Friends, I am not sure what the weather is like in your neck of the woods at the moment but here it is raining with thunder shaking the building – which means it is the perfect time to watch something spooky. Toe most assuredly fits that bill in my personal opinion as it is an adaptation of that classic campfire tale “The Big Toe” – although in my case I first read it thanks to Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I was never much of a person who could be found outdoors, while part of that was my Father’s wishes – the truth of the matter is I was rather sickly in my youth. In my non-spoiler review of the film adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark I believe I talked a bit about how magical that book series was, especially with those beautiful and creepy illustrations courtesy of Stephen Gammell. It is the books series made iconic by Schwartz and Gammell that I believe has inspired Animation Directors Neal O’Bryan and Chad Thurman, with puppet fabrication by Demi Kay Schlehofer to produce Toe!
That was an animated short that was worthy of Saturday Frights – the voice of the entity searching for her big toe was provided by Cassie Carey by the way. While obviously Toe takes away the jump scare of the original story – the masterful visuals at the point of the undead attacking the young boy makes it unnecessary, the almost strobe effect makes it creepy enough. And a quick look on Giphy reveals that I am not on the only one blown away by Schlehofer’s puppet sculpting skills – perhaps it is the raging storms outside my window at the moment but I keep looking over my shoulder, relieved to not see the entity looking back at me.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful and safe evening, thank you for taking the time to check out Toe – I want to give a huge thank you to John Squires of Bloody Disgusting for the heads up on this delightfully creepy stop motion short.
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