For Italo Calvino, "The Signalman" is among the most important narratives in fantastic literature. In this writer's view, the essence of this style lies in the problem of understanding whether what we see in such stories is a hallucination or the terrifying face of the ordinary reality. Such statement was the basis upon which director Daniel Augusto wrote, directed and edited the film.
In the short, a desolate railroad station serves as backdrop as a man's the inner fears and the possible presence of the paranormal are revealed. Paranapiacaba e Passa Quatro, towns from the Brazilian states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais provide the perfect locations to engender the air of mystery director Daniel Augusto was seeking.
Charles Dickens has been filmed by renowned filmmakers such as Roman Polanski, Roberto Zemeckis and Alfonso Cuáron, but The Signalman never made it to the big screen before. Two television productions have been aired: one in 1953, starring Boris Karloff, and another produced by the BBC in 1976, with Denholm Elliott in the main role. Beyond these, only non-commercial cinema undergrad adaptations.