standalone episode will follow a main character facing death, culminating in their encounter with death itself, portrayed as a sentient presence capable of dialogue, reflection, and at times, confrontation.
' It's not about how they die, ' Soprano said in a statement. ' It's about what happens in the moments leading up to it—and what's said when there's nothing left to lose. '
While Alvin Soprano has been known for her stand alone machinima films—such as Fantasmus (2020) and Tales from StrangerVille (2020)— The Witching Hour marks her first foray into episodic storytelling. Each installment will be 10–15 minutes in length and released monthly on her official platforms.
Stylistically, the series blends psychological horror, surrealism, and grounded emotional drama. While each episode stands alone, the series explores common themes: regret, memories, unfinished business, and the universal anxiety around death.
According to Soprano's production notes, the show is not about gore or jump scares. It's about emotional tension and existential weight.
' The horror here isn't the fear of death, ' she explained. ' It's the awareness of time, and how little we really have. '
The Witching Hour originally existed as a standalone machinima film—a 46-minute narrative made in The Sims 4 and released in June 2020. The project was an early exploration of many of the themes she's now expanding into the anthology. Despite its critical praise among fans, the film was later deleted from her YouTube channel in 2021, during what became known among her followers as the 'purge', when Soprano removed nearly all of her online content and disappeared from public view.
But the story never left her.
' The potential kept playing in the back of my head, ' she explained. ' I always knew it had more to say—more lives to follow. It needed more time. '
With this reboot as a serialized anthology, she's revisiting the world of The Witching Hour not as a remake, but as a reimagining, expanding on the original's emotional weight and transforming it into a larger meditation on mortality.
Produced entirely in-game with custom visual design, The Witching Hour also serves as a showcase for what machinima can achieve in 2025. Soprano's commitment to handcrafted direction—writing, editing, voice acting, and production all handled personally with her team of collaborators such as Jakob Chambers and Matthew Gordon, will bring a unique intimacy to each episode. While machinima was once seen as a niche medium, artists like Alvin Soprano are elevating it into a serious, narrative-driven art form.
The anthology format allows her to explore multiple characters, settings, and tones, with each episode built from scratch. Unlike streaming releases that drop full seasons at once, Soprano's monthly rollout is designed to encourage slower, more thoughtful viewing—akin to classic broadcast television or radio plays.
From a business perspective, The Witching Hour reflects a growing trend in serialized, independent content with low production costs and high emotional return. Soprano's audience has grown steadily across platforms despite her minimal presence on social media, driven by organic fan engagement and critical recognition of her creative output.
Her strategic decision to release one episode per month also speaks to a new kind of digital pacing—one that resists binge culture in favor of sustained impact.
In an era of accelerated content cycles, Soprano's approach is intentionally slow, intimate, and emotionally layered.
' It's a conversation with death, ' she says. ' And death doesn't rush. '
The Witching Hour is expected to debut in August 2025, with the first episode available via Alvin Soprano's official YouTube channel: Soprano Productions. Additional details, including cast announcements and episode previews, will be released in the weeks ahead.
TIME BUSINESS NEWS
