Creatives really love messing around with their childhoods. There is something about taking something you cherished when you were little and twisting it into something sick and depraved. Sausage Party , Seth Rogen’s R-rated animation is the most recent, and successful attempt at turning a medium for children into something for the depraved. The movie about food becoming self aware has become a hit at the box-office, which means more raunchy animations are on their way. If you need something to hold you over until then, here are a few of my favorites.
Fritz The Cat : There have been countless attempts to turn animation and puppetry dark. In 1972, R. Crumb had his underground comic book, Fritz The Cat, adapted to the big screen. It was the first X-rated animated movie, which meant that if you wanted to see it back then, you didn’t have a lot of choices. In the early 70s, porno theaters dominated Times Square, and that’s where my dad said he had to see Fritz The Cat. The movie is completely over the top, with cat orgies, race riots and neo-nazi rabbits, just to name a few. It’s a product of the Nixon years, combining racial and sexual frustration with adorable animals doing fucked up shit.
Meet The Feebles : If political-social commentary isn’t your style but you still want to have your inner child traumatized, try Meet The Feebles, a 1982 movie directed by Peter Jackson. The same guy that put Gandalf up against the Balrog started his career with the dirtiest take on the Muppets ever appearing on film. It starts off simple enough, with a song and dance number that looks like it could have come straight out of Jim Henson’s head. Slowly, we start to see the gears turn to some truly horrifying imagery – walrus sex, cow BDSM and a fly shoveling shit into its mouth. The movie grows from there, ending with a climax so stupendously ridiculous, only Jackson could have conceived it.
Don’t Hug Me, I'm Scared : In the same vein as Meet the Feebles , we have Don’t Hug Me, I'm Scared. DHM, IS is a series of short films on YouTube created by British artists Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling. In 2011, they created the first one, and it “was something we did in our free time; now it’s sort of taken over,” according to an interview with the creators at Metro .
The basic premise centers around three puppets who encounter educators to explain how the whole works, while devolving into madness. Describing this show will never give it justice. It’s one of the most brilliantly fucked up pieces of puppetry I have ever seen, and it’s great. The sixth installment was released last June, with more planned to come after a successful Kickstarter. Watch them in chronological order or the last one will make no sense.
Tell us some of your favorite messed up animated movies in the comments, except Watership Down.
