Friday, June 20, 2008

Fear(s) of the Dark

From France, Fear(s) of the Dark is a black and white compendium of animated horror and ghost tales. Its structure is very satisfying. Some stories are broken into segments spread over the film's length while others are one-offs, and each has its own animation style. The stories are further studded by monologue episodes in which a woman describes her social and intellectual fears, to the accompaniment of expressionistic geometrical animations onscreen. These monologues certainly have the taste of French preoccupations about them, with significant talk of the bourgeois and a particular slant on political conundrums, but they are the minor part of the whole.

The first story is a fun/gross EC horror comic-like affair about the sexually ravenous girlfriend who turns out to be no girl. The best story in terms of generating a real sense of horror is the one about the hideous old gentleman taking three vicious dogs for a walk. In each segment he releases the reins of one dog so that it can graphically tear someone apart. Each mauling is depicted in all its bloody ragdoll glory, and the closeup of the man's hideous face lighting up conveys his warped delight.

The last story is the most accomplished artistically. A man seeks shelter from a snowstorm in an abandoned, powerless house. Entirely white outside, it's almost entirely black within, with the darkness concealing evidence of the building's violent history. Brilliantly designed outlines pick out just tiny slivers and pools of light as the man searches the house, leaving most of the frame completely black and creating excellent fascination and suspense in the process.

The combination of earthy pencil and ink textures and smooth, Flash-like animation work generates a beautiful aesthetic for this film. It's not as scary as I'd hope for a film explicitly addressing fear (and horror films are my favourites), but it definitely has periods of creepiness, of horror and of humour. And it flows very well as a whole.

No comments: