Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Stopmotion Blu-ray Movie Review

Cinderella in wonderland.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III December 31, 2024

Combine one part body horror with two parts slow-burn dramatic thriller and you've got first-time director/co-writer Robert Morgan's Stopmotion, an oddly alluring but ultimately kind of ambiguous exploration of one young lady's severe emotional trauma bubbling to the surface. Said young lady is Ella Blake (Aisling Franciosi), who lives almost literally under the thumb of her domineering mother Suzanne (Stella Gonet), a renowned stop-motion animator who's reached the end of her career due to crippling arthritis. Ella now does the hands-on work for her dear old mum, who emotionally abuses and drains every ounce of optimism from the hopeful young artist. After a health scare lands Suzanne in the hospital, Ella gets her first taste of personal and artistic freedom... and let's just say things don't go as planned.

Poor Ella seems more or less alone in her little world; on the surface she's got a small friend group of stop-motion enthusiasts and a decent boyfriend in Tom (Tom York, and no not that one), but she's clearly emotionally isolated and struggles with trying to find herself. Now working in a small and sparsely-decorated studio apartment, Ella's only other confidant is an unnamed little girl who lives nearby (Caoilinn Springall) and seems intensely curious about Ella's strange and methodical work. Initially planning to complete her mother's unfinished film using her own ideas, she soon decides to go her own way and constructs a female child lost inside a small maze of tangled vines and branches, although her young helper brazenly suggests most of the details. They soon develop "the Ash Man", a grotesque monster who visits the child on three separate nights. Ella's helper proposes they go to unusual lengths while redesigning both characters, even using dead animals as literal raw materials to work with. Simultaneously, Ella also begins to have hallucinations and details from her twisted story begin to manifest themselves in the real world... or so she thinks?

Needless to say, Stopmotion gets weird in a hurry. We're immediately aware that this isn't a surface-level film, as clear themes and symbolism pop up all over the place including Ella's own representation in her fictional story, the unnamed girl's mysterious identity, and of course the way their disturbing yet vaguely formless shared story is literally brought to life as everything slowly unfolds. It's fairly intriguing stuff but doesn't quite connect in critical areas, as sporadic pacing issues persist and more than a few unresolved subplots are pushed to the background. (I've also got a bit of a personal bias against the use of one-dimensionally cruel and bullying characters, which describes both Ella's mother and her new "friend", but that's probably a me issue.) This means that the brief bits of genuine stop-motion animation are basically the most immediate highlight here by default; they manage to offer a handful of genuinely skin-crawling chills along the way, and the occasional two-handed stabs at squishy practical effects are heartily appreciated too.

Gore hounds will probably get their money's worth during Stopmotion, as will those with a genuine affinity for what could be categorized as an unfortunately dying art form. Almost everyone else, on the other hand, will be attracted and repulsed in equal measure, wondering what exactly they've gotten themselves into. That doesn't necessarily make this one an ideal blind buy, although RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray package offers decent support in the A/V department, a few short but appreciate extras, and a refreshingly low price tag. Stopmotion may not be the full-on fever dream it wants to be, but it's almost by definition a future cult classic based on the cover artwork and most grotesque moments alone -- back in the video rental days, I'd have probably snagged a VHS copy off the shelf in a heartbeat.

Stopmotion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

RLJ Entertainment's 1080p transfer seems dutifully faithful to the film's frequently underlit atmosphere, offering solid support for darker elements and shadow detail while only sporadically showing minor signs of black crush. As expected given the presentation style, fine detail is limited in all but the brightest locations or focused elements with direct light sources applied (read: most of the stop-motion setups). Colors seem well-represented, often leaning towards muted but with occasional trips into more vivid territory such as the opening strobe scene, backdrops on the stop-motion sets, and of course Ella's trip down the rabbit hole at a nighttime party. The regular presence of less showy material doesn't mean this transfer won't serve up an attractive image (if "attractive" is even the right word, given the grisly subject matter), but it's easier to appreciate if you consider it a reasonably faithful presentation of the source material rather than an all-out stunner. It's encoded decently enough, although besides for the black crush mentioned above, sporadic banding also pops up on certain flat colors; it's not too distracting but still keeps this from scoring higher.

Stopmotion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I was a bit more impressed with the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, which unsurprisingly offers a mostly subdued and somber sonic atmosphere while occasionally opening up into more ambitious territory that isn't afraid to throw viewers for a loop. Discrete effects and atmospheric touches bring the goods during very specific moments, upping the creep-out factor considerably while not feeling overcooked. Elsewhere, all the basic fundamentals are covered nicely including crisp dialogue, well-handled foreground effects, occasional channel panning, and plenty of space in the mix for the original score by composer Lola de la Mata, who's credited on IMDb as a "London born French/Spanish conceptual sound artist, composer, curator and musician". This is her first film soundtrack, and it's a pretty good one.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the film only, not the extras listed below.

Stopmotion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with intriguingly grotesque cover artwork and no slipcover or inserts. A trio of short but interested bonus features are included; I'll bypass the usual individual descriptions since they're basically self-explanatory, but all three collectively serve up comments from two key cast and crew members as well as some terrific on-set footage of the filming and hideous character models.

• Interview with Aisling Franciosi, "Ella Blake" (4:15)

• Interview with Director Robert Morgan (9:35)

• Behind the Scenes of Stopmotion (9:26)

Stopmotion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

First-time director/co-writer Robert Morgan's Stopmotion is a pretty ambitious debut, favoring grotesque body horror and genuinely well-done hand-crafted animation over some of the less original story beats and characters. But it's also extremely ambiguous at times and refuses to fill in a handful of blanks, which might work for some viewers but totally turn others off. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, though, as overall the oppressive atmosphere is memorable and the titular art form needs all the love and representation it can get. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray helps too, thanks to the solid A/V support and a trio of appreciated bonus features. Decently Recommended to the right crowd.