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On March 11th, Monday, the TerrorAnim section arrived at Cinema São Jorge and the 23rd edition of MONSTRA – Lisbon Animation Festival and thus inaugurated the unmissable thematic sections. From horror to erotic cinema, from documentary to experimental, at MONSTRA there is no shortage of different approaches to Animation cinema. This “TerrorAnim” continues to follow this important path in 2024.
Animated cinema sometimes runs the risk of being looked down upon by the general public, titled with a condescending tone “cartoon” and relegated to the status of superfluous, minor or only suitable for the younger population. MONSTRA, one of the essential festivals in Lisbon’s cultural fabric, has spent the entire 21st century demystifying this concept. Through its retrospectives, it shows us the founding art of this genre and every year it presents vast feature and short film competitions on a national and international scale.
This work of affirming and valuing the animation format is also done through thematic sections, which prove how animation is an excellent vehicle for telling countless disparate stories. With “TerrorAnim” at MONSTRA 2024, we discover unequivocally that animation and horror they form a perfect marriage. Our worst fears, the folklore and legends of distant peoples, the grotesque and the mysterious, all these elements fit perfectly into the animated genre, as the six short films shown suggested. Here are our brief impressions of the works exhibited in this session!
FLESH OF GOD (PATRICIO PLAZA, ARGENTINA/MEXICO, 2022, 21′)
Among the mountains in a place in Mexico during colonial times, a Spanish priest who fell victim to a strange disease is taken by his native disciple to the hut of an old indigenous shaman. The healer will try to cure the priest, performing an ancient ritual that will have unexpected effects on the evangelizer’s mind and body.
The 2024 session of TerrorAnim opened, at the 23rd MONSTRA, with the longest short film among the selection presented. Over the course of 20 minutes, “Flesh of God”in Patricio Plaza, manages to leave a strong impression and emerge as a highly atmospheric and uncomfortable film. With the palpability of the most ancient myths, the narrative of “Carne de Deus” is honored through the quality of the animation itself.
The director, screenwriter and co-producer Patricio Plaza, who cunningly presents himself on his Instagram as someone in charge of “Witchcraft of the Movement”, is a renowned animator who even participated, in 2023, in the Oscar-nominated “Spider-Man: Through the Aranhaverse”.
Among other distinctions, “Carne de Dios” was nominated in the Best Short Film category at the famous Annecy Awards in 2023. No wonder: beyond the mystery it manages to raise ad aeternum, the short film leaves us with a deep sense of discomfort, curiosity and excitability. After a very long (and well-deserved) journey through several festivals, “Carne de Deus” arrived in Portugal and at MONSTRA in this TerrorAnim.
Without expectations, but with many questions raised, the short takes us on a unique hallucinogenic journey, where reality, folklore and religion become irremediably confused. In a co-production between Argentina, Mexico and ColombiaPlaza presents us with a film that he described as “political terror” and as a “queer film from South America”. The work honors local cultures, rejects taboos and simultaneously draws on historical texts that date back to evangelization in Mexico. Angry!
Classification: 85/100
THE BOY AND THE CROW (TUDOR OM, ROMANIA, 2023, 3′)
The crow swallows the boy’s blood from its beak. Now the boy has only one choice: run or stand firm and face his fears.
The longer short was followed by the shorter short of this TerrorAnim in 2024. Tudor Om, who directed, produced, wrote, set music, animated and even distributed this short film of his, presented his work in the room suggesting that it reflects the three reactions we can have when faced with fear: Fight, flee or freeze. The protagonist is placed face to face with an insurmountable obstacle and the events speak for themselves.
There’s not much to say about “The Boy and the Crow”. The short is visually cohesive and interesting, but not powerful enough to justify such a short duration. As indeed, the “Short” session of the Lisbon Animation Festival has already taught us, a very short film needs to be able to convey a powerful message in as little time as a minute. “The Boy and the Crow” is pleasant, but incomplete and in need of continuation. However, the director’s official website states that this small work has been in development since 2008 and we recognize the well-formed concept. We just would have liked to have seen more…
Rating: 65/100
RED RAILROAD: IN THE HEAT (SAM CHOU, CANADA, 2023, 17′)
When a bruised and beaten man claiming to be Santa Claus is arrested for the murder of a child, interrogating agents uncover a story more bizarre and horrifying than expected. Award-winning duo Sam Chou and Ellery VanDooyeweert team up again for another animated thriller, this time exploring the turbulent origins of old Santa Claus. The film is an adaptation of the 2008 short story “Queen of Russian Horror” by Anna Starobinets.
