Films are usually rated by the Motion Pictures Association of
America with notations like “R,” “PG-13,”
and the dreaded “NC-17.” The ratings system at Spike
and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation goes a bit
further; it has the Puke-o-meter.
The question becomes which films at the festival, which opened
last Friday at the Laemmle Theater on Fairfax, deserve the coveted
highest puke rating of three stars (meaning “The date’s
all over”)?
For one, there’s “Teach Me,” a silent film
which shows frog-like people having sex and masturbating. Not to
mention “A Father and Son Chat,” which features a
not-so-tender birds-and-the-bees discussion between a father and
son.
We also get an episode of the “Happy Tree Friends,”
titled “Crazy Antics,” where a scholarly anteater finds
his tongue in trouble as an ant family strikes back against the
predator. Featured on the Web as a Flash Macromedia presentation,
the show deceives those expecting Teletubbies-like
entertainment.
“We really just set out to do a really cute cartoon,
almost to be deceiving where you’re watching this and you
have no idea what you’re being set up for,” said Rhode
Montijo, animator and art designer of “Happy Tree
Friends.” “It’s these cute cuddly creatures in
the woods and then the violence happens.”
Violence includes decapitations, dismemberments and
eye-poppings, all done with the nice touch of excessive blood
splattering everywhere. Imagine if Itchy and Scratchy really had
their own show.
“We’re not hiding that we’re influenced by
Itchy and Scratchy,” Montijo said. “Most of the time,
what we tried to do was accidental violence. In Itchy and Scratchy,
they do it to each other. We try to keep it at least realistic so
you cringe a bit.”
Originally intended as part of a commercial for children’s
education (“Do you want your kids watching this?”), it
became its own show and is now being shown on over 25 Web
sites.
Eight episodes are featured in the new Spike and Mike’s
festival, the largest representation of any single animator. For
Montijo and company, it’s the realization of a dream.
“In our college days, we really looked forward to going to
Spike and Mike’s,” Montijo said.
“It used to be like, one day my film’s gonna be in
Spike and Mike’s,” said Kenn Navarro, who also art
directs and animates “Happy Tree Friends.”
The UCLA Animation Program has at least one student whose film
was shown at the festival in the past. Graduate student Shane
Acker’s “The Hangnail” was featured in the
festival two years ago. Other students are making films for the
festival, which tours in California, Arizona, and British
Columbia.
“I think it’s great,” said Michel Hannan, a
fifth-year animation student, who hopes to submit her “Corn
Porn” short next year. “It’s a great place for
indie artists to get a break.”
Indeed, animation gold mines such as “Beavis and
Butthead” and “South Park” made their names
through exposure in Spike and Mike’s, which began in the
1970s to showcase cult films. Since then, the main festival
alternates with a “classic” festival that shows the
uplifting, moralistic side of animation.
The Sick and Twisted Festival is a party that gets started late.
Shown throughout the day to only the 18 and over crowd, the 10 p.m.
and midnight showings (only on Friday and Saturday) tend to bring
out the crowds. Though dressing like a hillbilly with a live pig
(“please leave pig outside theater”) is encouraged,
there are rarely any takers. Perhaps more people will warm to the
free shirts and videos awarded to customers after the festival
gains steam over its two-month stay in Los Angeles, as it travels
from Fairfax to the Laemmle Sunset theater by the end of the
month.
The festival aims to offend, and it succeeds. A prime example
was “Refrigerator Art,” which has a stick figure boy
talk proudly yet naively about how his mother is an alcoholic, and
his father is gay and abusive. More high-minded was
“Shh,” which used disturbing images to convey political
messages.
For those who are offended, the animators offer a rebuttal.
“My personal favorite was reading the hate mail,”
Montijo said. “People who write in are really adamant. Some
of the funny ones are like, “˜How could you kill these
animals. I hope you burn in hell.'”
“It’s a cartoon,” Navarro said. “Ease
up.”
For more info, log on to http://www.spikeandmike.com.