Loom: A Web of Horrors in 3D Animation

You’re not squeamish, are you? A team of students at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, in Germany, has taken the aesthetic sensibilities of the horror and action movie genres and imported them into the realm of the microscopic, creating a stunning work of 3D animation called Loom, about a spider and a very unlucky moth. Directed by Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck and Csaba Letay of the studio Polynoid, Loom presents a highly stylized depiction of the the sort of violence that happens all around us in nature, usually beyond our notice. Loom and another short film (Der Besuch, by Austrian director Conrad Tambour) shared first prize in the animated film category at last month’s Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival in Potsdam. Despite its dazzling technical brilliance, you may find the film to be a bit … creepy.