★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Robert Morgan
It is not often that I get to describe a film with the adjective “macabre,” but director/co-writer (with Robin King) Robert Morgan’s Stopmotion (U.K., 2023) is absolutely deserving of that word. The film combines truly unsettling stop-motion animation with live-action body horror, not for the squeamish and psychological horror in spades.
Ella (Aisling Franciosi) is a budding stop motion animator currently being run ragged by her stern, elderly mother Suzanne’s (Stella Gonet) insistence on finishing her last stop motion film before she dies. After Suzanne falls into a coma, Ella becomes single-minded about fulfilling her mother’s wish until she moves into a new apartment, where a precocious young neighbor girl (Caioilinn Springall) suggests disturbing story ideas that turn into a new, darker obsession for Ella.
The stop motion animation and gruesome practical effects work make Stopmotion a decidedly unique fright-fare viewing experience. It’s rare that I feel the need to watch scenes through fingers over my eyes, but this film had me doing it twice.
The descent into madness aspect is nothing unique in horror cinema, and it is with this element that Stopmotion finds itself similar in story theme to other offerings, be it a tortured artist or most other characters experiencing such a collapse. Francois plays her role with such conviction, though, that Ella’s unraveling is still highly riveting to watch.
Morgan’s direction is terrific, and he has crafted a horror film that should be watched by fear-fare fanatics of every stripe. It won’t be for everyone, to be sure, but this unsettling work, with its fine performances, unnerving visuals, and dread-drenched atmosphere, is well worth checking out.
Review by Joseph Perry
Stopmotion, from IFC Films, is in theaters from February 23, 2024, and is available everywhere you rent movies from March 15.
