The Sandman

Along with Nightmare Before Christmas this short shows that stop-go-animation isn't just for kids. Dark, Haunting tale of a boy's journey up the stairs to bed.

Don't watch this before going to bed yourself!!

I first saw The Sandman during a screening of numerous short films from around the world on TV one night.

Haunting music introduces us to a shot of the moon, and a house, where a young boy is being sent to bed by his mother. The unique animation and direction captures the small child's fear as he walks up the creaky stairs and runs hurriedly down the corridor into his room.

The Sandman appears at the bottom of the stairs, a lanky figure with a huge, crooked head - not scary so much as BLOODY SPOOKY!

As the child is more and more frightened by the noises inside and outside his room, we see the Sandman approach, closer and closer until...

An amazingly captivating film which has great animation, direction and music - one of the most memorable and "effective" short films you will ever see - extremely sharp and shocking...

Wait 'til you see the end!

If it hadn't been for MONA LISA DESCENDING THE STAIRS, there's a very strong chance that THE SANDMAN would have won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film--it was that striking and groundbreaking. Paul Berry created a stop motion world very similar to his later projects such as THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE Christmas and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. While the animation is not quite as fluid here in this early film, you can clearly see that it led to these very successful Disney films. Sadly, Barry died at age 40 and his output was quite limited.

So what did I like about this film? Well, the character designs were amazing and the sets had a strange and twisted quality that was both charming and creepy. As for the story, I am probably in the minority here, it was really good up until the surprise ending. I thought it was too creepy and disturbing and knocked the film from a 9 to an 8--this is certainly NOT a film to show to young and impressionable kids. Of course, for an older crowd, they'll probably love the sick finale. Watch it and see for yourself.

This is an exceptional and brilliant film.

at my school we were doing studies on the sandman and i wondered what it is because i never heard of it before. My teachers said it was an animation and i thought it was going to be a sweet, innocent film, BUT...... until i watched it i was shocked i thought to myself animations aren't meant to be like this! what freaked me out was the Gothic presentation the way he moved, the way the music was played in it all squeaky and high pitched like a crow squawking. but overall i think the way they made it was rather interesting the shape of the sandman's head like a moon, the way he moved everything! all i say is u should see it but if you get nightmares easily don't bother going and seeing it!

I saw this in one of the Spike & Mike festivals years ago & would say that this is probably my all time fave short. Very simple & short, but quite devastating. I have been trying to track this down on DVD..... The story of the creator is tragic, had he lived longer, I'm sure he would have rocked the animation world. The story is the classic, oft told tale of a kid afraid to go to bed because of what might lurk under his bed. It is told (if i remember correctly) without proper dialogue (I think there are mutterings by the characters, but not of an intelligible language). I assumed from the dark tone & detailed sets & figures that this one came from Eastern Europe, but was quite surprised to find it was not the case. Think Quay brothers, but with real characters in clay & in color.