The Backwater Gospel

a dark animation, well made, about fear, sin and escape. a kind of sketch about guilt and need to escape from it. ironic, cruel, it use impressive images and ignore to give profound nuances to story. but, sure, it is only a short animation film. and that excuse it. the gloomy atmosphere, the cruelty who has not the religion as source but need to escape from your fear is in admirable manner presented. it is a good film and that fact defines it. slices of Expressionism, the West small town and the force of manipulation, the expectation and the war between priest and singer, the truth as massacre in final are good points of a special work who is , in few senses, a great parable.

I must start out by saying, this is one of the best films I have ever seen, and it is also one of the shortest films I have ever seen. The animation is disturbing in its own way, creating a life-like mixture of zombie, wood and human that completely work for this film, being a perfect fit for the story and setting, which is a small, isolated, "Bible Belt" like town, completely run by a Lord fearing minister, who is almost as creepy as the Undertaker, the unspoken terror that controls the town of Backwater. The basic story, omen of death, is not new, but the way it is fleshed out, and tied in with religion is excellent, creating another layer of fear to go over the existing one. I cannot stress how important appearance is to this film, however, as the animation styles, as well as the Undertaker's "normality" (until you get to the shadow) is one of the major selling points for me. However, you should be warned, that this film does not shy away from intense amounts of violence and gore, to the point of where I cringed while watching, however, this should not keep you from watching the best film that I have seen all year, and it could absolutely win against any full length film that it is put up against.

For me, this is absolutely perfect, and perfect in every way. From the slightly comical presentation of the Jesus figure (the tramp) and the death figure (the undertaker) to the hardline seriousness and fear-inducing qualities the preacher holds over his flock. Long have the phrases and designations of "God fearing people" been used to describe those who are considered the most pious. But what is illustrated here is what the thousands of years behind religion as a key pillar of daily life can do when its congregants become blind followers. Love, compassion, and trust are usurped by fear, hate, and indifference.

The story itself is ages and ages old, as well as the setting of an isolated small town, usually behind on the times, and with few choices regarding, well, anything. In other words, and in some ways quite literally by the time we get to the end, the town is dying.

The presentation is really well done , as the animation is somewhere between realistic and complete fantasy and impressionistic. Each character in his presentation has his stereotypical redundancies drawn in, some to comic affect while others are for an aggressive or fearful overtone. The preacher is probably the best drawn character and he truly looks the part of an anti-Christ, or rather, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Honestly, as the story is familiar and the parable one that has been told in some form or another for hundreds if not thousands of years, it's just cool to see how the story is stitched together over the 9+ minutes of the short.

For those familiar with the band Tool, someone overlayed the video with the gargantuan studio version of Tool's "The Grudge," and it is a match made in heaven (or hell). To be honest, the first time I saw it I probably spent 3 days with it on permanent repeat with my cans on and the volume UP! It works so well, not only in feel and general tenor but in specific parts of the song and video, matching in intensity. I encourage anyone who is fan to find it. You won't be disappointed.

This short is worth its time, even if just for the animation style alone.

The Backwater Gospel is a cutting horror-satire pointed at organized religion and the hypocrisy which often lies within. In a town full of 'religious' folk, there's one who isn't. The attempt to exercise that lone individual from their happy, peaceful town leads directly to the consequence the town was hoping to avoid the most.

The animation is top-notch, there's lots of gore, lots of symbolism, and even a catchy folk song. This short is really only lacking in duration, but that's part of what makes it such a powerful piece.

Give this one a gander when you get the chance.

The first words of this animated short are " The shadow of the undertaker creeps across your floor . Go lock up all your children and paint blood upon your door " which led me to mishear the lyrics for a second and think the undertaker may be the pope in disguise . After all is does state in the Bible I think that " no child's behind is left " or something like that and indeed immediately after this lyric we're shown a hell and damnation preacher

THE BACKWATER GOSPEL is an animated short featuring religion as its target but I didn't feel this subtext was developed strongly enough . Instead everything is down to the imagery of the animation which is suitably ugly as the townsfolk are portrayed as being inhuman ghouls blindly following the preacher in a frontier town . It does have a dark sense of humour but I felt the story needed to be a little bit stronger