'The Horse Raised By Spheres' is a Rabbit-Hole of Madness

It's not easy being a horse.

Two weeks ago, animator David O'Reilly posted the URL "THEHORSERAISEDBYSPHERES.COM" via his twitter feed. Seemingly in conjunction with a premiere event for this year's Sundance film festival, the address is an interactive text-based web portal to the titular short of a sentient talking horse haunted by his inability to make friends with the other "normal" talking horses grazing on the other side of a field. 

The portal also extends to five other previously unreleased shorts, each one more curiously unsettling than the last. Gaze into the deep, click past the break, and dive into the ineffable abyss that is "The Horse Raised by Spheres".

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis channels the anarchic satirical wit of Hunter S. Thompson and existential terror of Franz Kafka's titular novel to create a psychedelic cocktail of dark musings and lucid imagery. The short is an brilliant advertisement for Good Books, a book-seller whose proceeds go one-hundred percent to support communities in need through Oxfam International projects.

I think they absolutely nailed Thompson's paranoia-drenched prose and talent for off-the-wall analogies. Go check them out next time you're looking for something new to read, it's for a good cause!

'The Grey Matter' is Dark, Gruesome and Brilliantly Hilarious

Dark comedies focused around the assumed banality and bureaucracy of the after-life aren't anything new (i.e. Beetlejuice and Wristcutters: A Love Story), but The Grey Matter is one of the most gruesomely brilliant twists on the trope thanks to snappy dialogue and sharp transition-editing for comedic effect. After a mysterious injury, an office "stiff" named Simon finds himself stumbling through an absurd, increasingly unorthodox, and potentially fatal series of events.

The Mccoubrey Brothers' short feels like a Twilight Zone episode by way of David Lynch. Ebon Moss-Bachrach is fantastic in his role as meek and unassuming Simon (and that stetson fedora he's rocking definitely feels like a callback to Peter Weller's role in Naked Lunch). And that ending? Forget about it. Go watch this short immediately. Right. Now.

"Bark" - Through The Eyes Of The Hunter

Creepy is the best way to sum up Bark, an unsettling stylized short created by Lucien Antigny at EMCA in France. Narrating the daily life of a hunter as he goes about his daily duties, it becomes painfully obvious that something is terribly amiss in his life. His sanity? Physical health? We're left guessing throughout the duration of Bark.

As the head of the household, he seems intent on maintaining that familial bond alive at all costs. As the short progresses the sound of buzzing mosquitoes becomes ever more prevalent, but we're left wondering- What is the source? Despite the presence of some French dialogue throughout, it's a pretty easy narrative to follow with one hell of a revelation towards the end.

Plurabelle - "Our Fires"

It's all about the ominous vibes with Plurabelle's Our Fires, a track imbued with such an oppressive aural quality that it's kind of impressive. Couple that with the 2 tone music video by Mattis Dovier, who seems to be taking a few queues from Maruo Suehiro's muzan-e (A more violent ukiyo-e) stylings and low-fi PC graphics and you've got yourself one hell of a horror music video. The track is taken from Phantom Pyramid LP, set to release on June 16th via Stellar Kinematics.

Adolescence, embodied by the mutation into a monstrous beast, is a tribute to B-movies, drawing references from John Carpenter's or illustrator Charles Burns' universes. Symbolism in the transition into adulthood is seen as a rite of passage, requiring the death of a human being and the birth of another. The haunting mystical song immerses us inexorably into the intricacies of this transformation you can't avoid, whatever you do.

"Paddington Bear" Trailer Is Anything But Adorable

This post might be more catered to European audiences due to the prevalance of Paddington Bear as a childhood book overseas, but think of him as a foreign Winnie The Pooh equivalent. Based off of Michael Bond's series which spawned with 1958's a A Bear Called Paddington, it seems like a hybrid CG/live action adaptation is in the works as evidenced by this initial trailer.

The problem is, whoever called the shots on the look of this film seems to have opted for the uncanny valley route- Choosing to adapt the adorable bear into an ultrarealistic CGI animal with no stylization whatsoever. As someone who grew up with the series, the design just begged to be adapted into an animated feature...Not this hybrid project with gross out humor and a creepy, dead eyed bear with a penchant for destruction.

This trend with toilet humor has been ongoing in the adaptation scene for a while, ranging from the rather terrible Alvin And The Chipmunks movies, Marmaduke and even the ill fated Hong Kong Phooey movie attempt. To think that this low brow formula will be applied to an adorable, marmalade loving bear who was always well known for his politeness makes me appreciate Disney's respect for their movie adaptations of beloved characters. The Paul King (Mighty Boosh) directed feature is expected to hit theaters in the UK and US around the holiday season of this year.

