This French collection of animated shorts enlist the fevered imaginations of six gifted artists to create an inventive take on our primordial phobias of all things dark.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2008
Fear(s) of the Dark 2007
Peur(s) du noir
A rare omnibus film that's more than the sum of its parts, this French collection of animated shorts enlists the fevered imaginations of six gifted artists to create an inventive take on our primordial phobias of all things dark. Rhythmic and sketchy, Blutch's vignette of a Victorian marquis terrorising people with his hounds reminds us of the textural power of the pencil. Marie Caillou nods to manga with her phantasmagoric story of a Japanese schoolgirl forced to relive her shocking past at the hands of an evil shrink. Lorenzo Mattotti's segment is a beautifully atmospheric tale about the eerie disappearances in a rural village. Charles Burns' Cronenbergian romance reproduces those icky, dread-filled feelings one gets from reading his graphic novels. Perhaps the creepiest is Richard McGuire's haunted house yarn, a master class in suggestive monochrome rendering that outspooks most modern horrors. — AY