A Halloween Mixtape
In honour of International Animation Day and the Halloween weekend, enjoy 13 spooky selections from Quickdraw's ongoing Vimeo channel.
With today being International Animation Day and only a quick stagger away from Halloween, we figured we'd kill two birds with one gravestone and dig up 13 shorts from our ongoing Indie Animation Mixtape that fit the spirit spooky season. Selections range from the playfully creepy to the downright disturbing to the hypnotically haunting, all available for online streaming, and offline screaming.
OOZE
Kilian Vilim
5:29 | 2017
Rendered in crisp black and white without a hint of grey, Ooze is a portrait of isolation that descends into out-and-out horror, using surreal imagery to create a mood of unending unease.
The Surrogate
Stas Santimov
6:03 | 2020
The first in a quartet of films showing the dangers of walking in the woods alone, Santimov's short packs a tremendous amount of atmosphere and memorably unsettling imagery into its six-minute run.
Dans Les Bois (Into the Forest)
Karolina Chabier
4:04 | 2018
Chabier's film is closer to a fairy tale than a horror film, but there's no denying the creepiness of its foggy, backlit forest. Inspired by early shadow-puppet animation, it's a gorgeous spin on a classic aesthetic.
100,000 Acres of Pine
Jennifer Alice Wright
7:13 | 2020
Yes, we just talked about this film, but we couldn't not include this week's Monday Shorts selection, an atmospheric story of a missing park ranger and woods that are even more sinister than they seem.
Spa Day
Nichola Latzgo
5:55 | 2018
Stepping away from the woods: Even demons need a day off, and Nichola Latzgo's Spa Day does a delightful job of re-imagining the torments of Hell as a demonic escape in this lighthearted twist on eternal damnation.
Eager
Allison Schulnik
8:30 | 2014
Not a horror film per se, Eager's ballet in clay is beautiful and haunting at the same time. Schulnik's sculptures exist in a state of perpetual creation and decay, presenting a heightened version of nature that is inviting and dangerous, magnificent and horrifying. Just like the real thing.
BodyWorld
Kitty Faingold
7:11 | 2018
A "philosophical existentialist horror", BodyWorld creates its ominous atmosphere without anything like a traditional scare. Instead, it shows the terror of realizing you only exist within a dream, in a story that blurs the line between wake and sleep.
Body
Patrick McHale
1:12 | 2004
Created long before his much-beloved Over the Garden Wall, McHale's post-it-note animation is a horror film in miniature, hitting all the beats of a classic monster movie in just over a minute.
Teeth
Daniel Gray and Tom Brown
5:56 | 2015
Not a film for the squeamish, this festival favourite uses visceral sound design and intense, first-person imagery to tell a story of an unhealthy dental obsession.
Plena Stellarum
Matthew Wade
11:14 | 2016
Like a haunted video game from the Amiga age, Matthew Wade's Plena Stellarum imagines a strange overlap between the arcane and the arcade. Methodical, meditative, and subtly unsettling, this exploration of neon dread feels like watching an occult ritual unfold on the Vectrex.
Caveirão
Guilherme Marcondes
10:06 | 2013
When the world is asleep, the spirits celebrate. Marcondes' vision of the afterlife is a raucous celebration, with glowing ghosts bursting into our world for a joyous musical extravaganza.
God of Chaos
Maddie Brewer
6:29 | 2019
When a cult has the hubris to believe they can summon a being of pure chaos to keep the world under control, things go about as well as expected. Brewer's cartoonish style perfectly suits a story that embraces unpredictability at every turn.