(1991)
Dir - Paul Berry
Overall: GOOD
The only directorial effort from British stop-motion animator Paul Berry, (who died in 2001 at the mere age of forty), The Sandman is based off E.T.A. Hoffmann's version of the European legend and has little if anything to do with the sort of famous Metallica song that referenced him and was released the same year. That or Neil Gaiman's brilliant graphic novels of the same name for that matter. Berry would go on to work with Tim Burton on The Nightmare Before Christmas and the style here is nearly identical, meaning that it very deliberately channels German Expresionism. The characters are highly stylized with pointy facial features and limbs, plus the set design is aggressively Gothic. It wonderfully showcases the type of late night fear that any child can suffer when their entire surroundings seem enormously ominous. Nine minutes long and void of dialog, it is a brief, stunningly dark little fairytale.
(1992)
Dir - Alex Chandon
Overall: WOOF
*Cue Georgia Hardstark's catchphrase "IIIIIIIIIIIIII'm sorry...!"*. SOV movies are certainly not for everyone's tastes. Unpopular opinion or not, one can fall into the logical camp that if you do not have the technical means, (or talent), to make a movie, then you should not make one or at least someone should stop you from making one. Alex Chandon, (who also did a bunch of Cradle of Filth music videos by lying about who he was probably), made Drillbit presumably with his parent's camcorder plus his high school drop out friends and it is one of the biggest pieces of shit on earth. No budget torture porn with less than no technical skill anywhere in frame, the worst part is that it is trying to be funny. Well the jury may be out on that, but who knows for sure. Kind of hard to tell when you are dealing with incompetence and annoying shock-garbage of this unwatchable magnitude.
(1997)
Dir - Robert Morgan
Overall: GOOD
This early work in the filmography of English stop-motion animator and short filmmaker Robert Morgan mostly succeeds on the details it presents us with. There is even a clue given by the title The Man in the Lower-Left Hand Corner of the Photograph, as we see our unnamed, nonspeaking title character gazing at a picture of himself in that very potion presumably happier than he is currently portrayed. We know this by the rotted surroundings of the settings which looks like some sort of rusted nest equipped with a bed, a desk, and a dresser. Also a pet maggot in case you missed the rotted part. Despite its bleakness, the film manages to be lovely in an odd way, offering a sort of solace within its final images. With no musical score and very few sounds at all to go along with the striking imagery, it seems meant to be something pondered more than precisely made clear. As a side, it is no coincidence that it is reminiscent of Tool's stop motion music videos as the band used segments of Morgan's The Separation in "Jambi".
(1999)
Dir - Frazer Lee
Overall: MEH
The first of three shorts that to date act as the only such directorial efforts from Frazer Lee, (who commonly works as a writer, electrician, or cameraman depending), On Edge is a sufficient if predictable one. Pinhead himself Doug Bradley gets to sink his teeth, (pun intended, as is made clear by those who have seen it), into what is essentially a monologue as he does some gruesome things to an impatient patient while remaining relatively calm and charming. It all basically builds to a single moment of revolting gore which is adequate if again not all together shocking. Bookending the film is an odd scene in a nightclub that is playing the same one minute loop of an industrial metal song over again. This seems to only be there to fill up time as it hardly creates the proper mood or has anything to do with what else transpires. The film is a pretty one-note effort overall, but fun enough for what it is.
(1999)
Dir - Devlin Crow
Overall: GOOD
Scoring none other than Nick Cave to, well, score his film, Devlin Crow's Expelling the Demon is a comedic bit of extremity wrapped up in less than five minutes. To date, Crow has exclusively made short films and his animation here is crude with blobby drawings over primitive backgrounds. Steven Berkoff, (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Beverly Hills Cop, Octopussy), rambles and raves as an anthropomorphous tongue for just about the entire movie and by the time that he is expelled as the title spoils, it is quite a relief. As intentionally annoying as said appendage is, it is nice that Crow gets in and gets out as quickly as he does, plus the minimalist animation helps hammer home the point that no further details are truly necessary. Being a wacky, distorted joke on macho, male masculinity and embarrassment, it is kind of a hoot.
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