Want to have nightmares tonight? If so, check out this trailer for the upcoming horror flick from IFC Films, Stopmotion, which makes the art of stop-motion animation completely and utterly terrifying.
Here’s the movie’s official synopsis:
Ella Blake is a stop-motion animator who is struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. Suddenly alone in the world, she embarks upon the creation of a macabre new puppet film, which soon becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her animated film take on a terrifying life of their own, and the unleashed power of her imagination threatens to destroy her.
If the movie is as grotesquely disturbing as this trailer, I think this might be one of the scariest films of the year. It also makes me look at all stop-motion animation projects I’ve seen in a new light. What malice is secretly churning behind Gumby’s eyes? And would Rudolph from that old Christmas Special be a welcome visitor if I woke up one night and saw his glowing nose inches away from my face?
The movie has it’s own terrifying puppets, of course, whose melted, half-formed features only add to the overall creepiness.
Stopmotion comes from director Robert Morgan, who wrote the script with Robin King. Aisling Franciosi, Stella Gonet, and Tom York star in the production. You can witness the horrors of this lauded artform when the film releases in theaters on February 23, 2024.
