Customer Reviews

Fears of the Dark

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Peur(s) du Noir (Charles Burns et al., 2007)

I will start this off by saying that I love both Charles Burns and Romain Slocombe probably a great deal more than is healthy, so when I saw both names attached to this short (85 minutes) animated French movie, it was a no-brainer that I'd be watching it eventually. And while on some levels it's satisfying, it did feel as if it could have been better, or that what's here would have worked better on the page than it did on the screen.

We are given a number of little stories here, all framed by two different devices (one a narration about fear from a highly neurotic woman, another a wordless animation about an aristocrat and a pack of dogs he's trained to hunt humans). Burns' story appears first, and it's the best of the lot, soaked with Burns' own sexual neuroses that made Black Hole such an amazing read a few years ago. Marie Caillou's adaptation of Slocombe's story follows next, and to her credit, Caillou kept the stark, distressing tone of Slocombe's work intact. (Any Whitehouse fan will know it from the very first frame.) To a one, however, the stories are badly-paced, and while there are some really wonderful tricks in the animation in places, overall it seemed kind of crude. I'd recommend this only for established fans of the artists in question (along with Burns, Slocombe, and Caillou, you also get hits of Blutch, Pierre di Sciullo, Richard McGuire, Jerry Kramsky, Michael Pirus, and Lorenzo Mattotti, though the last only in a directorial capacity); others are likely to be either bored or annoyed. ** ½

If you're looking for fun artistic expression, this is the film for you. Although, the flow of the film is constantly interrupted by small segments of the narrator rambling about what he/she is affraid of. The real issue here is that it doesn't really make any sense. I can't really understand why they felt so inclined to have these segments in their film. However, the stories in the film are original and creepy, even disturbing at some times. I think that amyone can enjoy this film. Just have the fast foward button ready for those annoying segments.

...looks just as good animated as it does on the printed page. easily the standout segment in this anthology, in my own humble opinion.

'fear(s) of the dark' really is a classy production all around, belonging to the school of horror that sinks into your mind and messes with your perceptions of the orderly sunlit world, as opposed to the less introspective hack-and-slash, gore-for-gore's-sake movies that are more likely to plant butts in theatre seats.

beautifully animated in black and white, each segment represents the work and style of a different animator, each of whom is probably better known as a cartoonist. the variety of styles represented is very pleasing to the eye; each very different from the last, yet meshing together rather than working against each other. thematically, each segment deals with fear on a very intimate, very personal level: isolation, persecution, struggle, invasion, betrayal. where does the actual 'dark' begin and our perception of it end? i'll be thinking this one over for a while - with the lights on.

having read the other review (at this time, there is only one) on amazon, i'll admit i was puzzled: isn't this just a horror movie? what's with the politicking? fortunately, that reviewer had no idea what he or she was talking about. this is, to my eyes, an agenda-free film, and hooray for that.

it seems unlikely, in this age of unlimited 'saw' sequels, prequels and knockoffs, that a movie like this could ever be approved for any kind of funding. i'm awfully glad it did, though - it's a keeper.

Terrible pacing, stories and animation set this up to be one of the worst films I've ever seen. Every story in this had the pacing of a shambling geriatric shuffling his way to the bathroom to create something of greater artistic value than perhaps 75% of this entire film. Reading the other reviews I feel I somehow watched a completely different set of stories than everyone else. Out of the six perhaps only the one by Charles Burns had any redeeming qualities. This was hampered by the fact the animation looked crude, like that of a college course animation project. The random intense upward angles and shadows also made me feel like I was watching terribly animated 4chan meme faces. Not something I was looking for.

The entire film is interjected by inane rambling backed with geometric patterns, which I can only hope was completely lost in translation. I'd like to believe the translator somehow had a vendetta against this film and took it upon himself to completely ruin the cinematic glory that it was in French.

Another interjection was the man with the dogs which I can only guess was attempting to be kind of weird in hopes of stumbling upon something scary. This failed. There was a ballerina either raped by a dog or crotch mauled... so there is that I guess?

Then there is the anime story with cleverly placed schoolgirl upskirts. I don't know what to say about this one, it was bland and boring on top of not being scary. Lots of black eyes though.

The crocodile story was simply annoying. When people go missing, it's possible there is something weird at work, I mean who knows at that point? But when you find the cause of the disappearances and kill it you can stop searching for something mysterious. I felt the main character of this story was as bored as I was with it and somehow drifted off missing many of the details that were happening. I can't really blame him for this I guess.

The last story taught me a valuable life lesson. When stuck in a closet with a means of communication to children outside that could help you, simply scream at them crazily through your peep hole in the wall. This tends to attract people that will want to help you, especially small children.

This whole film was trying so desperately to be weird and artistic that it forgot to be scary and entertaining. Terrible.

'Fear(s) of the Dark' is an anthology of commissioned, animated horror tales, and showcases some well-known and perhaps not so well-known creators, depending on how much one knows about the current crop of working illustrators and animators. Like all collections, it has it ups and downs, though I felt that, overall, this is an exceptional film, from both the standpoint of animation and the effectiveness of it's creepy, ghostly tales. Unfortunately, I found the implication of one scene so incredibly distasteful that I cannot recommend this film wholeheartedly.

