By Becca Johnson May 30, 2024
Stop Motion Animation is a medium enjoyed by many, lending itself well to a wide mix of genres. From The Nightmare Before Christmas to Coraline, Mad God to The House, it’s been commonly used in horror-adjacent flicks to both amplify the scares and give them a unique spin. New release Stopmotion is a little different to the flicks listed above, as it combines the medium with live action, bringing the main characters creations to life. Telling a familiar story of a young person struggling to separate art from reality whilst dealing with trauma but doing so in an intriguing way, Stopmotion is successful in creating an eerie atmosphere, and is helmed by a fantastic lead performance.
Synopsis
A talented stop-motion animator becomes consumed by the grotesque world of her horrifying creations -- with deadly results.
Review
The use of stop motion throughout the movies run-time is great; it manages to look creepy and increase the horror whilst adding a unique layer to the story. Our main character Ella is a stop-motion animator who feels pressured to finish a project started by her Mother. As Ella works on the project we see it come to life, gradually becoming more reminiscent of Ella’s reality. The design of the characters within the animation is interesting, from the use of Cyclops’ from Greek Mythology to our main character using meat to make them look more realistic. It’s unsettling watching these creepy characters come to life in ways we haven’t seen before and it’s bound to leave a mark. The stop-motion sequences are so stark and scary that it feels as though there should be plenty more of them. They’re disappointingly few and far between, despite being one of Stopmotion’s strongest assets.
It’s not just the use of mediums that Stopmotion mixes, but its sub-genres too. First and foremost this is a psychological horror, creating a looming sense of dread from the very first frame. The tone it manages to create is utterly eerie from start to finish, as it explores ideas of trauma, obsession and madness through its main character Ella. Despite taking a slower approach with the story, Stopmotion is always uncomfortable with its atmosphere and freaky with its visuals. As the plot progresses, it also enters body horror territory with some terrific gore and a satisfying climax that will scratch that spooky itch. The sound design is used effectively to increase the fear factor, creating an uncomfortable experience for the eyes and ears. Though some may be aggravated by the slow pace, lack of mainstream horror tropes and not having a grasp on what’s reality and what’s fiction, the right audience will be satisfied by the emotional journey and crazy ending.
We spend a lot of time with our lead Ella, delving into her inner psyche and learning about her past trauma largely revolving around her overbearing Mother, so a solid lead performance is needed for us to fully get behind her. Luckily, Aisling Franciosi is up to the task. Showing us what she’s made of in 2018’s harrowing drama thriller The Nightingale, Franciosi’s final girl energy seeps into the veins of Stopmotion too. She’s gives an emotional, committed turn that allows her to unravel and impress more and more the further the plot plays out. The script demands a lot from her, and she certainly delivers.
The supporting cast is made up of Stella Gonet (Spencer), Tom York, Therica Wilson-Read (Profile) and young Caoilinn Springali (The Midnight Sky) who do well with the material given, but it’s Franciosi who truly gets the shine. Perhaps the real star of the show is writer/director Robert Morgan; despite working on many stop-motion animation shorts in the past, this is his feature debut. Putting him of the map as a creative filmmaker to keep an eye on, Stopmotion is an incredibly impressive debut that creates the perfect tone and atmosphere needed for a horror film to excel.
Stopmotion must be commended for its unique way of telling its story, particularly the use of stop-motion animation. It also fully commits to its themes, exploring trauma and obsession whilst delving into the mind of a creative - an angle that many will find relatable. The lead performance is fantastic, the cinematography is consistently engaging with excellent lighting, the sound design is eerie and the overall tone and horror effectively invokes uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing fear. It’s a slow moving story that often treads familiar ground in terms of the central premise of fiction-reality blending due to obsession, and it perhaps could’ve succeeded even further with a touch more of the creative choices that set it apart from the rest - the animation.
Star Rating
Stopmotion releases on Shudder May 31
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