Contrary to what happens in most of the films shown in this specific session of MONSTRA and its TerrorAnim, guided by an obscure and mystical character, crossed by ancient legends and folklore, “Red Railway: In the Heat” It’s a short, deeply narrative story, very wordy and, despite being produced in Canada, feels very “Americanized”.
In line with the criminal and detective stories that overpopulate the universe of fiction“In the Heat” or “In the heat”, it is in reality an isolated episode integrated into a television series. And although monstrous creatures and legends are also present in this unusual narrative about a man dressed as Santa Claus who commits a reprehensible crime, we feel that this chapter of the horror anthology “”Red Railroad” always seems too anchored in mundanity to create a interesting proposal. The fatphobic and ageist jokes that serve here as punchline. The unusual tone doesn’t help much, where the black comedy it seeks to create is in reality crude and never truly satisfying. Only the slight twists make “No Calor” fun, but it still remains hollow.
Rating: 55/100
CURACANGA (MATEUS DI MAMBRO, BRAZIL, 2023, 18′)
Someone mentioned the lack of mysticism and abstraction in relation to “In the Heat?” The Brazilian short film “Curacanga” comes to cure us of this problem with its intense tale about a young man who seeks to find a mythical creature that killed his beloved’s younger sister. Everything so that your bride’s joy can be restored. But at what cost?
“Curacanga” is quite dark, in the best of ways, and is possibly the short with the most beautiful and impressive animation style among the six shown in this session of the MONSTER. According to the lively Alena Barros, “The film presents the richness of northeastern legends with a contemporary approach, through the dreamlike language of animation”. And if for the Brazilian population Curacanga is a mythological figure familiar and part of a collective imagination, the work carried out in this short film ensures that the myth reaches beyond borders. Also noteworthy is the sound work by Napoleon Cunha and the music of Celo Costa, which greatly contribute to the creation of a dense filmic existence. And of course, we cannot forget the argument that Jean Lima which, with a remarkable poetic vein, made the work bittersweet and tragic.
With a very open ending and a strong emotional charge, “Curacanga” fulfills its purposes in a remarkable way and exposes a rich universe with many paths to follow.Thank you to MONSTRA – Lisbon Animation Festival for the selection!
Classification: 85/100
DE IMPERIO (ALESSANDRO NOVELLI, PORTUGAL/ SPAIN, 2023, 13′)
During a peaceful night, a group of fugitives tries to find their way to the center of the building, where all resistance is gathering. Avoiding surveillance, they pass through the Giants’ rooms and witness their macabre routines.
Unlike most of the films selected here “Of Empire”, written and performed by Alessandro Novelli and distributed by AGENCIA – Portuguese Short Film Agency, it is no stranger to the national film festival circuit. Awarded at MOTELX, where in 2023 he was distinguished as Best Portuguese Horror Short, “De Imperio” is a film where abstraction reigns but where we can simultaneously detect an astute analysis of predatory human dynamics, expressed here through various inanimate objects that come to life. Geometrically arranged and rich in metaphysics, “De Imperio” is hypnotic, regardless of whether we are seeing it for the first or fifth time.
Its power and brutality are never diminished, as the 13 minutes of duration lead us to a clear crescendo and a resolution that, never being linear and unique, can never be denied its strength. Initially selected in Locarno, awarded in 2023 at MOTELx, in 2024 “De Imperio” continued to gain an audience at MONSTRA.
Rating: 75/100
CRAB (PIOTR CHMIELEWSKI, POLAND/FRANCE. 2022, 8′)
This TerrorAnim section at MONSTRA, quite eclectic in its choice of works, ends with the short, friendly and slightly clumsy “Crab”. On a lighter note, this is an inventive story that uses some of the conventions of horror to express an unusual point of view: that of a crab trying, at all costs, to escape a pot and certain death. Around him, he is confronted with the struggle for survival led by shellfish and fish.
Without being a unique work or with a premise never seen before, “Crab” manages to convey empathy and engage the viewer in less than 10 minutes. “Caranguejo” had also been shown at MOTELx in 2023, but this time in the “Lobo Mau” section, reserved for younger audiences. Its animation style also contributes to its natural charm, where the roughness and terror of the protagonists create an unusual and appealing dynamic.
Rating: 75/100
MONSTRA runs until March 17th. We will therefore continue to follow the Lisbon Animation Festival which takes place at Cinema São Jorge, Cinema City de Alvalade, or Cinemateca Portuguesa, among other spaces in the city.
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Tags: MONSTER Terroranim Review Horror shorts bring folklore Lisbon Animation Festival
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