Salvador Barone

A dramatic story of childhood trauma and mystical bonds telling of Matthew, a young boy haunted by a traumatizing memory of witnessing a suffocation death of another child (possibly a friend or playmate). He withdraws and has nightmares about what he saw. He struggles to relive his experience through play and fantasy in the face of an increasingly hostile world while his uncomprehending parents struggle to understand him. During one of his frequent trips to a building site near his house, Matthew meets Anna, a strange mysterious girl with whom he forms a mystical bond that forces him to confront the memory that has obsessed him.

This bizarre parody of the animated religious children’s show Davey and Goliath uses actors but looks like Claymation because of the stop motion, distorted voices, giant prosthetic ears and hair and sets that make Pee-Wee’s Playhouse look realistic. Davey’s father whips him with a belt for saying that he saw a bear, though he really did see a bear, while his sister looks on in glee. His dog Goliath, actually a leopard-skin footrest with a grotesque tail, tries to help but gets whipped too. Oedipal dream sequences and Davey’s revenge are also highlights in this unforgettable and darkly hilarious suburban nightmare.