There are six 'stories' in the film, though one, 'Hungry Dogs', is broken up into four parts, and another, 'Fears', serves as sort of an intermission between the entries, and is a narrator voicing particular fears while geometric forms and odd shapes twist and parade across the screen. The first traditional story, 'Laura', is by Charles Burns, who has a fairly large following in America after the publication of his graphic novel, 'Black Hole'. The interesting thing to me about Mr. Burns is his ability to create a sense of dread - oppressive dread - by juxtaposing normal activities with one bizarre, surprising element inserted at the beginning of the tale and then left to simmer in the reader's, or in this case, the viewer's imagination until the conclusion. 'Laura' is just such a story, and although it suffers a bit from a 'Twilight Zone' ending, there is a psychological element to it as well that only heightens the horribleness.

The next tale, 'Sumako', by Marie Caillou is presented as a Japanese ghost story, and is the weakest of the four conventional stores - a three out of five. The last two, though, I feel are brilliant, and depending on your definition, are as excellent examples of horror as I've seen in some time. Little happens in either 'The Great Plains', or 'Light and Dark', which is the key - I think the greatest horror stories are reflections of my own fears, and the less a movie or story says and the more it evokes from my mind, the greater success it will have. 'The Great Plains' reminds me of the classic stories of M.R. James, or Arthur Machen, or of Robert Aickman, where the details of the story are not so important as much as the otherworldly feeling that the authors are able to portray. Couple that with the narrator's voice (in French) and a style of illustration that has the heavy pencil feel of children's books from the 1940's, and it becomes an unsettling, atmospheric story of dread. 'Light and Dark', on the other hand, is just a fantastic ghost story that uses the capabilities of animated film to create suspense that I just don't think would be possible in a live action effort or in print form as sequential art.

It is the 'Hungry Dogs' segment that substantially damages the film. The 'story' is of a man holding the leashes of four savage, Great Dane-type dogs. He ranges over the countryside, and in the first short segment, encounters a small peasant boy. Here he releases one hound, and the last scene is of the boy disappearing over a rise, followed by the dog, and then screaming. In the second segment, the man comes upon a group of ditch-diggers, and again, releases a hound which savagely mauls one of the men. But it is the third segment which catapults the story out of the sadistic and into something else entirely. This time, the man finds a beautiful woman, dancing in a private studio. When he releases the third dog, it does not attack, but instead knocks the woman down, and as she cowers in fear, the dog, still snarling, pokes his nose under the woman's long dress until his head disappears. At this point the scenery changes to the roofs and steeples of the town as woman's horrified screams rise above it - the artist leaves the implication of the dog's subsequent actions to the viewer's imagination.

In light of the understated creepiness of the other, mostly excellent entries, I can hardly believe the maker's of this film were doltish enough to include something so blatant, and something so blatantly disturbing. It is possible, of course, that I'm being too harsh. Or too prudish - but to blithely, mutely accept the unacceptable is to give permission for it to continue. I'm not trying to censor movies that have sadistic fantasies for plot lines (nor am I in the market for them), but sadism is not a synonym for horror, despite the superfluity of films today that seem to say different, and I absolutely object to its use in a movie that primarily uses restrained techniques to establish a genuinely eerie and frightening atmosphere.

This film is in French, with English subtitles, and although it is an animated movie, I would suggest that it is inappropriate for preteen children due to adult themes and situations, and animated violence, and probably for making it difficult for them to sleep.

This is an anthology of short animated stories that delve into the anatomy of fear, brought to life by leading comic and graphic artists Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Richard McGuire, Pierre di Sciullo, and Lorenzo Mattotti. I'm not very familiar with the animation world, especially when it comes to animated horror. But I do love old-school psychological fear, and I'd seen reviews that compared the feel of this anthology to classic tales like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Metamorphosis, both of which I find deeply upsetting and endlessly interesting. Fear(s) of the Dark features abstract black and white animation that's difficult to absorb all at once, much like fear itself. But that sensory confusion evokes the distinct panic brought on by psychological fear; you worry as much about what you don't see as what you do. This unsettling atmosphere permeates every frame as the stories explore everything from fears of insects and ghosts to isolation and manipulation. Some shorts are more effective than others, but even the weaker ones are disquieting and thought-provoking - and the best will make you sweat bullets. I'm reluctant to say anything else because I think this kind of movie is best viewed with a fresh eye, but it's an effectively creepy diversion if you're in the mood for such.

I want to keep this short. If you like Anime', and the unusual?
Wow. This Film is a Blast. Not for the Faint of Heart, or for Children.

Again, Wow!

Not being released yet due to its controversial subject matter and the fact our government still considers France's going against U.S. policy traitorous to our goals in the Middle East, this movie portrays the difficulties of the French people in trying to adjust to the every changing political climate of the world. An animation by 5 world famous French cartoonist. The same subject matter is not censored for American film makers for instance "Lord of Wars" has not been censored. Political cartoonists have never been sanctioned by a ruling party in any country that I know of and classical novels such as "Catcher in the Rye", "Farewell to Arms". "1984", "The Grapes of Wrath", "Gone With the Wind" were all banned at one time in the U.S. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to rent a copy and hope others will check it out. It depicts how our fears make us prisoners. It sends an excellent message which hits home with almost everyone.