Wow, what a huge, big big short! It offers the viewer such a vast, startling dystopian vision, and thanks to the unique way that the characters talk, it's a vision that can easily be enjoyed in any language, it's story and themes are pretty universal. So I wasn't completely sure what this short was all about, but from what I could see it was set in a far future where mankind has vastly evolved but also devolved, and has been separated by different levels and casts in a polluted brutal hell of a world, and an explorer from the uppermost levels where for better or worse the most pure-blooded humans live forever as disembodied heads on robot bodies, is sent on a vital mission to traverse the lower levels and retrieve the DNA of a rare creature, but due to an unforeseen attack during his initial descent the explorer's robot body is shattered and his remains are found by the rotund servants of a mutant scientist who builds him a new body, but when he awakens he finds himself lost and doesn't remember who he is right away... The visuals of this short are very striking, it has tons of stark macabre appeal about it, and the world that it presents feels like an immense one, it's a very immersive animated work to sit through. The amount of painstaking dedication involved for just one person to have animated it must have been bloody staggering! It doesn't really feel all that much like a stop-motion animated short, at least not so much that it takes the enjoyment out of it or anything. I thought it felt more like a little movie, and although people always seem to say this about every old short that the enjoy a lot, but I really think that the seeds of the epic dark sci-fi story that is only vaguely hinted at in the short could make for an excellent motion picture if done right. The set designs are amazing, as are the bizarre creature designs, which are a downright horror show! And it's not just the intentionally scary ones like the savage ape-like creatures or the scuttling abomination with a head on either side of its body, but also the bulbous- craniumed doctor and his fat leather clad helpers and even the benign creature that slowly plods along on four legs and has a gigantic schlong.. All of the flesh-toned beasts were creepy because they all looked alike, they'd all originated from the same degenerate gene pool and are descended from humanity. It has a very distinctive eerie ambiance and the tone is rather unsettling and perplexing, yet entertaining and even comical at times to. The creatures bring to mind the Cenobite demons from the Hellraiser movies, and the dusty ancient crumbling stone walkways of the underground complex reminded me of the Hellraiser labyrinth. This was definitely one of the best stop-motion animations and best concepts that I've seen, and it left me eager to know what would happen next as the story moved to an even deeper and darker level still. It felt very fleshed-out yet mysterious, we are such things as dreams are made of...and nightmares. I loved it, fantastic work!

"Junk Head 1" is a Japanese half-hour animated short film from 2 years ago. The writer and director is Takahide Hori and his work here, his only one so far according to IMDb, became fairly popular on Youtube and even received some awards recognition. This is a good example of how dedication can let you become successful. In my opinion, the heart and soul of the film was the world where it played, very science fiction, and also the characters, who were truly unique, nothing you have seen anywhere else already I am sure. The story could have been a bit better overall I guess, but the characters make up for it and we should also keep in mind that it was the filmmaker's first work, so no need to be too critical. I think Hori did a good job overall and even if I would probably not watch a big screen full feature adaptation of this one, it still is a convincing rookie achievement. Worth checking out. Thumbs up.

So it's not an official film or anything (but hey it has an IMDb page) but I really had to review it because it's just an amazing piece of art. The creator if it, Takahide Hori, took four long years to make it because he has a full-time job so this was done on late nights, and weekends - but the work he has put into it is incredible. The basic plot is that in the distant future mankind begins research on clones that live underground in search of lost genetic information so they send one little guy deep below the surface. The film itself has very dark, atmospheric feel to it. The sounds, visuals and everything are all really eerie and creepy; and then some scenes are very thrilling and heart-racing. It's all surrounded in mystery as well, you never quite know what actually happened all those years ago and with the story you never know whats round the corner (literally). So I think for a 30 minute film created in four years Junk Head 1 is AWESOME.