"It's A House of the Haunted"
Danish Electronica group When Saints Go Machine released this video for their single "Mannequin" about a month ago, from their album Konkylie. The video has been compared to work by the Quay Brothers and Fred Stuhr and Adam Jones's Tool videos, more in feel than in actual aesthetics, since those other works are primarily stop motion animation, while Mia Fremming's film emphasizes 2D drawn environments. She hails from design firm intense studios, which creates some pretty intense work.
All these uncanny works effectively share a layering of labyrinthine spaces that fade off into an unclear vanishing point. One room opens onto another room, and strange humanoid figures curl and uncurl out of fetal positions, seemingly manipulated by an unseen force. Space is distorted and twisted, often through the use of miniaturized sets or found object debris. Mannequin's world is is like a never-ending post apocalyptic rabbit hole, occasionally broken up by a piece of barbed wire traversing the frame. The griminess of the setting is palpable, its sharp edges visceral and tactile.
A little dash of steampunk is thrown in for good measure, and there is some homage to the anime Ghost in the Shell series, especially in the film's representations of the female body in relation to technology. Nikolaj Vonsild's plaintive voice will haunt you long after the film's images fade.
Here's a sampling of work by the Quay Brothers, from their most well known film, The Street of Crocodiles (1986). The Brothers try to create an atmosphere that elicits synaesthesia, where sensory perceptions are crossed so that one might taste colors. Not only are they capable of animating dust, but their use of Polish composer Leszek Jankowski allows one to touch sounds.
I actually think Mannequin has the most in common with their film The Comb (From the Museums of Sleep) (1990). Really, YouTube cannot do these videos justice. I would get their complete short works.
I'm not super fond of TOOL musically, but I think that some of their animated work is really impressive. The video for "Prison Sex," created by Stuhr and Jones, is both unsettling and kind of gorgeous. The song's lyrics explore child abuse, and one can see those feelings of vulnerability and rage conveyed in the video's powerful imagery.
