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★★★★★
Directed by: Seth Whitehurst
Animated by: #SethWhitehurst
Starring: #JacobWilcox, #EricKreiger
Let’s be honest, who has not thought about playing the old murder game from time to time? Be it an annoying boss, an ex, or that person in front of you at Greggs who brought the lass Belgium Bun that you really wanted? Yeah, I’ve wanted to murder them and take that precious sugary bun back a million times...I think I really like Belgium Buns.
Point being we have all thought about it, but most of us have resisted the urge to get our stab on, and returned to suppressing our range deep inside, letting it eat away at our soul. But what about those who don’t, those who choose to rise to the challenge and kill?
Existence on Earth is a collection of #animated short movies that focus around murder, each exploring the different drives and outcomes that come with losing your cool and getting your rage face on. Alas, no one tackled the challenging Greggs/Belgium Bun scenario, maybe mainstream America is just not ready for such a tale, plus they don’t know what Greggs is...Atlantic differences.
Existence on Earth is released by a company called Shadow Puppet Horror, which keeps the running #animation theme throughout, a unique style that brought a lot to this piece of work. It is exactly what you expect, drawing the aesthetic from the old fashion style of paper cut puppets, illuminated by lights to create shadows on a decorated backdrop.
Animator Seth Whitehurst brings his A-game to the short, using contrasting bright colours for the characters, juxtaposition against detailed, yet bleakly stylised backdrops, creating a interesting sense of isolation for the characters. No one really feels connected to their surroundings, an emotion that many may feel as they move into the part of their mind that allows them to commit a killing.
The idea of using shadow puppets to tackle dark subjects such as murder is an interesting one, for we as an audience have very little physical attributes to connect with in regards to the characters on screen. You are completely stripped of any kind of distraction, it’s just you the viewer and the story on screen, no looking at the beautiful locations being used, the costumes or judging which of the cast you think is hot...this is stripped back, bare and raw.
As for the stories themselves, they tackle a wide range of subjects, each in their own way, interconnecting with each other, but overall teaching us that no bad deed goes unpunished, and we are always being judged, either by someone else or by ourselves, just which one is the worst critic? Clearly not me ...I’m a film critic; I don’t care what evil you do in your life, just don’t make a bad movie.
Existence on Earth is unnerving, unforgiving, but never not compelling, each storyline keeps you gripped, on the edge of your seat, its visuals, while simple are still effective and sometimes distressing, but maybe not if your colour blind, for any #horror fan of the compilation horrors such as A to Z of Death or VHS this is a must watch.
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