Fear(s) of the Dark

Introduction

This French animation project (original title Peur(s) du Noir) brought together six of the World's leading comic book artists - artists, not necessarily writers - to create an anthology film. Linking with animators and voice talent including Guillaume Depardieu, they explore various notions of fear in six stories, two of which roughly link the other four together.

The film opens with an aristocrat walking four wild dogs in the driving rain and, as each one breaks free and attacks someone, a new tale begins. The first involves a shy young man who finds a strange insect in the woods but it disappears from its jar in his bedroom and appears to follow him to college. When he gets a girlfriend, everything is great until she has a cut on her wrist and her behaviour alters drastically. Next up is the story of a man who has gone missing during a fishing trip and the townspeople try to locate him and find out what happened. The third segment begins in a dream where a new pupil is taunted at school by two others, telling her that the ghost of an ancient samurai will get her. Waking up in hospital, she finds that this is part of an ongoing nightmare and her doctor is keeping her sedated, saying that she must get to the end of the dream in order to be free from it. Lastly, a man caught in a storm seeks refuge in an abandoned house which is pitch black and may be haunted but the paucity of light prevents him from seeing anything clearly.

In between each story you have the dogs and a series of moving monochrome patterns with a voice telling you what frightens it.

Video

The use of different artists results in different animation styles, from pencil sketches to anime and Charles Burns' more conventional western style. The transfer is excellent, particularly evident in the last section which is dominated by solid blacks, perforated by white. The moving patterns that form the linking device are really interesting (perhaps influenced by M. C. Escher and Bridget Riley), with the patterns merging into one another and is the sort of thing that would look great as a screensaver. The overall look is impressive with some truly nightmarish imagery.

Audio

The soundtrack, available in Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 (both French) is excellent, with a superbly atmospheric score by Laurent Perez. The voice acting is very good and, at times, I forgot that I was watching a foreign language film. The subtitles are well designed, with a black outline and white interior, so they stand out no matter how stark the monochrome background.

Extra Features

The first item is a 25 minute interview with Charles Burns which, despite the poor quality audio, is informative and contains information which is probably applicable to the other artists and more specific questions about his career and novels, particularly Black Hole. Next up is a making of, also 25 minutes long, covering various aspects of the production, from animatics to voice acting and the artists acting out parts of their stories.

There is also a gallery and the theatrical trailer.

Conclusion

The press release mentions a "hit theatrical run" which came as a surprise as I had only heard about this as it was briefly mentioned in a newspaper some months ago - it didn't come to a cinema near me and, according to the IMDb, was screened in a maximum of 8 screens in the US. I can understand the lack of cinematic exposure as an animated French horror anthology film is unlikely to garner much mainstream appeal but at least it's released on DVD.

I didn't know what to expect from Fear(s) of the Dark - the cover has a glowing quote from Guillermo del Toro, but there is little explicit reference to the content either from the cover or press release. The (s) in the title looks odd, but reflects the different approaches by the filmmakers to the idea of dark and what scares you. The first story is mixture of H. P. Lovecraft and a David Cronenberg bodyshock horror, with the others fusing psychological and obscure elements of horror and a simple ghost story in the style of Edgar Allan Poe. Taken individually, the stories are very good, I preferred the first and last to the other two stand alone tales but also really liked the visually arresting linking sequences with the animated patterns.

This is a fascinating release that deserves a wide audience, don't let the lack of an English dub track put you off as it's easy to follow because the dialogue isn't very fast and there aren't many signs to be translated - unsurprising considering two of the directors are American. Fear(s) of the Dark is well worth a look - it's not hardcore horror so don't be put off if you aren't a fan of the genre - and it's one of the most imaginative and creative offerings to come my way in a long time. I wish I'd had a chance to see it on the big screen.