Fears of the Dark

Tried, came close...
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...

Random unexplained ranting, makes this creepy film less enjoyable
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.

the artwork of charles burns...
...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...

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