framptonhollis
The only problem I had with this film was that I desperately wanted it to last longer! I could probably watch a feature length version of this film and be equally, if not even more impressed than I was by the original. This makes me hope that animator Robert Morgan manages to get a bit more support and cash so he can break into the film industry with some top notch animated features."The Cat with Hands" is a legitimately terrifying horror short from 2001 that has gained something of a cult reputation (particularly among fans of the internet's new wave of horror, which includes creepypasta,YouTube ARGs, deep web videos, and short films such as "Rubber Johnny" and this that may have been made before this "new wave" but have gained a lot of attraction because of it) due to its extreme creepiness and terribly unnerving vibe. The animation is disturbing, but its also beautifully in a demented sort of way. For stop motion animation, it is top notch and approaching Brothers Quay level quality! The animation plays an important role in the film's overarching mood as the animated characters look naturally freaky, so when the viewer sees these bizarre figures doing violent, messed up things, the scares are heightened to a frightfully fantastic extreme!
Asten Culloski
I'm a big fan of Robert Morgan, and he succeeds to impress with this short film. The unnerving and downright strange nature of the entire film puts the viewer in a weird and vulnerable mood, establishing the atmosphere perfectly for what is to come. Morgan is a master of nightmarish stop motion flicks and in The Cat With Hands you'll see plenty of said technique. The human, live-action clips are almost unnecessary (I almost like the Pilot version better), but they do a good job in rooting the story in reality, giving it a bit of a background and meaning, and they do a very good job at showing the contrast of real life to the nightmarish land that depicts the cautionary tale in action. There's something extremely unsettling about Morgan's work and in this film it delivers full force, which is why I enjoy his work so much. He doesn't use cheap jump scares and throw things at the viewer with loud sounds to establish "horror" (which I would argue isn't even horror at all), instead he creeps you out to a breaking point where you're mind is messed up for the rest of the day thinking about what you just watched, and I love it.
Rectangular_businessman
"The Cat with the hands" is a brief, but genuinely creepy short, which combines animation with live-action footage in order to create a surreal tale of fear.While cats have been involved with horror stories many times before (And I 'm a bit tired of the cliché of "cats being evil") "The Cat with the hands" uses this kind of concept in a quite original way, with effective results.It had a magnificent atmosphere and a beautiful animation style which fit perfectly well with the dark, dream-like tone of the plot, which echoes some classic horror stories. Definitely more than worth-watching.8.5/10
garnet-93
Prior to starting to make a short film of my own, shorts had never been my thing. I felt they were too....well........short to have any potential. Looking for inspiration for my own upcoming short film, I began to scan YouTube for scary short films with the atmosphere I wanted for my film, and I found this! This must be my favourite short film I've yet watched! I have a thing for dark movies (which I divide into three groups - Gothic, neo-noir, and twisted). This was twisted with a side dish of Gothic! I loved the atmosphere. Plus the whole story had a "campfire storytelling" style. I can't say what it's about because the twist ending is so surprising! (I love twist endings). If you love films like this, I recommend this one all the way! It's only three minutes long, but it squeezes all the magnificence it needs into that timeframe.Good: Acting was good (although the movie didn't really require much from the actors); animation sequence (although it was puppet animation); surprise ending (I love those).Bad: It should have been longer to flourish it's beauty! Overall: [10/10] It was a beautiful, dark, surreal short film.
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