Review - Stopmotion

 Stopmotion (2024)

Director: Robert Morgan
Writer: Robin King, Robert Morgan
Stars: Aisling FranciosiStella Gonet
Where to Watch: VOD (on Shudder in April)

Synopsis: A stop-motion animator struggles to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother.

Tagline: Bring Your Nightmares To Life

Thoughts: I'm not super versed in stop motion live action films. I've seen a handful of Harryhausen movies, and Mad God when it was finally released a few years ago. But this, this was something. A  bizarre, brilliant, original film full of metaphor and allegory. With themes  of trauma, loss, creativity, and (horrible) self discovery, there's a lot of unpacking to be done here. But among all of that is a captivating, gross, suspenseful, and creative story, trying to make its way in the world. And make its way it does - kicking and screaming and oozing blood and slime.

This is the kind of movie that, if you don't watch it sober and alert, you're going to miss a lot. I did this film the disservice of watching it as my second viewing, a little late at night, and a bit buzzed on wine and smoke. By the time the credits were rolling I was like - what? What the hell just happened? The next morning I rewatched the last thirty minutes while drinking my coffee. It cleared up (almost) nothing.

There is not a time in this film that it is not unsettling. Many horror movies start out bright and normal and it's not until forty minutes in that we see the normalcy devolve into horror. But in Stopmotion, the world that our main character lives in from the very beginning, is a bleak one. And it just keeps getting darker, and darker, until it swallows her whole. And us along with her.

5 out of 5 💀s