If you want to get a good idea as to how the public reacted, check out the Creepy Paddington Tumblr that's been set up in honor of this trailer.

Headspace

Jake Fried has boggled our minds before with his additive 'animations,' a process of continuing to add to one base image and taking picture of every layer added on top. Coupled with the dissonant ambient sound treatment always present in his videos, the result is consistently unsettling. The creation of each of his retro-futurist flip books is comprised of around anywhere from 1000-1500 iterations of each painting and take around 4-5 months to complete.

Headspace was executed using ink, gouache, coffee and white out to deliver the final result while under the fine influence of musicians including Flying Lotus and Nicholas Jaar. Enjoy the trip.

Bord De Mer - Some Boys Just Like To See The World On Fire

Bord De Mer ('Seaside' in French) is the animated representation of the stuff my nightmares are made out of. Created by Lucas Navarro as his third year project at Supinfocom, we get to witness a young sociopath in the making after his deliberate actions cause an animatronic display of a beach to go haywire, self destructing in a spectacular fashion.

Faces melt, circuits catch on fire and we get to watch a young lad smile very creepily at a world set on fire by his own hand. Really have to say awesome job to him for coming up with such an out of the box way of cluing in the audience as to the truly f***ed up nature of this kid. That final shot did the trick.

We Wander

Directed by the folks at the Dvein collective in Barcelona, We Wander is a unique short film about the perspective of the hunted rather than the hunters. As a strange light intrudes their habitat, everyone begins to feel uneasy. Considering that the protagonists are a series of wild animals, the performances are as believable as they'll ever get, and the sense of fear is quite palpable.

A bunch of animals hide in the darkness of the night, motivated by their very own instinct, not feeling menaced by anything or anyone. But a light disturbs their peaceful rest, they feel troubled when their land is invaded and everything becomes unexpected. The Sun rises, the animals leave, the sun light baths the land and we keep wandering around, not knowing where and when we are and nothing matters anymore.

Operator

Director and animator Sam Barnett has spent the past 8 months working on Operator and damn does it show. The 7-minute sci-fi thriller holds the perfect blend of sound design, camera work, and animation in order to create one seriously disturbing short. I found myself wiping the sweat from my palms on more than one occasion as the dark sci-fi thriller creates tension many big-budget films fail to create.

While the character design can be a tad tough around the edges, it actually adds to the gritty reality Barnett has set out to create in Operator. 

With inspiration stemming from cordyceps mushrooms and cult-like oppressive regimes, it's apparent that Sam Barnett has more to show than just a few jump scares (and it truly shows). The mood and tension Operator creates is absolutely unreal for a stop-motion video, setting grand expectations for the future of Barnett's work.

In the end, while the imagery and camera work is fantastic, it all boils down to the sound and Operator uses it in an absolutely incredible way. 

Salad Fingers Returns For a Birthday Surprise

If you were planning on a pleasant night sleep then I'm truly sorry, because that's definitely not going to happen. David Firth has returned with ten minutes of nightmares in the 10th episode of Salad Fingers. The newest entry titled Birthday is by far the darkest Salad Fingers yet, pushing the series from a fever dream to something resembling purgatory.

Whatever dark corner David Firth has begun to pull inspiration from is definitely getting darker and I couldn't be more pleased.

Along with Salad Fingers' darker progression, the animation for Birthday has definitely upped the ante. It's amazing to series' evolution since it's 2004 inception and I'm excited to see how far Firth can push the series in terms of both its unsettling nature and animation.

The Art Of Asiulus - Visual Ordeal

(Via)

Asiulus is the alias for Joanna Krótka, a Polish illustrator based out of Krakow, the second largest city in Poland following Warsaw. A self proclaimed geek and 70's prog rock lover, his art style channels inspiration from unconventional sources, including psychedelia, his dreams and scifi. It's evident in her eclectic color schemes, but the actual subject matter points to much darker, surreal themes. For example, I got the feeling that the above illustration (Field of vision) tied into her own internal struggles with bad eyesight. Most of us with any form of anxiety have dealt with strange dreams regarding these issues, our subconcious at work parsing through our daily struggles.

Krótka is currently on a journey to publish her first comic, and her style and tastes really seems suited to heading down that direction with her own distinct, surreal twist. I'm looking forward to keeping track of what she comes up with. More of her twisted visions after the break!

Building A Human

This excellently executed retro scifi short was created by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, representing a dystopian future filled with replicants created by an army of alien lifeforms. Wonderfully tongue in cheek, and quite unsettling during parts (Like the smashing of defective replicant heads), this duo did an amazing job replicating the retro newsreel style which was predominant in the 50's and 60's (Check out British Pathé for example), with a dash of Bladerunner.

