2024 has not started like 2023 did with a lot of horror releases coming out in the first quarter but Stopmotion, Robert Morgan’s debut film seems to be the first great horror movie of this year. Generally known for his short films and stop motion animated segment on The ABC’s of death 2, IFC Films and Morgan joined hands to make a disturbing mix of live action and stop motion horror. Aisling Franciosi from Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, Stella Gonet (Spencer), Tom York (Poldark) and Caoilinn Springall (The Midnight Sky) star in Stopmotion which was written by Robert Morgan and Robin King.
Ella Blake(Franciosi) is a young animator who lives a life filled with stop-motion; thus she spends her days and nights working together alongside Suzanne her abusive mother so that they can beat immortality clock by finishing up her mother’s film. Ella has to put an end to the project when it becomes impossible for her mother to continue due to illness, then starts working on another stop motion idea given by one of the neighboring children. As Ella’s new story as well as film begins to crumble, so does her sanity leading towards creating a truly grotesque piece of art.
Already this film is starting to generate attention at early awards shows having been nominated for Best Picture at Sitges Film Festival and winning Best Director (Robert Morgan) at Fantastic Fest.
One interesting aspect about Stopmotion’s plot is how it deals with family trauma throughout different stages in one’s life. In fact within the first few opening minutes you can easily tell that Ella’s mother manipulates even her life as well as talent.. She does not rest or have time for relationships. Rather she has a duty which entails completing the movie perfectly all along its entire length. Suzanne sees Ellla as an unsuccessful version of herself rather than as someone who needs to be nurtured. Thus it is no shock that the output becomes increasingly terrifying with every step.
There’s nothing unique about the psychological horror of Stopmotion when compared to some other films which deal with mother/daughter trauma but however it is presented in the film makes it uniquely interesting in this foundation. Even though Suzanne only appears sparingly throughout the entire film, her presence is felt significantly on Ella’s psyche. This decay can be noticed from within the movie as well as in her stop-motion animation, which grows darker and moves from modeling clay and wax onto raw meat and animals for posing.
As if stop-motion animation wasn’t already unsettling enough Stopmotion takes its grotesque puppets up a notch. In this movie, Ella makes dolls out of things like autopsy wax or even human flesh (we won’t tell you whose!). These are slimy, gooey, disfigured beings right out of your nightmares. The “Ash Man” made by Ella is particularly terrifying both in terms of his appearance and what he wants to achieve through his actions.
The practical effects do not just stop at the stop-motion animation. The film had several gory scenes and great practical effects, like full-sized creatures and violent death scenes. In addition to other moments of excessive blood, some gory soundtracks can make someone with a weak heart refrain from watching this movie.
For quite some time now, it was as if stop-motion animation was becoming almost extinct. But the art has been preserved through such small-scale productions as The ABC’s of Death, Phil Tippett’s Mad God, Wendell & Wild and Stopmotion among others in horror while big films like Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Kubo and the Two Strings have kept it alive.
Stop-motion is a labor-intensive process that accounted for well-loved films like Corpse Bride, Coraline, or The Nightmare Before Christmas; however rare animators need an enormous amount of effort, work concentration and money for producing such kind of movies distinguished them from Ray Harryhausen times. Watching Stopmotion even with its grotesque style applied in its animation is beautiful in terms of seeing magic on display not just for audiences but also educationally considering how far the film takes you to understand what goes into making stop-motion animation.
While there is nothing groundbreaking about the storytelling done by Stopmotion yet the artwork along with seamless transitions between live action and animated ones coupled with wonderful performances by relatively unknown actors will certainly make it one of critical darling horror films come 2024 early period.
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