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Animation stands as a remarkable visual art form, offering storytellers a direct pathway to breathe life into their vivid imaginations. This is especially true with computer-generated imagery, which has brought to life countless breathtaking and fantastical worlds.
Yet, this creative power can be a double-edged sword. As you’ll soon discover, the imaginative realms of certain artists are profoundly unsettling. A word of caution: the title is not an exaggeration. These animated shorts feature intense and disturbing visuals and themes.
10. Parametric Expression by Mike Pelletier
Canadian artist Mike Pelletier excels at blending creativity with technology. This work, crafted using the modeling software MakeHuman, transforms human muscle movements into intricate computer algorithms. By manipulating these algorithms with eerily realistic avatars and pushing them to extreme limits, Pelletier creates Parametric Expression, a journey straight into the unsettling depths of the uncanny valley.
If you’ve ever imagined what it would be like to smile endlessly, with every muscle in your face stretching uncontrollably until they tear apart—this film might be right up your alley. However, if you’ve had such thoughts, the rest of this list might only worsen your concerns, so we hope you’ve never pondered such a scenario.
9. Smile by Yuval Markovich and Noam Abta
This entry is technically only partially animated (and it’s the only one, we assure you), but the animation it does feature is striking. The characters in this piece have enormous, exaggerated animated heads attached to real bodies, creating a deeply unsettling effect. And that’s before the true horror begins.
Created by students at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Smile appeared on YouTube in 2008. The origin of its concept is hard to pinpoint; the narrative feels more like a vivid nightmare than a traditional story (those oversized heads certainly don’t help). Let its slow, surreal progression toward an oddly inevitable ending wash over you. And next time you encounter a peculiar girl with a cast on her leg, perhaps don’t ask her how it happened.
8. Escape From Hellview by Hadas Brandes
Hadas Brandes, another distinguished graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, makes us question if the academy subjects its students to something truly harrowing. Escape From Hellview lives up to its name, luring viewers with its deceptively simple and cheerful animation style, unsettling them with subtle visual oddities, and ultimately delivering a concentrated dose of pure nightmare material.
This short film tells the tale of a young boy who sketches a door to a fantastical realm on his bedroom wall one night after his mother falls asleep. The events that unfold—featuring a mysterious, almost threatening parental figure who eludes the boy’s attempts to seek its questionable comfort—drive the child to flee in terror from his pursuers. Even after returning to his room, the story offers little solace or relief by its conclusion.
7. Crooked Rot by David Firth
If Escape encapsulates childhood fears, David Firth’s Crooked Rot presents a stark, unflinching portrayal of adult horrors. The visuals here are as hard to articulate as they are to endure, and it’s no surprise that much of David’s work delves into themes of mental illness and depression, though he claims he’s not aiming to distress his audience.
This fully stop-motion creation is accompanied by an original score from Swedish composer Marcus Fjellström, which amplifies the eerie atmosphere. Unfortunately, the entries grow increasingly unsettling as the list progresses, and Mr. Firth makes another appearance later on.
6. The Sad Tale Of Bad Breath Joe by Dimitri Kozma
Need a brief respite before diving into the rest of these unsettling works? This piece, the shortest on the list, comes from Brazilian-Canadian multimedia artist Dimitri Kozma. His unique style blends grotesque caricature with cartoonish charm, resulting in something profoundly disturbing. The short explores societal pressures and the extreme, often psychotic, measures people take to gain acceptance.
We all know what’s coming in those final moments, and the film almost seems to beg for laughter. But if you claim you didn’t feel the urge to look away as the shot lingered, accompanied by that faint creak and splintering sound echoing in your mind, we’d say you’re not being entirely honest.
5. Smile by Aleksander Wasilewski
The second short titled Smile on this list shares no similarities with the first. Instead of a disjointed, surreal nightmare, Aleksander Wasilewski’s Flash-animated piece is measured, deliberate, and almost serene as it examines themes of cold, unrelenting brutality.
Facing a jury-like panel of individuals who may or may not be his equals, our protagonist is urged by a flashing sign (there’s no dialogue) to SMILE! He attempts to comply, though his effort feels half-hearted. Don’t worry—things are about to get much more challenging.
The shocking conclusion of this piece might appear as a sudden change in tone. However, we’d argue it’s more of a transition from “bleak” to “utter, soul-destroying despair.”
4. Doll Face by Andrew Huang
We feel compelled to remind you—we’re nearing the end. By proceeding, you acknowledge that you’re prepared to confront some genuinely disturbing visuals. Let’s continue.
Los Angeles–based artist and filmmaker Andrew Huang created this striking short, his critique of humanity’s endless quest to find an ideal self-image amidst the shallow representations fed to us by mass media. While the message is direct, the cold, impactful visuals and expressive animation make this piece deeply unsettling. The unrelenting conclusion reinforces a recurring theme in many of these works, especially the final ones: a profound sense of hopelessness.
3. Pikadon by Renzo Kinoshita
This piece comes from renowned Japanese animator Renzo Kinoshita, known for his award-winning children’s television shows in the ’60s and ’70s. Commissioned to create this short, it was intended for an audience of Japanese schoolchildren. You can likely guess where this is headed.
Animated in the warm, tender style reminiscent of early Disney films, the short dedicates its first half to depicting the daily lives of Hiroshima residents—a young child, a nursing mother, a cart driver—on a quiet August morning in 1945. The second half delivers the devastating reality you expect. The film aims to convey the full horror of what unfolded in Hiroshima on that fateful day.
Unlike the other entries on this list, this film isn’t designed to frighten or unsettle but to educate about the destructive potential within humanity’s darkest impulses. For this reason, it stands as the most profoundly disturbing of them all.
2. Dog Of Man by David Firth
David Firth returns with a piece he succinctly describes as: “This one is about a man and his dog.” That’s all. You could summarize it that way, just as you might call Eraserhead a film about a man and his baby.
This simply animated short indeed portrays a relationship between a man and his dog—a relationship filled with Cronenberg-esque body horror, including electrical plugs embedded in skulls, pulsating malignant growths, and brutal dismemberment. As if to make Crooked Rot seem calming, Dog Of Man delivers jarring, mind-bending visuals and sparse dialogue, culminating in the chilling final line: “Thank you very much.”
1. Bingo by Chris Landreth
Chris Landreth, a pioneer in computer animation, played a key role in developing Maya, one of the earliest desktop animation tools. His short Bingo, created in 1998, remains a standout. Despite its age, the animation is remarkably advanced. At the time, no other CG animation with such intricate detail had been attempted. The film’s complex, atmospheric visuals perfectly complement its dark, Twilight Zone-like exploration of identity.
A solitary man sits under a spotlight on a dark stage, confused about his identity and how he arrived there. One by one, the theater’s inhabitants approach him, insisting he is Bingo—Bingo the Clown-O. By the time the lights rise, you might find yourself questioning your own sense of self.
