Little Otik

Employing less animation than in previous features such as Faust and Alice, veteran Czech surrealist Jan Svankmajer makes another foray into the world of dissatisfaction and decay in this deliriously macabre comedy. Unable to have children of their own, Prague couple Veronica Zilkova and Jan Hartl fashion a baby out of a tree stump, only for it to evolve into a flesh-eating monster. In giving a traditional fable a bitingly modern makeover, Svankmajer not only succeeds in satirising contemporary Czech society, but also in conveying an ecology-conscious subtext about the dangers of tinkering with the natural order. Uncompromising and provocative, this is an urban horror film of chilling simplicity and intelligence.