Jackson Palmer

In this article, Jackson Palmer explores the thematic parallels between stop-motion animation and the autumnal aesthetic, and how these connections pay homage to stop-motion’s foreground ability to produce fabricated stories that beautify our corporeal world from which it physically derives.

In a small, quiet Pennsylvania neighborhood, Archer (Josh Brolin), armed only with a phone light and a relentless drive to recover his lost son, enters the dark basement of a house that's become an epicenter of strange happenings in this sleepy town. As we’re dragged alongside Archer, searching through a pitch-black sea of deadpan, motionless children, we’re treated to one of the most striking jump scares in the film as a creature emerges from the shadows and lunges towards our protagonist....