'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".

Figma's God Warrior Figure Is The Stuff Of Nightmares

Holy crap. I mean c'mon seriously, look at this thing. Is this not one of the most terrifying and awesome figurines you've ever seen? Based off of Studio Ghibli's 2012 live-action collaboration with Hideki Anno, A Giant God Warrior Descends on Tokyo, this limited-edition figma figurine was once sold exclusively through the Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art and is now up for sale at online retailer GoodSmile for 3,600 Yen (translated roughly to $30). With a price like that, I'll might just snag one up myself!

The way that this figure was cast is especially cool; Taking the original life-size puppet into a 3D printer, scanned, shrunken down and then handed off to resident Figma sculptor Takayuki Takeya for the final polish! The figma also comes with the typical array of alternate head and hand styles, a plasma mouth cannon, light spear, translucent stand, a pair of very Eva-esque energy wings!

Check out more photos of the figure after the break!

Abandoned Toy Story 3 Concepts Reveal a Fate Worse Than Sid

Remember that one scene in Toy Story 3 when Woody and his pals were being  rapidly sucked into the gaping molten hell-mouth of an industrial incinerator? Yeah, it could have been worse. The production of the third installment in the Toy Story franchise dates all the way back to 2004 (just five years after the release of Toy Story 2). Despite this, the final film would not see the light of a projection booth until 2010. So what happened?



In 2005, Pixar were in the midst of a "conscious uncoupling" from Disney. However, Disney still contractually retained the rights to create sequels to any of Pixar's properties produced during their initial 7-year contract, albeit complying with Pixar's right of first refusal. The contested film in question? None other than Toy Story 3.

A proxy animation-house named Circle 7 Animation (derisively nicknamed "Pixaren't") was created in 2004 to helm this new project. Few details emerged regarding this incarnation of the film; only the plot to rescue a malfunctioning Buzz from being decommissioned at a Taiwanese recall factory. Well, the concept art for that version has surfaced just in time for the holidays, and they are terrifying.

Special thanks to comicbookmovie.com and kudos to reddit user oz27varela for uncovering and compiling this treasure trove of production art!

Adult Swim Unleashes Another Batch of Nightmare Fuel with 'Unedited Footage of a Bear'

Adult Swim proves themselves, yet again, to be only the finest purveyor of late night faux-infomercial infused nightmare fuel. Coming off the the strength of their run away viral Too Many Cooks, the folks at Williams Street Studios couldn't let us slink quietly into the new year without giving our collective brains another go-through the cerebral atomizer of their anarchic brand of visual insanity. Put this in HD, full-screen, and buckle up for some face-melting weirdness.

Do you know what kind of bear this is? I need to know. For reasons.

Unedited Footage of a Bear is anything but; turning a 30-second clip into a meticulous 10-minute plunge into dark comedic absurdity. A wild-life shot turns into a medication commercial which then takes a nose-dive straight into territory that feels all too at home alongside psychological horror films like Primer and Side-Effects. Much like Too Many Cooks, words do not not do it justice. This is a fear best left experienced than explained.

Banksy's Unnerving Ode to Animal Cruelty

Holy crap. Banksy's been killing it lately with these mobile art installations in NYC. But then again, it's Banksy, so it's pretty much par for the course. In the latest installment in his month long occupancy of New York, Banksy has pretty much found the way to a child's heart and driven a cold stake of harsh reality through it. He's rented a meatpacking truck and set up a battery of bleating mechanical stuff animals to cry out on a continued loop as the truck drives around the city for two weeks. Talk about nightmare fuel. With just short of three weeks left in the month, I'm sure Banksy still has something even more ingenious nestled up his sleeve, breaking our hearts and making us love him for it all the while.

The Invisible Mother Portraits

(Via)

There's something inherently creepy about most old-timey photographs, and this bunch here is no exception. These type of children's portraits were called "Invisible Mother" portraits, due to the child's parent/guardian (typically the mother) hiding under a blanket, drape, or other material. Why? Typically it was to hold a young one still while having their long-exposure photographs were taken. Rather innocent I suppose, but don't forget: This is how many bad horror stories start. Sleep tight!

More after the break!

18 Bears By Kent Rogowski

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! 

Kent Rogowski had the idea to take standard stuffed bears, turn them inside out and restuff them to see what they looked like. What would incline him to do such a thing? He probably hates children, among other things. The end result was a series of nightmare inducing horror bears that will haunt me for weeks. Components that were never meant to be seen became the defining features of these inside out abominations. If you're so inclined, check out 17 more inside out terrors after the break. Enjoy your nightmare fuel.