31 Days Of Hell: Mecanix - Reviewed






unearthed films
Now on DVD and VOD
Taking four years to complete and another thirteen years to get a U.S. release is the bizarre French-Canadian film Mecanix, being distributed on DVD and VOD by Unearthed Films. It is a highly ambitious project that resembles the German expressionism from the 1920’s and surrealism from the likes of Luis Bunuel, yet suffers from a jumbled narrative that is difficult to follow. The story takes place in a dystopian future where strange mechanic beings rule the world, while the remaining humans are forced to be their slaves.

The imagery is impressive and unusual at the same time, blending together stop motion animation, creature effects, animated drawings, and live human characters. It has a sepia tone that is reminiscent of the silent era of cinema, evoking memories of when they would tint the film in dye in order to stain it a different color other than white. There are also additional creative techniques used from that bygone era, such as double exposing the film and adding distortions to it. It is also blurred and further altered to make it look like there is a great deal of dust and fragments on the actual film. All of this leads to something that looks like it was made during the 1920’s or earlier, rather than 2003.

The stop motion animation is a combination of wires, animal bones, cardboard, and other things that aren’t easily identifiable. These creatures are quite odd and disturbing. The animated drawings are stunning and nicely done. They also did a fine job of inserting the life size actors within the world of the stop motion animation, making them seem like they belonged and weren’t out of place.



The sound is an ambient mix of piercing noises, trying to meld with the mechanical world that has been created. There is virtually no dialogue, just a minimal amount used to try and further the story. Combined with the heavy editing, it produces more of an experimental movie than a coherent plot.

It’s hard to really determine who the right audience for this is. There are mild elements of gore and it’s being distributed by a company that specializes in horror and gore, yet it definitely does not fit within the horror genre. It is more avant garde and surrealistic than anything else, so viewers that are interested in those types of motion pictures would be intrigued by this.


unearthed films
WTF am I watching ?


It gets high marks for daring to produce something different, but fails to provide the viewer with a fully coherent story.

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Score

-RV