Stop-motion animation has existed since the earliest days of cinema, with 1898’s “Humpty Dumpty Circus” paving the way for more films to embrace the art form. Since then, filmmaking technologies have allowed creators to adopt other techniques, but the proliferation of modern methods, such as CGI, hasn’t killed the old-school ways quite yet. The aptly titled Stopmotion does exactly what it says on the tin, offering plenty of scares and mayhem to boot.
Directed by Robert Morgan from a screenplay he co-wrote with Robert King, Stopmotion stars Ella Blake as a grieving filmmaker who decides to create a project about a puppet. However, she gets more than she bargained for when the characters in her movie come to life and start tormenting her. Is she imagining the nightmare, or has she unleashed deadly forces?
Stopmotion will combine live-action with its titular animation style, but the success of other animated movies inspired its creation. “The film joins the ranks of critically acclaimed titles such as ‘Mad God’ and ‘The Wolf House’ – breaking ground for how we perceive stop-motion in horror, Scott Shooman, head of AMC Networks’ film group, told Variety. “We are thrilled to distribute Morgan’s first full-length feature for its theatrical release and presence on our streaming platform, Shudder.”
Mad Dog and The Wolf House understand how to use the stop-motion method to create unsettling visuals. Hopefully, Morgan and King’s upcoming effort will have the same effect, but the trailer makes the movie look promising.
