"The Conqueror Worm" Animation

Remember those mobile puppet shows sinisterly drawing in crowds of children in the summer? They remain an unmistakable sign of the bewitched oddities lurking in the ostensibly liveliest season. While I may lack the willpower or artistic talent necessary to bring you a top-notch Ligottian puppet show, I can offer this animated puppet performance of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Conqueror Worm" (click here to read this weird classic for the first time or to refresh your memory). It's an older animation buried on Youtube, but a good one.

This macabre little piece reproduces Poe's allegory nicely, with liberal artistic mutations extracted from the line about "puppets." Somehow, this aesthetic direction makes the cartoon doubly grim. The talented visuals really shine as well. Particular effort looks to have been placed in the creation and animation of the show's star--the conqueror worm itself. A vast segmented beast half-serpent, half-earthworm, it comprises one of the most grotesque surprises I've yet seen in such an (initially) innocent, unassuming format. Horror truly is everywhere.



-Grim Blogger