Morbid Curiosities

If you have an interest in all things quirky and macabre, I highly recommend checking out The Midnight Archive. This unique Web series, created by Ronni Thomas, explores a variety of topics from mummification to music boxes.

Here are a few of my favourite episodes.














Last but not least, this entry in the series gives an intriguing look into the career of a real life Dr. Moreau.





Who knew these kinds of operations were being done in the 1960s? Dr. White sure was ahead of his time.

Ha!

Because he took the head and the... never mind.

Long story short: I love these and everyone should watch them. You can view The Midnight Archive videos on YouTube right here.

Nature's Eternal Plan

If you have ever wondered about Lady Bits And How They Do (or longed to hear a prim 1940s lady saying 'rectum') then this is the film for you.





Please note: as a public transport user I would encourage all people to bathe regularly.

Doll Face

More cute yet sinister stuff. I don't know if you would call this 'grotesque' or not. But check out the face on that doll shop.



Rodrigo Blaas used to work at Pixar, now his animated short is being turned into a full length movie. Guillermo del Toro is producing it, so things could get (more) intense.

I should have a few more 'grotesque history' posts coming up soon. Next week if I'm feeling like I have words/mind space free.

Marble Hornets

My brother just introduced to the YouTube series Marble Hornets, and I ended up watching the whole thing in one night. The videos are short handy-cam clips that, the story goes, are part of a huge collection of tapes made by film student Alex Kralie. I don't want to spoil the plot, but it's a clever and suspenseful example of low budget film-making.

One of the really cool things about this series is how its creators made use of interconnected YouTube and Twitter profiles to generate a sense of immediacy and authenticity as the episodes unfolded. The Twitter was updated with the 'real time' activities of the main protagonist as he investigated the mystery of the tapes. Along with the main YouTube account, there is also another account which has posted video responses that contribute to the plot and offer coded clues and threatening messages. This profile obviously 'belongs' to another character in the story, but you are never told who.

Here are the first few clips:

[Edit: you can't read the text properly in the intro when it's small, so you need to full-screen it]









The whole thing is mighty creepy, and it just gets worse from here on.

Without giving too much away, this series really explores the relationship between fear, sight, and monstrosity. The harder it is to make out the strange figure, the more horrific it becomes. This is something that is often missing from contemporary films, where representing the grotesque is often understood to be a matter of showing everything in excruciating detail.

I highly recommend checking this series out. But don't blame me if you can't go out in the dark by yourself anymore!

The Dirdy Birdy

Sometimes writing feels a bit like having a dual personality. One half of your brain is really dedicated and focused, while the other half is... well, easily distracted.




Heh.

Back to work.

EDIT: oh who am I kidding *flash*

Grotesque Collector

This short animation by Dimitri Kozma popped up today on one of my regular keyword searches for 'grotesque' on YouTube.

"Besides the bizarre factor, the animation was created with a second layer of interpretation as a critical appreciation of the superfluous and disposable."

The scatological aspect of grotesqueness has been sadly lacking in this blog since my early posting about gross science. I apologise, and hereby promise to provide more toilet humour in future.

Happy Thursday!

Walk This Way

Thanks to Tammy for recommending this fantastic animation.

It very much reminds me of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel. Bald giants, munching their way through the landscape; sneaking through walls, morphing, removing their heads...

Doll Face

I recently discovered Andrew Huang's work, which deals with many interesting themes from nature to digital culture and the body. He uses a combination of live action, animation and CGI to create short films such as Doll Face:

"A machine with a doll face mimics images on television screen in search of a satisfactory visage. Doll Face presents a visual account of desires misplaced and identities fractured by our technological extension into the future."

The Gloaming is another example:



I can relate. Also liking the Hitchcock 'Birds' reference happening in there.

In addition to films, Huang creates light installations that are pretty amazing:

"A series of works focusing on the fusion between physical and 'virtual' forms using polygonal meshes created from string, nails and found pieces of driftwood."

You can check out his website here.

Neil Gaiman's Statuesque

This is interesting. Not strictly 'grotesque' but it reminds me of the statues that come to life in BioShock.

Statuesque
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