Horror and animation are two genres that truly go hand in (severed) hand, especially when you consider how many of us were introduced to the genre by cartoons like Aahh Real Monsters!, Courage The Cowardly Dog, as well as stop-motion masterpieces like The Nightmare Before Christmas.
But while the former are examples of hand-drawn animation, and the latter a sterling example of “claymation” excellence, one filmmaker is creating bold new horror stories using construction paper. Think early South Park, but with far more craft, beauty, and attention to detail. Oh, and definitely gorier. Much, much gorier.
Indie animator Eric Power has been making construction paper art for decades, from feature films to music videos. Now Power is releasing a new cut of two feature-length construction paper creations, Path of Blood and Attack Of The Demons, as a double feature. The two films are presented as part of a late-night scary movie marathon airing on a local TV station in Colorado circa the mid ‘90s, dubbed MovieTron, complete with commercial breaks featuring ads for local businesses, PSAs, and trailers for other films.
Path Of Blood follows a jaded ronin wandering the countryside of 17th-century Japan, who hears tell of a mythic “Path Of Blood” in the mountains, where swordsmen willing to test their mettle go to fight hordes of vicious enemies and never return.
Attack Of The Demons, meanwhile, is a fun, twisted tribute to Italian horror from filmmakers like Lucio Fulci and Lamberto Bava, telling the story of a small Colorado town besieged by flesh-ripping, slime-spewing demons just in time for their big music festival. Both movies feature compelling characters, beautifully rendered scenery, and gory setpieces that will leave you mesmerized.
In both cases, Power also tweaked the films, tightening their respective cuts so that the whole MovieTron experience clocks in at about two hours and fifteen minutes.
Powers perfectly captures the aura of TV marathons during the Halloween season. MovieTron also serves as a clever way to connect the two films in a single universe. “The way the commercials in the broadcast play into the story of Attack of the Demons was so fun to me that I felt presenting the two films as a double feature would be a fantastic idea,” says Power. “ It also gave me the opportunity to revisit the edit of Attack of the Demons and see if I could spruce it up. I'm so happy with the results and feel like it's my favorite way to enjoy the films now.”
When asked about his choice to use stop motion construction paper to tell his tales of terror, Power told FANGORIA: “I always joked that my paper stop motion is ‘all practical.’ Horror fans definitely appreciate the hard work that goes into films made with nothing but human ingenuity and creative problem solving. Horror also has a huge history of embracing stop motion, so it felt like a natural fit for this particular style of animation. As I've explored the medium, I've found that it can be applied to, really, any genre.”
Power is currently looking for venues to screen the MovieTron double feature this Halloween season, as well as a distributor for an eventual physical release (the original cut of Attack Of The Demons is currently available on Blu-ray via Vinegar Syndrome). If you’re interested in seeing this double feature of construction paper carnage on a screen near you, perhaps reach out to your local theater and let them know you want to see MovieTron this Halloween!
Also, be sure to check out out Power’s latest original feature, Papercuts, an autobiographical film about his life and as an artist, currently streaming on Fandor.