Dexter Meets Robotic Singularity in 'ABE'

 

Killer robots are a dime a dozen in modern day cinema, but not everyday do they show serial killer characteristics. Rob McLellan's ABE is a dark and haunting short featuring a an AI who has reached a level of self-awareness that results in some 'dark tendencies.' With subtle nuances to the film Silence of The Lambs and the popular Showtime series, Dexter, this short is a truly twisted tale that deserves to be expanded on.

With a budget of almost nothing, Rob McLellan not only wrote and directed this fantastic short, but also created the films CG animation himself. The entire short is an awesome feat for an up-and-coming director, but it's the films writing that really pulled me in. There's something inherently unsettling about a computerized voice explaining it's method for madness, especially when it sounds so comparable to other famous serial killers.

Everything I Can See From Here

Directed by Sam Taylor and Bjorn Aschim, Everything I Can See From Here is one of the best shorts I've seen this year so far. In the dystopian short, a game of football goes awry when two friends get the attention of an unwanted visitor, and things go downhill from there.

Aside from the beautiful art direction, excellent animation, and spot on pacing I really, really loved the choice of the unorthodox aspect ratio to complement the narrative, which focuses on verticality. The short was created using a mixture of 3D and 2D animation for the environments and characters, giving the alien visitor a truly otherworldly look. Check out the making of the short at The Line studios after the break.

Boston Dynamic's PETMAN : Exterminating Humans Near You Soon

Boston Dynamics just released a new video showing off their incredible progress on their PETMAN initiative, supposedly created to test chemical protection clothing by simulating human range of motion to stress the materials worn. They're pretty nonchalant about their mission statement, somehow failing to mention the unsettlingly convincing humanoid robot walking and maintaining balance with little to no assistance (The cables are simply use as fall breakers and for live data extraction).



Did we mention that PETMAN also simulates human physiology by being able to sweat and gauge heat in this latest iteration, as well as chemical leaks in the suit? Uncanny. The above video shows off the last time PETMAN was displayed, in a video dating back to October 30, 2011. If you're familiar with the companies BigDog initiative, you might notice that this humanoid robot uses some of the same counterbalance technology to keep itself balanced, especially in the second video where it's specifically tested. These videos are best watched with the Terminator 2 soundtrack playing.

Junip - "Line Of Fire" (NSFW)

Folk-pop trio Junip just released this new music video for a track from their upcoming self titled followup to 2010's Fields, an incredibly unsettling affair directed by Mikel Cee Karlsson. Lead by the smooth vocals of Swedish/Argentine artist José González, Line Of Fire's music video features a series of looping vignettes slowly reveal the dark, uncomfortable side of a Scandinavian family. Sometimes it's the things that are implied, not shown which are truly disturbing. Their new album drops on April 22.

Sculptures by J*RYU

We love being sufficiently creeped out over here at Awesome-Robo. And one thing that'll always be creepy is a strange, ghostly little girl. Artist J*RYU (Jesse Yu) sculpted these absolutely breathtaking pieces, primarily focusing on this sad, dead (dead-like?) little girl. The poor thing, finding herself in a variety of rather precarious situations. The amount of detail to these is extraordinary. This series debuted just this past Friday evening at the Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago, so if you're in the area, definitely go check it out!

More after the break!

TIBS

It's understated, simple, and to the point. And I'm sufficiently creeped out. Sam Huntley's TIBS is the short about an elderly lady and her cat, "Tibs". Every morning he brings her an "offering" of some sort; The kind of gift that cats and dogs like to give (dead animals). As a doting cat owner, the elderly lady praises her kitty for his efforts. Let's just say, that sometimes, there is such a thing as too much praise. Or as one Vimeo commenter put it, "Positive reinforcement gone awry." 

Compliance

Compliance is a Sundance festival film coming out August 17th, based off a strange premise supposedly grounded in real life. Crackpot 'cops' calling fast food restaurants and making threats based off of false accusations, resulting in bizarre instances of workers getting harassed and violated by their managers following orders from these so called detectives. Compliance without question.

The most infamous case of this accident occurred in 2004 at a McDonalds in Kentucky which resulted in an ordeal for a female employee that lasted close to 4 hours. It also resulted in the arrest of a 37 year old man called David Stewart, whose phone scam career lasted over 12 years. The controversial movie drew the ire of Sundance crowds unaware of the fact that such an event had actually occurred in real life. If you're looking for a movie to challenge your notions on just how far certain people will go, look no further.