(cont.)
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'99 Sick and Twisted cover art by Scott Leberecht |
Gibbons talked about the growth of animated adult features over recent years.
"I think it's people trying to beat it into adults heads that cartoons aren't just for children," he said. "You can do so many different things with cartoons and the majority of the public views cartoons and animation as a children's medium.
"There are a bunch of disgusted animators fed up with that mentality. They're trying to show that you can do different things with animation and not just Mickey Mouse-type stuff."
Spike said he never could've imagined such a career.
"It's just so screwy," he said. "When you're a little kid you think you're going to be a cop or a fireman or some damn thing like that. I had no idea I was going to put on this sick and twisted animation festival. It was a series of ironies and timings of things that fell together to make it happen."
Though he said he believes all of the shorts are terrifically done, Spike discussed a few of his favorites.
"I liked Swing Sluts," he said of the film that follows Summer and Tiffany from their jobs at the mega-mall to dance hall for swing lessons. "The story's very contemporary. I think it's a lot of stuff people identify with in society."
Spike said he also enjoyed the humor in Beyond Grandpa II. Animated by Breehn John Burns, the short draws absurd caricatures of Grandpa such as "Grandpa Prostituting Himself at the Post Office," "Grandpa barfing up the Cat," and "Grandpa's Chocolatey Adventure."
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sticker celebrating Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation |
"The funniest thing in the whole thing I think is Billy's Balloon," Spike said.
The ultra-low-budget short was made for about $3000 by Don Hertzfeld of Bitter Films and competed in the 1999 Cannes International Film Festival. This hilarious film features children who are excessively beaten, strangled and dropped from the sky at the mercy of their balloons.
"The cold minimalism of this piece is probably why it's funny at all," Hertzfeld said. "All of those odd and quirky jitters sort of lend a certain tense innocence to the whole thing, whereas if it were rendered beautifully, I'm sure it would be pretty pretentious and boring to sit through."
Another one of Spike's favorites is Bowlin Fer Souls, which tracks Satan as he patrols the outskirts of Hell to search out and capture stray souls who are hopelessly trying to hitch a ride to purgatory.
Spike said, "This one has some of the best technique and 3-D rendered animation. I think the thing is just incredible."
Hertzfeld, who has had one of his film's in Spike and Mike's festival since 1995, said he prefers the classic show and despite his involvement has some qualms with Sick and Twisted.
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still from Tongue Twister by Sean Scott |
"I'm much more of a film person than strictly an animation person, so I tend to like the more fine-tuned pieces from all over the world than the big stupid jokes," he said. "Lately 90% of the Sick and Twisted show is turning up garbage. Shock value without story or character is a pretty boring thing, and most of the films aren't even bothering to try anymore.
"There's nothing wrong with offensive humor, but when the filmmakers have absolutely nothing to say in the process, they're just wasting everyone's time.
"In the festival's early years that show was a nice dark little secret, but it seems to
have grown a little too big for it's own good. I'd like to see it return to its cult state as a special midnight offshoot of the regular program. It seems that sort of humor is much better received when played low-key."
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spike and mike's sick and twisted festival of animation at harkins centerpoint 11 730 s mill ave, tempe feb. 11 - 24 7:30 pm, 10 pm; additional shows on feb. 11, 12, 18, 19 at 12:30am; additional screenings fridays and saturdays in feb. and march at 12:30 am call 602.222-hark for more info. |
Spike, on the other hand, seems to enjoy the festival's commercial success and thinks it was a long time coming.
"We're finally getting exposure and recognition from certain aspects of the industry," he said. "After 22 goddamn years they're finally realizing we exist."
The prosperity of the Sick and Twisted festival has generated many outlets for Spike and Mike's animation.
This spring, the duo's animations will also be featured on Korn's Sick and Twisted tour, which invades Phoenix February 28.
Spike explained how the collaboration with the popular rock/rap band came about: "We had mutual friends in a band called Spike 1000, guys I grew up with in Bakersfield. I'd met them before in San Francisco and they did our stuff so it just kind of worked out that way."
At the end of last month, Best of Spike and Mike was also shown as a special part of the Sundance Film Festival, a celebration Spike called "the Woodstock of filmmakers; one of the most intense things I've seen in my life."
Also, Spike and Mike recently signed an exclusive deal with IFILM.com to exhibit their animated films via the internet. Spike said the web is a key tool in soliciting a wider range of animated shorts from around the world.
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still from Bowlin' for Souls by SuperGenius. |
"IFILM is going to give us more exposure and with things like Sundance and Korn, we're finally
breaking through," Spike said. "We've always been the first on the block to come up with ideas and do everything but we've always been the last to get props for doing it."
Spike said he would like to do some more film festivals and introduce his animation overseas.
"I want to work on some European stuff," he said. "I'd love to show Sick and Twisted over there. We'd blow their minds."
-images courtesy Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival